Court gives Chakwera one last chance
The High Court in Lilongwe has given Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera one last chance to appear in court in a case against the party’s suspended secretary general Gustave Kaliwo who called for a convention.
In adjourning the matter yesterday, High Court judge Charles Mkandawire said he was giving Chakwera, who is also the leader of opposition in Parliament, one last chance to appear before the court on April 10 2018.
Said the judge: “The party and Chakwera would be given a last opportunity to attend court or I will be compelled to issue sanctions, including dismissing or striking out the matter.”
Prior to the adjournment, lawyer Charles Mhone, who stood in for Joel Suzi representing Chakwera, said in an interview yesterday their client asked for more time because he was away in the Northern Region; hence, could not make it to yesterday’s hearing.
He said: “We are asking for more time for our client because he is not presently available.”
Kaliwo, a lawyer himself, and one of the MCP district chairpersons, Lackson Khamalatha, as well as their lawyer Powell Nkhutabasa were present at the court where Mkandawire was set to hear the matter.
In June last year, Chakwera obtained a court order stopping Kaliwo from calling an emergency convention from July 7 to 9 with parallel structures.
Kaliwo had told the media then that he called the convention to clear their differences. He said his action was backed by Article 40 of the MCP constitution which states that district committees or the National Executive Committee (NEC) are mandated to call for a convention. He said half of the district committees supported the call.
In an earlier affidavit to the court, Chakwera said the chairpersons Kaliwo was using to call for the convention, including Khamalatha who is the first defendant, relinquished their positions and had no powers to call for an emergency convention in the name of MCP. He argued that Kaliwo was wrong and contravened the law through his action.
Yesterday, Nkhutabasa asked the court to strike off Chakwera’s affidavit and the whole matter, saying it was clear that MCP and its president were not keen to prosecute the matter.
He said: “By not appearing in court today, it shows lack of keenness to prosecute the matter despite a clear order to that effect we requested Chakwera to be available for cross examination in the case.”
The rift between Chakwera and Kaliwo stems from the fact that Kaliwo accuses his party president of not following the constitution by handpicking people who were not chosen at the party’s convention.
On the other hand, Chakwera accuses the suspended secretary general of absconding from important NEC meetings for more than three consecutive times without proper explanation. He argues this is a breach of the MCP constitution.
