Court reserves ruling in Nankhumwa, Chaponda case
The High Court in Lilongwe has reserved to a later date its ruling on whether to sustain or vacate an injunction that some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members of Parliament obtained to stop George Chaponda from taking over as Leader of Opposition from Kondwani Nankhumwa .
The court sat in Lilongwe yesterday for hearing of continuation of the injunction. The concerned MPs want the injunction to be sustained while Chaponda and DPP want the injunction vacated.
However, judge Kenyatta Nyirenda reserved the ruling to a date to be announced by the court.
Speaking in an interview, lawyer for DPP MPs that got an injunction, Wapona Kita, said his clients want the injunction to be sustained arguing their political rights were violated.
He stressed that his clients have got a right vote for leader of opposition but were deliberately not invited to the meeting where the leader of opposition was being voted.
Said Kita: “Even if it was just one MP, the injunction deserves to be continued because they have that right to vote for leaders of opposition.”
Nankhumwa’s lawyer Cassius Chidothe said apart from the application for continuation of injunction, the court will have to make a ruling on an application for an injunction by Nankhumwa.
He said Nankhumwa is not riding on the MPs injunction but also fighting for another injunction.
Said Chidothe: “The the decision to remove him from leader of opposition in the national assembly did not comply with the law. He was not given notice to attend. He was not invited to the meeting and many other members of parliament were not invited. The meeting was not properly constituted.”
On his part, lawyer for Chaponda and DPP, Chimwemwe Sikwese said the position of his clients is that the manner in which the injunction was illegally obtained and granted was irregular, saying some of the MPs that were indicated to be applicants were not party to the application.
He said some of the MPs disowned the injunction saying they never gave instructions to anyone to proceed with an application for an order of injunction.
Sikwese added that the applicants did also not disclose to the court that they had been invited and some sent apologies.
“They suspressed that fact so we asked the court that fact and we asked the court to discharge the order of injunction that was granted on June 28, 2022,”said Sikwese.
He stressed that the injunction need to be vacated on those lines.
In June this year, DPP convened a meeting party leader president Peter Mutharika’s house in Mangochi to choose Chaponda as the new Leader of Opposition.
The decision to choose Chaponda did not please some of the MPs and Nankhumwa. They went to court to challenge the appointment.
