President Lazarus Chakwera’s former aide Pastor Martin Thom has taken him and Ministry of Homeland Security to court for defamation following his 2021 arrest and dismissal for allegedly smuggling a Bill to Parliament.
The High Court of Malawi has since set December 10 for hearing of the defamation claim.
Court documents show that Thom is the claimant while the Ministry of Homeland Security and Chakwera are defendants.
“The claimant [Thom] shall parade one witness being the claimant himself while the defendant shall parade three witnesses, all of them to be named/or identified in the witness statements,” reads the court notice dated September 18 2024 and jointly signed by Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda and Thom’s lawyer Sylvester Ayuba James.
The defamation claim has come after the High Court ruled in favour of Thom for unlawful arrest and unfair dismissal for which he is demanding damages of up to K1.6 billion.
The President fired Thom following reports that he played a role in the alleged smuggling of a Loan Authorisation Bill into the National Assembly to allow the Malawi Government borrow 98 million euro from the Bank of Baroda for the construction of houses for public security institutions.
Meanwhile, Thom is awaiting the assessment of damages for unlawful arrest and unfair dismissal after High Court Judge Simeon Mdeza entered a summary judgement in his favour in August this year.
In an interview yesterday, High Court of Malawi and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal registrar Innocent Nebi confirmed the development.
He said the summary judgement was entered on August 28 2024, but damages are yet to be assessed.
Said the registrar: “There is an agreed order by the parties for directions for trial on the claim of defamation to be heard on 10 December 2024.”
On the other hand, James said although K1.6 billion is the amount indicated in the demand letter, the figure may change.
“It can go upwards or downwards. We are yet to file our witness statements and submissions for assessment of damages and the amount will be stated in those documents. What is important for now is that we won the case,” he said.
James said the accusations levelled against his client led to his arrest and dismissal.
He said: “The gist of the judgement is that the accusation that was levelled against Pastor Thom leading to his arrest was unfounded and that, following that accusation and the subsequent arrest, he was unfairly dismissed from his employment at the Office of the President and Cabinet and he lost several other opportunities.”
Nyirenda has not responded to The Nation questionnaire which sought to establish why his office did not challenge Thom’s claim or if it intends to appeal.
Thom was the second presidential adviser to be dismissed on fraud-related charges. Chris Chaima, who was presidential adviser on strategy, is currently on trial for allegedly pushing for fuel import contracts at the National Oil Company of Malawi.
