Govt backs Callista on Bingu’s will

Gender Ministry ready to fight for her share

Government says it is ready to fight for former first lady Callista Mutharika’s share in late Bingu wa Mutharika’s deceased estate following revelations that she is not among the beneficiaries listed in the former president’s will,Weekend Nation has learnt.

Callista misses out in late Mutharika’s “last will” which distributes his multi-billion kwacha worth estate to his children, brother Peter and grandchildren. The will was written two years before Mutharika married Callista.

In an interview on Monday, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare Anita Kalinde said the country’s Deceased Estates (Wills, Inheritance and Protection) Act offers “maximum” protection to Callista to get her stake in Mutharika’s deceased estate.

“We are ready to help her get a share of the estate, but we cannot just come in unless she officially complains to us so that we have a starting point.

“Of course, it may not always be automatic for her to get something because we don’t know whether she already got her part of the wealth. We need to find out whether the president had made any provision for her before he died,” said Kalinde.

In an interview on Tuesday, Callista said she would approach the ministry when need arises as she is already contesting the will’s validity in court.

“I don’t think that there is any problem at the moment. If the need arises, I will definitely do so [approach government]…The law is very clear that when a will is written before a man remarries, it becomes null and void. As far as I am concerned, that will is null and void.”

Callista has asked the High Court  to remove Mutharika’s daughters, Duwa and Tapiwa,  as administrators of the deceased estate, which has been frozen pending the court’s determination on government’s demand of K5 billion in unpaid duty from the estate estimated to be worth about K61 billion.

The former first lady is also already engaged in other legal battles with Mutharika’s children over the deceased property.

Chancellor College dean of law Dr.MwizaNkhata told Nation on Sunday in an interview last week that all is not lost for Callista because under the laws of Malawi, marriage revokes a will written before matrimony.

Mutharika’s wealth includes bank accounts, estates, property and a number of vehicles belonging to Bineth Trust, Bingu Silver-Grey Foundation and the University of South Malawi.