Jooma ‘forgives’ Kazembe on K20m legal costs

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Mangochi Monkey Bay legislator Ralph Jooma has withdrawn a bankruptcy petition against Malawi Congress Party (MCP) second deputy secretary general Gerald Kazembe on K20 million legal costs.

The DPP legislator filed a petition against Kazembe at the High Court of Malawi’s Commercial Division following his failure to settle the legal costs he was supposed to pay in a Parliamentary elections case he lost in August 2021.

But weeks after filing the petition, Jooma in a brief interview last week said he has decided to withdraw it on humanitarian grounds.

He briefly said: “I have instructed my lawyer not to proceed with this petition purely on humanitarian grounds.”

Jooma filed the bankruptcy petition in the High Court of Malawi’s Commercial Division in December 2022 before Judge Masauko Msungama.

But reacting to the development, Kazembe said it was unfortunate that Jooma filed the bankruptcy petition when he is capable of settling the legal fees.

Kazembe said it was a political move by Jooma to file the bankruptcy petition.

“I view this as politics aimed at distracting me which will not work and I will continue helping the people of Mangochi Monkey Bay. I will not get distracted by it,” he said.

When asked about his delays in settling the costs, Kazembe said he was going to settle them since there was consent granted by the courts that he should do so.

In the petition, the DPP legislator wanted the court to declare Kazembe bankrupt following his failure to settle the legal fees as party-to-party costs as directed by the courts in 2021.

Reads part of the petition: “If you do not intend to answer the charges, nor to be heard on the other claims made in the petition, and if you do not wish to make any application on your account, you need not do anything more than send the form of acknowledgement of service.”

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) declared Jooma the winner of the parliamentary election with 9 341 votes against Kazembe’s 9 052 votes.

Dissatisfied with the results, Kazembe filed a petition and claimed that Jooma was not duly elected.

The MCP senior official claimed that while results sheets were altered using correction fluid known as Tipp-Ex, some of his monitors were refused carbonated forms and that they did not sign tally sheets in some centres.

He further alleged that MEC deliberately put few ballot papers in areas where he had a high following; hence, creating voter apathy which also ruined his chances of winning.

But High Court Judge Jack N’riva ruled against Kazembe on the basis that he failed to show, through his witness testimonies, that the irregularities he alleged could have affected the outcome of the election.

The judge also ruled that Kazembe failed to prove that changes in figures that were made on some of the result sheets were intended for any sinister moves.

Besides, N’riva also pointed out that Kazembe failed to explicitly provide evidence that could support rigging and ballot stuffing which are some of the claims he made.

In the aftermath of the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections, MEC faced 44 Parliamentary election petitions.

While some of the petitions were successful, some were dismissed.