Kaliati, 2 others fail to take plea
Former Minister of Information and Civic Education Patricia Kaliati and two others on Tuesday failed to take plea before Blantyre chief resident magistrate Thom Ligowe after their lawyers raised technical issues regarding the drafting of charges.
Kaliati entered the dock and sat besides two of her accomplices, Oscar Maganga, former Ministry of Education assistant chief education officer and Clement Nkuya, her brother.
The parliamentarian is facing one count of influencing or inducing or persuading a public officer, Maganga, to abuse his office for the advantage of 77 pupils that were admitted to Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Luchenza, Phalombe and Thyolo Secondary Schools.
Maganga faces five counts of abuse of office while Nkuya is charged with one count of influencing or inducing or persuading a public officer.
After Ligowe had confirmed particulars of the three accused, lawyer representing the prosecution side, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), David Bandawe, informed Ligowe that the defence filed some preliminary objections which needed the court’s attention before the accused persons could take plea.
In his written objection, lawyer Oswald Mtupila, representing Maganga, observed that the charge his client is facing is defective because it has multiplicity of counts.
“Any offences, whether felonies or misdemeanour, may be charged together if the offences charged are founded on the same facts or form or are part of a series of offences of the same or similar character.
“All the [five] counts relate to abuse of office arising out of one and same transaction and also alleged to have been committed at same place and same occasion. They are in form and nature one and same offence,” reads the preliminary objections to indictment before plea.
Kalekeni Kaphale, who is representing Kaliati, told the court that the charge sheet indicated that all the 77 pupils were admitted in Form One, but the submissions indicate that the pupils were admitted in other classes other than Form One only.
“May be we give [Bandawe] time to come up with a sanitary charge sheet and his response to counsel Mtupila’s submissions,” he said.
The magistrate has since adjourned the matter to October 22 and expressed optimism that the raised issues would have been dealt with before commencement of trial.
ACB launched an investigation in 2009 which concluded that Kaliati and two others may have committed offences under the Corrupt Practices Act.
The ACB’s move to prosecute the three comes after Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Kalemba on September 24 2012 authorised ACB to proceed with the prosecution.
