Lawyer Alexious Kamangila has openly challenged High Court of Malawi Commercial Division Judge Kenan Manda to sue him for alleged defamation, refusing to apologise for Facebook posts accusing the judge of fraudulent conduct.
In a letter posted on his Facebook page dated October 10 2024, and addressed to Judge Manda’s lawyer, Michael Goba-Chipeta, Kamangila wrote: “Reference is made to your demand letter on behalf of Kenan T. Manda. PLEASE SUE.”
This follows a demand letter from the claimant dated October 7 2024, seeking K250 million in damages, an apology, and a stop of “further defamatory statements or dissemination of false information” about the judge.
The letter warned that if Kamangila failed to comply by October 10 2024, legal proceedings would be initiated against him.
Meanwhile, the High Court in Lilongwe issued an interlocutory injunction on Friday, restraining Kamangila from making, writing, or publishing any statements about the judge until further notice.
In a telephone interview on Friday, Goba-Chipeta confirmed he had already e-mailed the document to Kamangila due to the urgency of the matter.
According to the court order issued by Judge Simeon Mdeza, Kamangila risks being held in contempt of court if he disobeys the order.
Attempts to talk to Kamangila on Friday were unsuccessful as he did not respond to our calls.
The demand letter states that between October 2 and 5 2024, Kamangila made multiple Facebook posts relating to the judge’s order in Commercial Case Number 136 of 2024 involving Mukteshwar Sugar Mills Limited and Salima Sugar Company Limited.
Chipeta said the posts were understood to mean that the judge is fraudulent, dishonest, a criminal, untrustworthy, incompetent, unprofessional, unethical and corrupt.
Reads the letter, in part: “Your baseless and false statements have caused immense harm to our client’s personal and professional reputation.”
In an interview earlier, Kamangila said he had received the letter and he was ready to face Manda in court.
Earlier this week, Magistrates and Judges Association in Malawi (Majam) invited Kamangila to a meeting following his claims.
Reacting to the invitation, Kamangila said he was shocked that Majam has summoned him to a meeting as he is neither a judge nor a magistrate, but he said he would attend the meeting to hear from the association on whether it has received any complaints against Manda and what it has done about the complaints.
Meanwhile, Malawi Law Society honorary secretary Gabriel Chembezi has said the society is closely observing the issue.
