Kasambara to spend 30 more days in prison

Former Malawi Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Ralph Kasambara will have to stay in prison for 30 more days after the High Court in Lilongwe granted him bail that will be operational after expiry of those days.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba in an interview today said the one month period is to allow police conclude their investigations where Kasambara was implicated in the attempted murder of Treasury budget director Paul Mphwiyo.

Kasambara, who was arrested on November 8 in Lilongwe, was linked to the shooting of Mphwiyo, an incident which opened a can of worms that led to revelations that billions of taxpayers’ money was systematically siphoned from Capital Hill in Lilongwe.

Kalemba said Kasambara’s bail ruling, which was set to be made tomorrow (Friday), was among several other rulings the High Court in Lilongwe made today of suspects connected to the cashgate scandal.

He did not have the details of the other cases handy.

The former Justice minister, recently suspended from President Joyce Banda’s ruling People’s Party (PP) where he was director of legal affairs, is remanded at Zomba Central Prison despite a concern of a heart problem raised by his lawyers.

Kasambara’s trial promised to be a thriller when in his initial court appearance at Lilongwe Magistrate Court on November 11 mentioned President Banda, her sister Cecilia Kumpukwe, Minister of Information Brown Mpinganjira, PP publicity secretary Hophmally Makande, among others, as some of his witnesses.

Kasambara, who appeared before magistrate Ruth Chinangwa before the matter was committed to the High Court, also said confirm his village and a traditional authority, arguing he did not know them, only mentioning his permanent resident as Nyambadwe in Blantyre.

The cash-gate scandal has led to the freezing of donor aid, and more pressure is coming from the international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Malawi to seriously address the matter.

Kasambara told journalists after the case was committed to the High Court that his case is a sham and it would go nowhere.

Kasambara first attempted to apply for his bail at the High Court in Mzuzu, but Judge Dingiswayo Madise dismissed the application, arguing it would confuse things and be viewed as ‘judge shopping’.

—For more read tomorrow’s THE NATION