The Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday found veterinarian Kholiwe Mkandawire guilty of conducting a retail pharmacy business without registration, but the former politician has escaped a jail term.
Delivering the sentence on Tuesday, Lilongwe senior resident magistrate Chisomo
Msokera said the offence of carrying out a retail pharmacy business without being registered as a pharmacist posed danger to the public since drugs are a potential health hazard.
Said the magistrate: “I sentence you to pay a fine of K300 000 ($600) in respect of the charge of operating a pharmacy business without being registered as a pharmacist or in default to serve four months imprisonment with hard labour [IHL].
“In respect of the charge of obstruction [of] board inspectors, I sentence the convict to pay K150 000 [$300] fine or in default to go to jail for three months.”
The convict was initially charged with four counts, but the defence plea-bargained to the effect that two counts were struck off the charge sheet and the accused pleaded guilty to the remaining two.
The said matter was jointly prosecuted by Lilongwe Police Station prosecutions office and a private law firm, Wadi & Associates.
Mkandawire came in the limelight in the run-up to the 2004 General Elections when she was spokesperson for an alliance of opposition political parties under the banner of Mgwirizano Coalition. She later left the active political scene.
