Lutepo, Manondo meet in prison

He is such a protected ‘species’ that only his wife, lawyer and another suspect have been granted the green light to visit him in prison on orders from ‘above,’ Nation on Sunday has established.
The treatment afforded one of the suspected kingpins in the cash-gate scandal that has hit Capital Hill, Oswald Lutepo, at Zomba Maximum Security Prison has set tongues wagging in the Malawi Prison Service (MPS) where senior sources say they see the ‘big hand’ of the authorities.
Even some members of the ruling People’s Party (PP) who went to the prison to see the suspect on Friday were turned away.
But sources yesterday said Pika Manondo, who is suspected to have had a hand in the shooting of Treasury budget director Paul Mphwiyo, visited Lutepo in prison after being driven by police from Lilongwe.
The purpose of the visit, which the source said was on Lutepo’s invitation, was to discuss the possibility of the two becoming State witnesses against former Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara arrested on Friday on suspicion that he was involved in Mphwiyo’s shooting.
“Both Lutepo and Manondo seem to agree to become State witnesses and that is how the meeting has been concluded,” confided the source.
After the meeting, said the source, Manondo went back to Lilongwe in a police vehicle.
Deputy police spokesperson Kelvin Maigwa and Lutepo’s lawyer Jai Banda said they were not aware of the meeting.
Manondo’s lawyer John Gift Mwakhwawa told Nation on Sunday yesterday that while he was not aware of the meeting, his client had expressed interest to meet Lutepo.
Banda confirmed that there is an order from prison authorities to restrict people who visit the suspect. He said he will make an application on Tuesday to ask the court to allow other people Lutepo may want to visit him
“I do not know why they have made that order. It might be for his [Lutepo’s] protection,” said Banda.
The lawyer said prison authorities did not consult him on the decision to limit access to Lutepo.
Orders from above
Some senior sources that are dealing with Lutepo confided in Nation on Sunday that there is an order that Lutepo should not meet anybody except his wife and lawyer during his stay at the maximum security prison.
One source said Lutepo’s stay at the prison “is a charade meant to create an impression that government is taking the arrest seriously”.
According to the source, another reason for taking Lutepo to Zomba was to afford him a more decent stay in prison where he said conditions are better than at other holding facilities.
“Unlike the perception of many people that Zomba maximum facility is the most notorious place, it is actually the opposite of many prison facilities in the country,” said a source who met and spoke to Lutepo in prison.
Added the source: “So far, Lutepo is not complaining of anything. He is having it good here. He is getting everything he wants. He has his own room away from other prisoners. He is confined in single rooms section unlike other prisoners who are on remand like him.”
The source also said the treatment the suspect is receiving at the facility is consistent with the way his arrest was handled—that he was allowed to drive himself to police when officers would have picked him on arrival at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.
“Not that the transfer on its own is illegal. In Malawi, we have four maximum prisons; namely, Chichiri, Mzimba, Zomba and Maula. Zomba happens to be the best of them all,” said the source.
Prison spokesperson Evans Phiri said he could not discuss Lutepo’s stay at the facility for security reasons.
“The security procedures do not allow us to discuss people held in prison,” he said.
Chief of prisons Kennedy Nkhoma also refused to comment on Lutepo’s treatment, saying he did not have information on the suspect because he had just returned from USA.