Malawi Congress Party (MCP) will have to wait until July 15 to know the status of its parliamentary candidacy in Mzimba Central Constituency when the High Court is set to deliver its judgement on the matter.
Presiding judge Justus Kishindo set the date in Mzuzu yesterday after hearing submissions from Minister of Trade and Industry Vitumbiko Mumba and defendants MCP along with presidential aide Adamson Kuseri Mkandawire who was declared winner.
Soko. | Nation
Mumba, who was aspiring to represent MCP before resigning from the national executive committee (NEC), took the party to court challenging the conduct of the primaries held on May 11 2025.
For at least two hours, Mumba’s lawyer Khumbo Soko yesterday asked MCP first deputy secretary general Gerald Kazembe and Mkandawire to explain how the party conducts primary elections.
To Kazembe, the lawyer queried if MCP NEC’s resolutions can only be varied by itself or a convention amd sought clarification on the conduct of elections and communication for primary elections.
Soko further asked Kazembe to tell the court if there was a report on how presiding officer and MCP NEC member Maxwell Thyolera managed the polls.
In response, Kazembe said: “I don’t know where that [the report] is. Maybe the directorate of elections has that. I am surprised why the report is missing.”
Soko also asked Kazembe if the creation of a WhatsApp group to communicate to communicate issues to do with primaries was a resolution of the NEC meeting to which he responded that it was an administrative arrangement.
During cross-examination of Mkandawire, Soko delved into the violence on the day of the primaries where Mumba purportedly got five votes against 262 votes.
The lawyer played a video recording which showed some people accusing Mumba of sponsoring the violence and Mkandawire substantiating the claims.
Mkandawire told the court that MCP director of elections Elias Chakwera had informed him about recruitment of people in Lilongwe to cause havoc. He also quoted MCP North-South regional chairperson Joseph Chavula as having stated that others were being recruited in Mzuzu at a fee of K200 000 each.
But Soko wondered why the party did not avert the conspiracy and how Mumba was being linked to the violence when the people accusing Mumba in the video were overheard telling each other to keep their stones and start pelting them later.
On Monday, Mkandawire’s lawyer Justin Dzonzi alongside Gift Chimowa and Henry Debwe representing MCP, sought to know how the electoral college was established, resolution of challenges, communication and violence during the disputed poll.
After the adjournment yesterday, Dzonzi in an interview indicated that in the event that they lose the case, they will not appeal to provide enough room for collection and submission of nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission.
