Sachets fight go on in court
Malawi Distilleries Limited (MDL), manufacturers of Premier Brandy, Malawi Gin, Powers No. 1 and Malawi Vodka, wants to ask the High Court to lift its own order that banned packaging of liquor in sachets.
Davis Njobvu, a lawyer for the company, was expected to appear before Justice McLean Kamwambe at the Blantyre Registry last week to make an application to have the court-enforced ban lifted.
But instead of applying for the stay order, the lawyer informed the court that he could not go ahead with the application because he needed to consult MDL first.
He indicated that MDL wanted to consult government on the matter and the court adjourned the matter indefinitely.
A few days after the High Court turned down an application for judicial review by MDL in February, effectively allowing Malawi Bureau of Standards to ban packaging of liquor in sachets, government also followed with a statement, announcing the ban of liquor packed in sachets.
The High Court had, however, allowed a stay order on its own decision which MDL applied for, pending an appeal in the Supreme Court on the decision the High Court made.
But judge Kamwambe only gave MDL seven days to file the appeal in the Supreme Court.
However, before that appeal is heard, Malawi Distilleries still wants the stay order, which if allowed would mean the lifting of the order that banned packaging of liquor in sachets.
But assuming the order is lifted, MDL would still face the ban government issued, unless its lawyer seeks clear orders from the court against the decision by government and gets them.
Judge Kamwambe should recuse himself from this case. Too much conflict of interests. I doubt if any sachets tendered as evidence would survive a day! Otherwise he’s a find judge.
Kamwambe is a smart judge. He will not bend the law for the sake of these capitalists and gamblers. Satchets should be made illegal in this country even drunkards like Obama, Cameroon and other Europeans bastards push in favour of MDL. We are saying no. This is a gross syndicate of our children’s rights. Sachets should go to hell.