Bail granted for suspect in Malawi Pres. JB purported resignation letter: Dave Namusanya
Lilongwe Magistrate Court on Thursday granted bail to Dave Namusanya arrested by Police as a suspected author of a purported resignation letter of Malawi President Joyce Banda advising the Speaker of Parliament that she can no longer execute duties due to alleged “health problems”.
Namusanya is a graduate of the University of Malawi , he studied Media and Development at Chancellor College . He is a critic of President Banda.
Human rights activist Billy Mayaya said he visited Namusanya at Area 18 police station “for solidarity”, saying he confirmed that he has been picked in relation to the purported resignation letter.
But Mayaya called for the release of the suspect, calling his arrest as “arbitrary.”
Police earlier arrested Wells Tsidya Phiri, 34 a former security guard in conncection to the letter.
The letter claimed that President Banda had decided to resign following doctors’ advice.
But Banda, on her return from Equatorial Guinea, reacted angrily to the letter and put up K2 million (about $5 000) bounty for anyone who would provide information about the authors.
National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo refused to be drawn to comment much on arrests.
After the President’s announcement of the K2 million reward in February, a union of vendors chairpersons in Zomba pledged to add K100 000 (about $250) to the informant.
After the release of the letter which highly circulated on social forums, State House dissociated itself from the letter saying at no time did Banda explicitly or implicitly resign as Malawi’s Head of State.
