Ben Phiri, Chimkango to testify for Mutharika: Court insists Dec 6 deadline for Malawi poll case

The Constitutional Court has said its projection to conclude  hearing the disputed May 21 presidential election results on December 6 is set to be set and the five-panel judges would deliver  the much-awaited judgement within 45 days from the date.

Chairman of the five-member panel of Judges, Healey Potani, said the court case which started on August 8 in Lilongwe, will adjourn on Friday after 49 days and it would resume sitting again on November 25.

“We are planning to finish the hearing by December 6. I must emphasise, it’s the hearing and not the judgement which means that when we are planning ahead, we must plan in such a way that when we come on 25th of November, we will have two weeks. Hopefully, the respondent’s cases would be concluded by then,” Potani said.

The respondents, President Peter Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) start parading their witnesses Thursday.

Mutharika, who is the first respondent in the case by virtue of being the declared winner, is expected to parade two witnesses, Ben Phiri and Bob Chimkango to be cross-examined by petitioners’ lawyers.

Lawyer Frank Mbeta for Mutharika told the court that the President’s first witness will be Minister Local Government and Rural Development Ben Malunga Phiri MP.

Phiri, who is also powerful Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) director of elections, will be followed by Blantyre-based lawyer Bob Chimkango, a DPP operative.

In the Constitutional Court case, presidential candidates in the May 21 Tripartite Elections Saulos Chilima of UTM Party and Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) are jointly asking the court to nullify the presidential poll results. They are the first and second petitioners, respectively.

The two dragged the electoral body to court after its chairperson Jane Ansah declared President Mutharika of DPP the winner in the elections. They allege that the poll results were fraught with irregularities and that the electoral process was mismanaged by MEC.

The panel of High Court judges handling the case comprises Healey Potani, Ivy Kamanga, Dingiswayo Madise, Mike Tembo and Redson Kapindu.

The case judgement will be based strictly on the evidence in court.

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