Bendulo tells court his expertise: Chakwera’s witness is Malawi’s unsung hero in IT

Anthony Bendulo, fourth witness for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential hopeful Lazarus Chakwera in the elections petition case, on Friday told the Constitutional Court his wealth of experience in Information technology (IT) which was so inspiring to downplay the assertions of having no academic qualification in IT field.

On Thursday during the cross- examination,   President Peter Mutharika’s lawyer in the elections case Frank Mbeta questioned the credential of Bendulo.

Bendulo, who worked at IT analyst for MCP during the May 21 Tripartite Elections, was asked by Mbeta on his education qualifications, in which he conceded he had no professional or academic training in IT but has acquired experience in the field.

Lawyer Mbeta capitalised on that and told the five-judge panel of the High Court sitting as Constitutional Court that the witness should not be considered as an expert on IT.

But on Friday at the start of friendly re-examination by lead lawyer for Chakwera, Mordecai Msisha SC, Bendulo was guided to explain his expertise in IT field.

Msisha guided Bendulo to explain to court his “competence in IT.”

In response Bendulo said: “My Lady, My Lords, I have professional skills in the IT field but not the academic qualifications for simple basic reason that I lost my mum and dad at the age of  9 years.

“But after finishing my MSCE, I was privileged to be part and parcel of the workshop that was organised by technocrats from Spain.”

Bendulo, who has been talking technical jargons on IT in court including his explanation of the Java Script, said for the past 13 years he has learnt programming, computer language and designing, photography and videography.

“I was the first Malawians in 2007 to be a video animator – an advanced stage of videography and Java Script,” said Bendulo.

He said his expertise is even recognised by the Malawi government.

“Ministry of Culture gave me a recommendation letter on the same,” he pointed out.

“So my skills that I acquired are mutisectoral, rotating from IT to multimedia and I have showcased these skills to Malawi government and foreign countries, for example the Road Traffic Department in Malawi I designed and directed the programme of Zapamseu.

Bendulo further told the court that he has been main IT expert for National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives of Malawi (Nonm).

“One of the most outstanding activities [I carried for Nonm] was to recover the data base of all the nurses that was accidentally deleted and formatted by one of their qualified IT expert and the organisation engaged a lot of companies within Malawi who are IT related and they rendered the situation impossible but I recovered the data within 3 days,” said Bendulo.

He continued: “The database from 1968 that Nonm have I retrieved using the computer skills of programming that I have.”

Bendulo said he also has a registered business that offers IT services in South Africa.

Commenting on Bendulo expertise without formal knowledge  Chris Chaima Banda, a development economist and long serving British civil servant, said most of talented people in the developed world derive their expertise from passion.

“Bendulo represents the raw talent in ICT that is derived from a passion. Most experts I have worked in complex technical areas of my work as a technocrat in the British Civil Service have not based their credit and know how on qualifications,” said Chaima Banda.

He said Bendulo stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Malawian self-made engineer William Kamkwamba, who is now a global phenomena from the humble villages as “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.”

Chaima Banda told Nyasa Times: “I applaud the rise of another young Malawian who believes in himself, self learnt and you can’t beat that propelling force of self intellectual enrichment in Bendulo.”

Outspoken writer and social media activist Stanley Onjezani Kenani wrote on Facebook about Bendulo: “I am writing this message on Facebook, a global phenomenon that was created by someone who does not possess a university degree, on a computer that was created by someone without a university degree, using Windows, created by someone without a university degree.

“It is, therefore, total nonsense to discredit a court witness who is an IT expert just because he does not have a university degree, especially if he has an impeccable record of providing IT solutions to reputable institutions, including government agencies.”

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