Dr Chikosa Silungwe and Co’ the saving grace for Malawi’s future
It is a well known fact that the ongoing case that has gripped the nation is being keenly followed from outside the court room.
That being the case, the brilliance of the opposition lawyers holding the hopes of majority Malawians with their learned arguments is not lost on some of us who on Friday witnessed first hand the exceptional thought processes our very own Malawian sons put in their petitions that successfully swayed judges to make a favorable ruling.
Dr. Chikosa Silungwe stands out not only because of his dominating tall stature but the brilliance he exudes each time he takes the floor in court.
Let me just highlight what could have happened had judge Charles Mkandawire not determined that UTM and MCP parties should have a joined up case. It is not lost on some of us that Judge Mkandawire did MCP a great favour in all honesty their case should have been thrown out on numerous irregularities that have also been highlighted by the five Constitutional judges.
Case in point, MEC’s and APM’s second application was that Chakwera should be removed from participating in the proceedings because he did not qualify as a petitioner, since, it was argued, there was no petition from him before the court within the first 7 days of the announcement of results by MEC on May 27.
Additionally, a third application was made, also against Chakwera, praying the court to dismiss the petition he submitted to the court on June 3rd, since, it was argued, that his petition was “irregular, incompetent, embarrassing, incurably defective”, and potentially fraudulent.
The judges ruled on both applications and acknowledged that both the petition they were served by Chakwera’s lawyers had irregularities in the form of clerical errors related to collation of pages, but these did not appear in what Chakwera’s lawyers had served to the rest of the parties, including the judges.
This should give us a clue of the legal minds on Chakweras team, had it not been for Chilimas case going before Chakweras it is very likely that the case would have been thrown out on the basis of serious irregularities.
Similarly, the court further found that Chakweras case as a petitioner was clouded with other errors related to court fees and receipts though the court dismissed both applications against Chakwera by President Peter Mutharika’s lawyers they gave much needed guidance to Chakwera’s legal team as to how to procedurally correct such serious errors highlighted by the third application which Mutharika lawyers could have easily taken advantage of.
In short even though they were serious errors of irregularities made by Chakweras legal team, the court rejected the view that they were incurable in nature. And so Chakwera’s petition was ruled lawful so through only the leniency of the court having already ruled the case to continue based on Chilimas petition saw it fit and proper for Chakweras petition to stand.
In summary in the absence of Chilimas petition, there would be no case for opposition. One loud mouth social media commentator Ben Chiza Mkandawire said of Dr. Chikosa Silungwe “He is by far the best legal mind in Malawi right now” Ben further said “DPP have stupid lawyers…you cannot fight amtanga with street lawyers”
As UTM and MCP legal teams move forward it is hoped that the case can be taken out through the media so that the public can witness history being written.
I for one I am reassured of the humble Dr Chikosa Silungwe’s presence in this case. He has publicly given credit to his team who he calls “the best legal minds”. Make no mistake the best legal minds chose him to lead them for a reason. Dr Chikosa Silungwe is a legal guru no question.
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