I’m not God to know everything – Chakwera

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera  defended himself why he did not know some things in his petition case  for the May 21 presidential elections , saying it is only God who knows everything.

Chakwera, giving testimony under cross-examination, was pinned by  ttorney General (AG) Kelekeni Kaphale, who is representing the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), on why as a leader of the major party he did not know some things in his own petition.

The Attorney General dismissed Chakwera as a witness lacking knowledge of both the law, the contents of his own petition and election process.

But Chakwera, a former church cleric, said in his phoney American accent: “It is only God who knows everything. I am not God to know everything.”

On several occasions Chakwera said his witnesses will “demonstrate” to court the alleged irregularities.

Nonetheless, Chakwera outlined  his main arguments on the various contentious issues under dispute, telling the court that he is challenging the validity of the results based on the use of 176 tally sheets which had correction fluid (Tippex) on it, the use of 70 duplicate sheets instead of originals and some 634 manually altered tally sheets.

This, Chakwera told the court, constituted some one million of the votes officially tallied and occurred in 78 out of 193 constituencies across the country.

The MCP president argued that such an occurrence could not be ignored as a coincidence or legitimate forced errors, saying these actions constituted irregularities contrary to both the law and processes of the law as announced to the parties by the electoral body, but also in its published manuals.

Chakwera , alongside UTM presidential candidate Saulos Chilima, is disputing the narrow re-election of incumbent President and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Peter Mutharika, at the Constitutional Court.

So far Chakwera has faced set-backs as the court  could not  allow him to insert documents which were inadvertently omitted in the sworn statements of Peter Lackson, Daud Suleman, Anthony Bendulo and legislator Eisenhower Mkaka.

The five-judge panel, through Justice Mike Tembo, rejected the application by his lawyer, agreeing with lawyers representing President Peter Mutharika and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) that it would mean bringing new evidence.

The case has since been adjourned to September 30, when it will resume for another three weeks—to October 18.

When it resumes on September 30, lawyers for Mutharika will start cross-examining Chakwera, before other MCP witnesses step in the witness stand.