Kasambara risks struck off from Malawi law list after conviction

Malawi Law Society (MLS) officials say former justice minister Ralph Kasambara could be struck off from the list of accredited lawyers to practice  after  his convictiton on his conspiracy to murder case once the Attorney Peneral pens the Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda.

MLS secretary general  Khumbo Soko said after the sentencing, the Attorney General can write the chief justice so that the Senior Counsel ‘s name should be struck off the lawyer’s list.

“I am not sure if he is a registered member but his name is among those of lawyers in Malawi. This means there will be a disciplinary hearing after which the chief justice will deliver his judgement on whether Mr Kasambara should be a lawyer in Malawi or not,” he said.

He said as a person, he was saddened with an abrupt but sad end of Kasambara’s flying law career.

Kasambara said in an interview as he was being pushed into a waiting police car that the judge was compromised.

“We knew about it. There was no evidence…it is alright, it is alright we will survive it,” he said.

Some lawyers however said Kasambara stand a chance of winning the case on appeal because Judge Micheal Mtambo based his ruling on phone technology called GPS.

Social and political commentator Charles Simango criticised the judge over his “shameful” determination.

He  posted on Facebook his critique on the ruling .

“It is my finding that Pika Manondo was not at the scene of the crime during the time it was being committed… But in totality, it is my finding that Manondo committed the murder (at a place and time where I have just said he was not present). Thank Heavens the TV cameras were not having me in their sights at that time because they could have shown my very bewildered face. And that was just half way through the ruling but at that moment I knew we were finished – the judge has zero sense of logic or had deliberately decided to leave it at home. It just showed that he needed to get Manondo at whatever cost because if Manondo walked he could not get his main target. What a shame, what a shame.”