Malawi men can’t leave their phones to wives – Judge Mtambo
Malawi men do not leave their mobile gadgets to be accessed by their wives , apparently for fear of snooping, this was observed in a recent court ruling made by Judge Micheal Mtambo.
“My own view is that cellphones are personal to holder and are not given to spouses for the obvious reason that the communications are personal,” stated Mtambo in the shooting f former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
“The average Malawian man will not want his wife to have unfettered opportunities to intercept some private calls as this brings family disputes,” the judge added.
It is legal to snoop in spouse phone¸ Snooping usually reflects a spouse’s loss of trust. And that loss of trust is usually caused by red flags.
Former Justice minister Ralph Kasambara was found with a case to answer on the charge of conspiracy to murder but was exonerated in attempted murder charge.
The court found Pika Manondo and Macdonald Kumwembe—with a case to answer on attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges.
The judge made the observations on the phones as the call logs submitted as evidence from Airtel Malawi influenced the decision to have Kasambara, Manondo and Kumwembe remaining on the conspiracy to commit murder charge sheet as it showed that the three were constantly communicating prior to and after the shooting occurred.
Kasambara sarcastically described Mtambo’s reasoning on Airtel call logs as ‘new principles’.
The Judge pointed out that although Kumwembe said he was in Mozambique at the time of the shooting, Airtel evidence puts him in Lilongwe on the day of the shooting.
In cross-examination, it was implied that he left the phone with his wife, but Mtambo said “it is an unwarranted stretch of the mental faculties to fathom that the wife would in the absence of the husband be criss crossing the country and communicating with friends of the husband immediately before and after the shooting of Paul Mphwiyo even at odd hours. “
He said the case of the top government or company official who gives their phone to a personal assistant to attend to official calls is a different matter.
“You would not expect the personal assistant to be calling friends of the boss incessantly in the wee hours of the night as was the case at hand. The most they would do is to receive calls and keep a tag of the messages for the boss to attend to when available.”
Mtambo stated that the submission that the call logs are not evidence of a conspiracy because there are no voice recordings is a “ hollow argument”.
He said: “ Would one expect Airtel to be recording its customers’ conversations in the light of the heated litigation that arose with the introduction of the so called spy machine? Obviously not. “
Mphwiyo was shot at the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe on September 13 2013.
Businessperson Oswald Lutepo, Robert Kadzuwa and Dauka Manondo were acquitted in the conspiracy to commit murder charges they were facing
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