Broadcasting the trial of an ex-president:
BBC Online, on March 8th, 2011 reported that: “The trial has begun in Malawi of former President Bakili Muluzi on charges of corruption. The High Court dismissed an application on Monday to halt the trial on the grounds of Mr Muluzi’s ill health.
The former president has been accused of misappropriating about $11m (£7m) of funds from international donors.
Bakili Muluzi with President Peter Mutharika at State House (file photo)
He denies the charges – and has always said they were linked to his dispute with Bingu wa Mutharika who became president in 2004 after he stood down. Mr Muluzi was arrested in 2005 on charges of corruption, but the trial has been previously delayed because of his ill health.
The BBC’s Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says the former president was in court – and was seen for the first time using a walking stick.
“He was not his usual jocular self and asked for adjournments every 30 minutes to stretch his legs.” This was the legendary Raphael Tenthani, via BBC.”
Madness amidst the death of a sitting president:
About a year from the above announcement, President Bingu wa Mutharika died. Following his death, on one midnight of April in the year of our Lord 2012, darkness engulfed Malawi and insanity took the better of the politburo of the then ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Yet another prophecy by the celebrated Prophet TB Joshua had come to pass. And behold, they were all confused, apprehensive and despondent.
So serious was the confusion that straightforward Constitutional provisions on succession in the event of a president’s death or incapacitation appeared to them, to have been transcribed in Greek.
Topping the list of the confused were learned and distinguished lawyers of international repute including President Professor Mutharika, Dr. George Chaponda and Bright Msaka; all of them boasting catalogues of law degrees and certifications.
The deceased’s cabinet and top government officials consulted, plotted, waited, schemed, commiserated and most of all inordinately postponed announcing to a nation in suspense that ‘Chitsulo cha Njanje’, known throughout the twenty nine districts of Malawi and beyond, was no more.
Enter the Political Engineer:
It was then that former President Bakili Muluzi, a ranking elder who had been enjoying a cat and mouse relationship with the deceased and was in fact at this very time fighting the corruption which is the subject of this write up, weighed in and invited members of the media for a press conference.
Bakili Muluzi former Malawi president is allehged to have stolen over MK8 billion (at current exchange rate)
He said, without mincing words, that it was automatic that the vice-president (Mrs Joyce Banda) should take power until 2014. This, he insisted, was non-negotiable and anything other than this will be total haram.
“I am calling for a constitutional order for continued peace and order,” Muluzi told journalists at his BCA Hill residence in Limbe.
Let it be said for the record that the fact that the Vice President was eligible to succeed was plain from the terms of the Constitution.
The unnecessary conundrum that the DPP brought in: whether the vice president who had been dismissed from the party which had sponsored her vice presidency could succeed; was more their political problem than a constitutional issue. In other words, for DPP as a party, the chickens had merely come home to roost. A no-brainer.
And lo, constitutional order prevailed and President Joyce Banda was eventually sworn in amid much jubilation.
Settling the score:
One good turn deserves another and for his troubles, Bakili Muluzi’s son, Atupele Muluzi was deemed fit by Mrs Joyce Banda to be appointed a Cabinet Minister; and they seemed destined to live happily ever after.
This should have signalled the beginning of a lasting romance; which however did not endure. Why the affair did not linger, is not too difficult to fathom.
First, Malawi was heading towards General Elections. And before Bingu wa Mutharika’s death Atupele Muluzi (himself briefly incarcerated by Bingu); had been campaigning furiously, positioning himself as a serious contender.
Staying in the Peoples Party (PP) bandwagon meant that he had to keep quiet, concentrate on chewing his yellow-bun, and hence shelve his ambition.
Secondly, for the good deed above, what the Political Engineer had envisaged was not a cabinet post for his son. He had better plans for the boy.
He was pondering more about an end to his own trial which was forcing him to stay long periods in hospitals in Johannesburg. This, plus Atupele’s dilemma, meant that the Muluzis had to find a polite and quick way out of the unsought for cabinet post.
Finding a way out happened when some uncouth characters called Atupele names right in his backyard. The name calling, plus the fact that despite Muluzi’s April 6 intervention, the Joyce Banda administration was making no move towards sweeping under the carpet his father’s case, gifted him an opportunity to quit the cabinet and hence revive his 2014 bid under the sponsorship of his father’s pet, the United Democratic Front (UDF).
And in December 2012 Atupele Muluzi resigned from President Joyce Banda’s cabinet.
Chimps reap what they groom:
Hell, they say, has no fury like a woman scorned. In June – July 2013, the Joyce Banda administration abruptly recalled that there was a file gathering dust and after a long break, the time was ripe for Bakili Muluzi’s health to start acting up again.
The Daily Times of July 30th, 2013 faithfully chronicled the resumption of the case.
Banda is allegedly wanted by ACB for her alleged role in the cashgate scandal
“Former president Bakili Muluzi’s graft case is expected to resume after a ruling on whether or not the main State witness Victor Banda’s documented evidence should be tendered before the High Court.
This follows the defence’s moving of the court in May this year to block Banda from tendering evidence against Muluzi, describing it as mere hearsay which is against the order of the law.
“Right now we’re waiting for the court to make a ruling on the application we made to block the State witness [Banda] from tendering his evidence.
“Once a ruling is made of this application, surely proceedings in the matter would continue,” said one of Muluzi’s lawyers Jai Banda, adding they were waiting for the court to set date for the ruling.
Banda, an Assistant Director for Operations at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), had testified against the former president and was due to tender an analysis from bank statements and receipts to form part of State evidence.
However, lead defence lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale objected to tendering of such documents, saying it was secondary evidence not admissible in law.
In response, ACB lead prosecutor David Nyamirandu defended the tendering of the documents; telling the court that the documents Banda was about to tender in court were observations and analyses made by Banda himself hence should be allowed.
Judge Mclean Kamwambe, who was presiding over the matter, ordered that the documents be put on hold until such a time the court makes a ruling on the matter. The matter was adjourned indefinitely to allow Muluzi travel and attend the 50 Anniversary of the Organisation of African Union/African Union in Ethiopia.”
Muluzi went, returned, and nothing more has been heard about this case.
Yet another false start:
This proved to be yet another false start to the conclusion of the case, a case that has been characterised by a lack of urgency on the part of both the prosecution and the accused on account of sickness.
Since then, in other spheres, a lot has happened.
Fast facts:
Joyce Banda did not survive the May 2014 election. A new government is in town led by none other than Prof Peter Mutharika – the same one of midnight 6 madness.
Secondly, Atupele is back in government in a deal secured under an unclear coalition with the UDF, his father’s pet.
Thirdly and more importantly, Muluzi Senior’s lead defence attorney, Kalekeni Kaphale Esq. who presumably believed in his client’s innocence, is now the Attorney General.
Fourthly, Bakili Muluzi is now a de fact ambassador at large who goes on international errands for Pres. Peter Mutharika as if he has no health problems or a case to answer.
Finally, there are two new hit songs in Malawi; one called Federation and the other Secession. And hearing these songs makes Prof Mutharika blood pressure shoot. I will allow you to listen to these tunes later, but first allow me to put everything all the issues above in their proper context.
The Ganda Analysis:
The trial of Bakili Muluzi has never been closer to being swept under the carpet than now. Why?
First and foremost is the fact that Bakili Muluzi’s Lead Defence Counsel is now the Attorney General (AG).
Now, some lawyers, the barefooted types I should add, will try to give us some gibberish that the AG will not interfere with the case blah blah … This is of course nonsense. A fallacy of the highest order.
We all know how things work in practice in our tiny but turbulent Malawi.
The independence of prosecutors, as we speak, is being tested to the limit and you and I know the hell the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and his team are going through whenever mention is made about the “Republic vs. Muluzi and Others” in the Ministry of Justice.
More likely than not, the file will go missing, or check this: fires will burn all the evidence.
Secondly, as long as Atupele Muluzi ‘behaves’ in as far as the Mutharika Administration is concerned; his father will be a free man, visiting hospitals when he indeed has malaria or hypertension, a normal occurrence in a man of his age.
If Atupele continues to serve as one of Mutharika’s good boys, his father will not all of a sudden need to see doctors in South Africa.
Mphwiyo’s shooting led to the discovery of the cashgate scandal
Thirdly, and this is where things are tricky for Pres. Arthur Peter Mutharika: assuming that Atupele Muluzi has the balls, and quits this government like he did with the Joyce Banda administration, Atupele will have a good reason to fear for dear papa; but on the other side of the scale, Mutharika will be sweating.
Why?
I will now rise to chant the twin hits of “Federation” and “Secession” – Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s worst nightmares.
Never mind the strange voting pattern of May 20, 2014; the Eastern Region is the playground of the Muluzis. And the moment Papa Muluzi’s case is resuscitated, we will hear a chant for the federation spiced with choruses of secession melodies from the Eastern Region, a region which hitherto been ‘strangely’ quiet in this hot debate.
I will leave this at that.
Predicament is the word:
I want to conclude with a word or two on our main subject matter: Muluzi’s graft trial, which is going by all the above, as dead as leaves on a painted canvas.
The implications of withdrawing the charges against Muluzi, charges supported and pursued by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) under three different level-headed counsels: Counsel Gustave Kaliwo, Counsel Alexander Nampota and Counsel Nyamirandu, will be dire for Malawi.
There is no question about the indisputability of the case per se. The man has a case to answer. The case should be allowed to run its course, and a verdict dispensed.
If Muluzi is innocent, the courts should acquit him and let him will walk without Atupele marrying into each and every government that comes along.
If he is found guilty, he should be appropriately sentenced to send a strong message that in Malawi, no one is above the law. This message is the key to re-opening aid taps.
This can and will boost Mutharika’s laughable claim as a champion in the fight against graft.
But at the pace we are going, and given the fact that the defence lawyer is now the AG, as long as young Atupele plays ball with Mutharika, the likelihood of this case seeing the light of day is very much in doubt.
Add to this the double-insurance that Muluzi has, his being the undisputed Godfather of eastern region politics; Mutharika needs big balls to pull this one off. As argued above, Atupele’s new-found rapport with Mutharika aside, the day that the new Director of Public Prosecutions summons Bakili Muluzi back to court, will be the day that you and I will learn what Federation and Secession are called in the Yao dialect.
Does Mutharika have the guts? Only time will tell. And will the Mutharika-Muluzi tete-a-tete survive beyond 2019? Only Chilima will solve this one. But Lucas Kondowe, the new Czar of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has his work cut out.
*This article was first published on Nyasatimes.
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