DPP Agrees With Judge's Wants; Conclusion of Mphwiyo Attempted Murder Case in May

DPP Agrees With Judge's Wants; Conclusion of Mphwiyo Attempted Murder Case in May

The Lilongwe High Court Judge has told both prosecution and defense lawyers for the case of attempt murder of former budget director Mr. Paul Mphwiyo to be concluded by the moth of May this year.

Justice Michael Mtambo said this on Wednesday evening before adjourning the case after finishing of cross examination by Pika Manondo's lawyer Gift Mwakhwawa since morning of the day.

"The judgement of this case should be in May" he said before adjourning the matter to 17, 18 and 19th of February where among others the court is to continue with cross examination by other lawyers Oswald Mtupila and Wapona Kita.

The judge observed that there should be no unnecessary adjournments and delays during cross examination and urged both parties to provide to the court all relevant documents so that there are no obstacles to delay the case.

Commenting on the judges proposal Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mary Kachale in an interview welcomed the decision saying "we are very glad to hear that the court is very committed in making sure we conclude this case with speed."

When the court convenes in weeks to come the court shall also hear an independent medical examination report from Psychiatrist pertaining to the state of Oswald Lutepo one of the accused in this case. The state is expected to bring the doctor in the court following a medical report submitted earlier to the court from Oswald Mtupila lawyer for Lutepo. The report indicates that Lutepo has developed an Anxiety Disorder a situation which may prevent him from making appearances at the court.

The lawyer said his client was admitted at Mzuzu MASM clinic and he is going to be reffered to Mzuzu hospital. But the state applied to the court to be given leave to obtain a independent doctor to examine Mr. Lutepo as to his fitness to stand trial.

The accused persons in the case of attempted murder of Mr. Mphwiyo are Raphael Kasambara, Pika Manondo, Dauka Manondo, MacDonald Kumwembe, Robert Kadzuwa and Oswald Lutepo answering the charges of conspiracy to murder and attempted murder.

Cross Examination

During cross examination Lawyer for Pika Manondo Mr. Gift Mwakhwawa quizzed Mr. Mphwiyo on several issues.

Mwakhwawa asked of Mphwiyo friendship with one of the accused Oswald Lutepo and how often he talked to former State President Dr. Joyce Banda.

The lawyer further inquired issues surrounding a note he wrote at the hospital hours after his shooting and reasons for his failure to hand it over to law enforcers. Mphwiyo said he wrote a note disclosing names of individuals responsible of his shooting and it was made available only to his wife, mother and aunt "in case" he died without telling his story. He also said he did not want to disclose that note to police for the safety of his family knowing that Raphael Kasambara (representing himself in this case) was then a Minister.

Much time on cross examination also was devoted on Mphwiyo's reactions to threats from the accused persons as well as information which Mr. Phwiyo got from a phone call from former Information Minister Brown James Mpinganjira alerting Mphwiyo that the accused persons have numbered days of his life to 10 days.

Mphwiyo who is the state witness told the court that he got numerous threats from the former Attorney General and Justice Minister Raphael Kasambara who used "agents" (other accused persons) forcing him to make dubious payments.

Mphwiyo said Pika Manondo "used to come to my house we would chat. Then they would tell me that it is good that you oblige to what the honorable Minister (Kasambara) is telling you because he is a dangerous persorn." Said Mphwiyo "But I did not believe he could be dangerous to the extent of killing a person."

He later told the court that he met with Mr. Kasambara to confront him on those threats but did not confront other accused persons for he thought they were just agents.

Later in the afternoon the cross examination continued particularly on ownership of vehicle which Mr. Mphwiyo was driving at the time of his shooting.

The shooting of Paul Mphwiyo led to revelation of cash gate scandal which involved public officers and other business persons as well as companies getting money from government through dubious payments. Both fake and well-known businesses were getting payments from government without provision of evidence of provision of service in relation to payments made or through over valued payments (inflamed procurement prices).

From the scam Malawi government lost billions of money and lost direct budget aid from countries that support Malawi government.