The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has announced that it has arrested Balaka First Grade Magistrate Phillip Chibwana and a Court Clerk Feston Chauma.
According to the ACB public statement released yesterday, the arrest took place on Monday, 7th October 2024 following reports that the two solicited and received K300,000 bribe to facilitate a suspect’s release on court bail.
The duo is expected to be charged with offences relating to soliciting and receiving money in corruption and abuse of public office.
Ironically, on 11th October 2022, Magistrate Chibwana sentenced three men to 24 years each in jail for armed robbery. In pronouncing his verdict Magistrate Chibwana stated that he hopes the sentences would serve as a lesson to would-be offenders.
Two years down the line, the Magistrate himself has turned out a potential offender. According to various ACB litigations, misuse of public office is contrary to section 25B (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act and carries a maximum sentence of twelve years.
Magistrate Philip Chibwana is not new to controversy. While trying a defilement case in 2021, he ordered the defilement victim to fondle the suspect’s penis in court for the court to appreciate if the accused suspect could afford an erection.
The suspect had raised a defense that he had erectile dysfunctional therefore could not defile anyone and anything. The incident was reported to the Judicial Service Commission which, last year, launched an investigation into the conduct.
Traditionally, judges and Magistrates in Malawi have been untouchables in the face of numerous allegations of misuse of their public office.
The development in relation to these arrests trumpet a new era and boosts confidence in the rule of law agenda, championed by President Lazarus Chakwera, in which law exists as a tool that reaches out not only to protect everyone, but also to punish anyone indiscriminately.
