The High Court in Lilongwe has dismissed the application for judicial review filed by recalled diplomats to Washington DC.
Edward Sawerengera, who was appointed diplomat to Washington DC on a 36-month contract that expired on 19th April 2018 and was recalled by the Lazarus Chakwera government, has, together with other diplomats, been resisting homecoming.
The Malawi Government had, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, given the diplomats December 31 2021 as the deadline to return to Malawi or risk their diplomatic status quashed. This was the latest attempt by the government to have the diplomats return home amid growing reports of resistance from most of them.
However, Sawerengera and the other recalled diplomats from New York and Washington in the United States (US) obtained an injunction stopping the Malawi Government and its agents from recalling them.
But delivering the ruling on 20th January, 2022, Judge Simeon Mdeza has dismissed the claimants’ application.
“In view of the foregoing, I proceed to dismiss the claimant’s application for permission to commence judicial review proceedings and the application for stay. Accordingly, the interim order staying the implementation of the implementation of the Defendant’s decision contained in his letter of 15th December 2021, that I made on 14th January 2021 is discharged,” the judge ruled.
The development means the government can implement the repatriation of the recalled diplomats.
