Now the nozzles are tightening for embattled Vice President Saulos Chilima after Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda told the media that he expects the Director of Public Instructions (DPP) Masauko Chamkakala to act on his instructions to allow the legal juggernaut Mordecai Msisha to prosecute the vice president and other suspects in their corruption cases. Earlier, former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steven Kayuni refused to allow Msisha to prosecute the cases before he was removed from the position last month.
“The expectation is that the DPP is going to act on my instruction. So, of course, I haven’t followed up with him, but that is what is going to be the expectation,” Chakaka told the local media.
Chakaka Nyirenda in a letter to the DPP said that he expected the office of the DPP to rescind its decision to withhold consent on the matter.
Reads the letter in part: “After careful consideration of your decision, I am of the view that you should revisit your decision rejecting the appointment of Mr. Modecai Msisha, SC as a public prosecutor in the specific cases that the Anti-Corruption Bureau [ACB] provided or is about to provide.
“As a condition of the appointment, and as is the case with any other lawyer appointed, as a public prosecutor you should require Mr. Modecai Msisha to submit to your office and the ACB progress reports regarding the matter(s) where consent has been granted for him to prosecute.”
Nyirenda said the appointment should be for specific cases, and not a blanket appointment for all cases.
When contacted, Chamkakala said he will not be making comments on issues of daily processes, but rather, “the interest should be when the issues get into court because that will be public space.”
When the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma requested the Attorney General to allow Msisha to prosecute the case, she “needed someone sober and mature, someone with the gravitas to be able to handle such an issue and that is why we settled for SC Msisha.”
The Malawi Vice President who is currently on bail was slapped with six charges for allegedly receiving a $280 000 (about K290 million) bribe from businessperson Zuneth Sattar to secure government contracts. He was charged with three counts of corrupt practices by a public officer contrary to Section 24(1) of the Corrupt Practices Act; two counts of receiving advantage for using influence in regard to contracts contrary to Section 29 (1) (b) of the Corrupt Practices Act. The sixth count is failing to make a full report to a police officer or an officer of the ACB that an advantage had been corruptly given contrary to Section 36 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act.
