Malawi top prosecutor warns more arrests of treason suspects: Chiume not off the hook
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kulemba has warned of more arrests in a treason trial after a commission of inquiry that investigated circumstances sorrounding the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika revealed a plot to stop then Malawi Vice-President Joyce Banda from assuming the presidency.
Kulemba said the arrest of the 11 people who included Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) interim leader Peter Mutharika and former Chief Secretary of State Bright Msaka, for allegedly wanting to circumvert constitutional order by blocking Banda from ascending to the office of president following Mutharika’s death, isn’t the end.
“The report is but one of the many issues that have been looked into by the investigation. The arrest of the 11 doesn’t mean the end. There could be more, depending on what transpires,” Kalemba told Nation on Sunday.
He told the paper that the State is tracking some people who are believed to have had a hand in the plot.
According to the report, over 30 people were implicated. These include all cabinet ministers except Reenie Kachere who was unwell at the time and George Chaponda who was out of the country.
The Ministers are said to have unanimously endorsed a statement that was read out on public television station MBC by a team of six ministers, denouncing Joyce Banda and former president Bakili Muluzi’s calls that the constitution be adhered to.
Among other suspects earmarked for arrests incude former presidential legal advisor Allan Ntata currently in the United Kingdom where he went after the death of Mutharika.
Ntata lso accused the regime of shielding former minister of justice, Ephraim Mganda Chiume for the role he played in the transitional plot.
And Malawi Law Society (MLS) secretary Felisah Kilembe has called on government to treat everyone involved in the Mutharika death saga equally.
“We cannot competently comment on the propriety of leaving out certain individuals who some may believe should have been arrested,” said Kilembe as quoted by the paper.
National Police spokesperson, Rhoda Manjolo, has also confirmed that police are conducting further investigations into the matter.
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