Court insists on December 6 deadline
The Constitutional Court hearing the elections case in Lilongwe Wednesday insisted that it would conclude hearing the case by December 6.
Chairperson of the five-judges panel hearing the case, Healey Potani, disclosed this at the end of hearing Wednesday.
Potani, however, did not shed light on when Malawians should expect judgement of the case as well as on the deadlines for written submissions by lawyers.
This was after lawyer for Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Senior Counsel Mordecai Msisha, had indicated that he would conclude re-examining his last witness, Daud Suleman, today.
Msisha had started re-examining Suleman Wednesday afternoon after Suleman concluded taking questions from Frank Mbeta, who is representing Democratic Progressive Party torchbearer, Peter Mutharika.
According to a schedule of the case announced by Potani Wednesday, the court is expected to start hearing from the defendants of the case this afternoon.
Mutharika, who is the first respondent in the case, is expected to parade two witnesses, Ben Phiri and Bob Chimkango.
Potani said when the court rises at noon Friday, it would resume sitting again on November 25.
By the end of business on Friday, the case would have clocked 49 days since it started on August 8.
“We are planning to finish the hearing by December 6. I must emphasise, it’s the hearing and not the judgement which means that when we are planning ahead, we must plan in such a way that when we come on 25th of November, we will have two weeks. Hopefully, the respondent’s cases would be concluded by then,” Potani said.
Hearing of the case continues in Lilongwe this morning when Msisha would continue re-examining Suleman.
