By Pemphero Malimba:
The Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court has stopped the State from conducting a search at Namuleri Farms Limited in Kasungu District.
The property belongs to the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Simplex Chithyola Banda.
This is according to an order issued by the court following an application by Chithyola’s lawyer George Jivason Kadzipatike.
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The order is dated December 16, 2025.
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Kadzipatike confirmed the development on Tuesday. According to an affidavit, Kadzipatike indicated that the State had obtained a search warrant to enter and search the firm’s premises on allegations that it was in possession of farm fertiliser which was acquired unlawfully.
However, Kadzipatike argued that the search warrant was vague, irregularly obtained and is premised on frivolous grounds.
“[For] that [reason] I repeat the contents of paragraph 4 above and state that the search warrant does not bear full particulars of the fertiliser which the applicant allegedly acquired illegally,” the affidavit reads.
It also indicates that the search warrant does not provide the quantity of fertiliser which was acquired unlawfully by the applicant as alleged by the respondent.
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“The search warrant does not particularise the exact time when the said fertiliser was allegedly acquired by the applicant unlawfully. [The search warrant] does not indicate serial numbers or batch numbers of the bags of fertiliser which, according to the respondent [State], was acquired by the application unlawfully. [The search warrant] does not indicate the type of the fertiliser which the applicant allegedly acquired unlawfully,” the affidavit reads.
The affidavit further indicates that Kadzipatike was informed that the fertiliser in question was lawfully purchased by the company from different suppliers, including ETG Inputs Limited, and that the company had produced the receipts before the court.
“There are now produced to me receipts from some of the suppliers where from the applicant herein purchased the fertiliser in issue marked GJK 1, GJK2, GJK3, GJK4, GJK5 and GJK6. [I hold] that the respondent should have easily accessed the exhibited receipts from the applicant if it had conducted inquiries,” it indicates.
It further indicates that the court should not have issued the search warrant.
The search warrant in question is said to have been obtained by the State on December 15, 2025.
And, in the order, the court indicates that the order stands, pending a hearing in the court.
“It is ordered that the execution of the search warrant which was obtained by the State in this matter on the 15th December 2025 be, and is hereby, stayed pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s applications for an order setting the search warrant aside,” the order reads.
The order further indicates that an inter partes hearing would take place on Thursday this week.
