By Pemphero Malimba:
Former Cabinet ministers Vitumbiko Mumba and Jessie Kabwila have pleaded not guilty in a case where they are being accused of publishing false information likely to disturb public peace.
This transpired during a hearing at the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court Monday.
Senior Resident Magistrate Bracious Kondowe has since adjourned the hearing of the case to April 27, 2026.
Kondowe made the adjournment following a request from the State.
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Principal State advocate Festas Sakanda asked the court to adjourn the matter to allow the State to prepare its witnesses.
“The State will be notifying the court within 48 hours on the number of witnesses that we have,” Sakanda told the court.
Kondowe said the State should furnish the court and the defence with a list of witnesses in the specified 48-hour period.
“I am adjourning the case to 27 April to ensure that there are no excuses from the State and the defence. This will also allow defence lawyer [George Jivason Kadzipatike] and Mumba to attend parliamentary proceedings [which end on April 10, 2026],” he said.
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Sakanda also ruled that the State should start parading its witnessed on the adjourned date.
Earlier, during the hearing, the court dismissed an application made by Mumba through defence lawyer Khumbo Soko.
Soko wanted the court to discharge Mumba in the case.
“The disclosures that we have do not include a list of witnesses that the State has in the case. Where we are, the intended evidence should be tendered to the accused person. The [first] accused person [Mumba] should see the evidence. First things first, you need to inform the accused person the disclosures of the case,” Soko said.
However, Sakanda asked the court to dismiss the submission, saying the defence should not be worried with the issue of disclosures of the case.
“If the accused [person] believes that there is no evidence, then the proper procedure [is] to take plea and allow the prosecution to proceed with its case. If they believe that there is no evidence, then they should be happy [that the State has no evidence to support their case],” he said.
In his ruling, Kondowe dismissed the application.
“This application should be dismissed because I had an opportunity to look at the paper [disclosures] but I can see a name of the person who should come to the court. I would agree that there is no summary but there is evidence,” Kondowe said.
He said the State witness needed to appear before the court whether he or she had enough evidence or not.
In an interview, Soko expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling on Mumba’s application.
“The disclosures are inadequate and that will compromise our preparations but we are an experienced defence counsel; we have been here before. We have handled this [before]; so, we will be able to deal with the matter.
“There is always room for us to escalate the matter to the High Court,” he said.
Mumba and Kabwila are accused of committing the offence in September last year.
They are accused of publishing information that alleged electoral fraud by the Democratic Progressive Party before the announcement of official results for the September 16, 2025 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections.
