Zomba court reinstates Bon Kalindo’s first count
By Jarson Malowa, Contributor:
The Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Zomba has maintained that Mulanje- South legislator, Bon Kalindo, must answer the first count of allegedly insulting President Peter Mutharika.
Earlier, the court removed the first count in the case, where Kalindo is accused of disorderly conduct at Balaka Police Station where he went to visit his party UTM leader Saulos Chilima’s aides who had been arrested for allegedly behaving suspiciously at Chiwanja cha Ayao event which President Peter Mutharika graced.
But in court proceedings Tuesday, the court entered Kalindo a plea of not guilty on the two counts of insulting the President and disorderly conduct at the police station.
The State was ready for trial in the case but it failed to start because Kalindo’s lawyer, Bright Theu, was unavailable and was represented by his colleague, Zwelithini Chipembere.
However, Chief Resident Magistrate Mzondi Mvula ruled that trial would run from March 12 to 13 2019 on condition that Theu must be present.
“The suspect is a Member of Parliament and he is expected to attend to parliamentary proceedings from March 23; so, we need to speed up all matters surrounding the case,” Mvula said.
State lawyer, Steven Kayuni, said the first count has been reinstated after reviewing the court’s documents.
“It is normal to have a case removed and reinstated because we cross-check court documents in every case, now it is only disappointing that the defence lawyer was absent even though we were ready with State witnesses,” Kayuni said.
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