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Sister to former President Dr. Joyce Banda, Cecilia Kumpukwe has emerged victorious in case where she and three others were being accused of authoring State Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima’s resignation under then reign of President Peter Mutharika.
The High Court has since ordered government to compensate four individuals for false imprisonment, defamation and loss of business.
The four spent several days in police custody and were charged with making a false document contrary to Section 353 of the Penal Code, and publishing false news likely to cause fear and alarm among members of the public contrary to Section 60 (1) of the Penal Code.
They were granted court bail but the matter never went for full trial and fell through in January 2018, after the State failed to produce evidence to substantiate its claims.
The four sued the government in July 2018 hence the ruling.
Delivering his ruling, Judge Dingiswayo Madise faulted the police for arresting the four without proper investigations.
“There was no formal complaint. The police admitted that they acted on their own motion based on social media reports. There must be evidence pointing at the accused for the police to effect an arrest,” reads in part the ruling.
The other three are People’s Party (PP) spokesperson and Mzimba South East legislator Ackson Kalaile Banda, Stella Assani and Yesaya Mkwala.
