Dausi, Ex-wife Fights in Court over Matrimonial Property

Former DPP Spokesperson and Mwanza Central parliamentarian Nicholus Dausi could face serious legal implications for failure to cooperate with a court order that decreed he shares some of his property with his wife, Veronica Nyirenda, whom they were married for twelve years.

A court document, Matrimonial Cause NO 4452 of 2021 between 31-year-old Veronica Nyirenda – as petitioner – and Nicholas Dausi – as respondent – also reprimands the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on perjury for lying under oath.

Nyirenda said he has been separated with Dausi for the last half a decade over “irreconcilable differences of promiscuity and ill-treatment” on the part of the latter.

The protracted divorce and property sharing dispute are now before the Mzuzu High Court after Dausi failed to honor the junior court order.

According to a judgment, as delivered by Principal Resident Magistrate Peter Kandulu in Mzuzu, Nyirenda was awarded four motor vehicles [Toyota Ist MN 4554, Toyota Corolla MN 3515, Mitsubishi Pick UP MN 4682, and Mitsubishi Canter MN 4095.

Nyirenda was also awarded two houses: one in Kanjedza and another at Mwanza Boma. She was also awarded 30 cows out of the 105 at their Majete Farm.

“When I was getting married to him in 2005, he [Dausi] had nothing and was not employed. Everything we owned was acquired between 2005 and 2016,” Nyirenda said.

During the said period Dausi got to party and government job positions during the DPP regime under Bingu and Peter Mutharika.

But Dausi said under oath that he did not own as much property as Nyirenda alleged and that most of it were for his son – Mwai Dausi. The court dismissed Dausi’s defense line.

“The court finds that in the absence of documentary evidence adduced by the Respondent to prove the Kanjeza house was purchased before he got married to the Applicant in 2005, means that the house is a matrimonial property which is subject to distribution by this court. It is my finding.

“On the issue of the house at Kunenekude in Mwanza, the Applicant has been so consistent with her evidence. She went further to submit in her last submission, that the house in Kunenekude was constructed by Mota Engil. The house was given to the family as a gift after it was constructed by Mota Engil.

“She submitted that she did not want to testify this in open court in order to protect the Respondent’s reputation being a father to her children. But since the Respondent has decided to furnish the court with lies, she submitted that she felt compelled and duty-bound to give an account on how Kunenekude’s house was acquired.

“The Respondent’s final submission has alleged that the kunenekude’s house belongs to his son. His son had been sending him money to construct the said house. He has not provided any bank transfer slips as evidence to prove that his son used to send him money to construct the said kunenekude’s house.

“In the absence of the documentary evidence to counter the evidence of the Applicant, it is my finding that the Kunenekude house is a matrimonial property subject to distribution by the court,” reads part of the judgment.

It adds: “Having received the findings from the Police and having noted that the Respondent had told the court lies in respect of the matrimonial properties alleged to have been collected by the Applicant, the court on its own motion ordered the Road Traffic Directorate Services to provide details of the motor vehicles held in the Respondent’s name. The Road Traffic Directorate Services provided the lists as below:

“1. Toyota VX MN 8, 2. Mitsubishi Canter MN 4095, 3. Toyota Hilux MN 4103, 4. Toyota Ist MN 4554, 5. Toyota Corolla MN 3515, 6. Nissan Terrano MN 2633, 7. Toyota D5 MN 4919, 8. Land Rover MN 5134, 9. Toyota Prado MN 4574, 10. Toyota Hilux MN 9644, 11. Nissan March MN 80, 12. BWM BV 4605, 13. Apollo MN 800, 14. Ranger Rover MN 5776, 15. Scania MN 5777, 16. Scania MN 8801, 17. Mercedes Benz MN 462, 18. Nissan Vanette MN 4683, 19. Mitsubishi Pick MN 4682 20. Land Rover NHD 1 21. Mitsubishi Pick MN 4684”

“Three motor vehicles on the lists namely Mercedes Benz MN 462, Ranger Rover MN 5776 and BWM BV 4606 are duty-free hence they are controlled by MRA and they are held in the name of the Respondent.”

Meanwhile, Nyirenda is still looking up to the courts for remedy and now survives on a K30 000 monthly salary from a shop in Mzuzu where she works as a shop attendant.