African Court orders Malawi Government to pay citizen K200m

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has ordered Malawi Government to pay K200 million to a Malawian whose father’s property was forfeited during the autocratic rule of MCP in 1976.

An 11-member panel led by the court’s president Imani Aboud, which made its decision on June 23, also ordered Malawi to pay the applicant, Harold Mbalanda Munthali and his eight siblings, K1 million each as moral damages.

The court, established under the African Union, learnt during the hearing in Arusha, Tanzania that the Malawi Government through MCP Pioneers forfeited property that included lands and houses and some movables belonging to Harold’s father, a wealthy businessperson, and at the time of his death in 2010, he had only managed to recover part of the property.

Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended the case whose complaint was lodged in 2017.

Malawi representatives that defended the case were Ministry of Justice senior State advocate Lumbani Mwafulirwa alongside Ministry of Foreign Affairs chief legal officer Mabvuto Katemula and principal legal officer Oliver Gondwe.