Deputy Police Chief blocks Chakwera’s disciplinary order on Chizuma’s arrest

The High Court in Lilongwe has granted Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG Administration) Happy Mkandawire leave for judicial review in a matter where he is being investigated for allegedly defying President Lazarus Chakwera’s order.

The matter relates to the arrest and release of Anti-Corruption Bureau Director General Martha Chizuma last year over a leaked audio, where Chakwera said Mkandawire and Casper Chalera (DIG Operations) defied his orders to release Chizuma unconditionally.

The President had asked the Inspector General of Police Merlyne Yolamu to refer the conduct of her two deputies to the Malawi Police Service Commission to determine the extent of their insubordination and for appropriate consequences to be meted out.

But Mkandawire, through Jivason and Company, has argued in court that the said Commission does not have the mandate to do that, but the IG, saying, that is prescribed under Section 54 (2) of the Police Act.

In an order dated March 22 2023, Justice William Msiska of the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe has since granted Mkandawire an order for leave for judicial review and an injunction, restraining the Commission from proceeding with any inquiry into the matter until determination of the judicial review or any further order of the court.
Both Mkandawire and his lawyer George Jivason Kadzipatike confirmed in brief responses about the court’s directives.