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The Law Society on Tuesday accused Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Ishmael Wadi of acting in a way which does not tally with the Constitution and the legal system by declaring that party supporters or anyone accompanying suspects to court during trial risk being arrested for unlawful assembly.
Media reports indicated that the DPP does not need spectators at the courts and that he will be charging both the supporters and those who ferry them to the court for unlawful assembly and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.
But Malawi Law Society (MLS) treasurer Alick Msowoya said the DPP’s intentions are “just unfortunate in a democratic society as ours”.
He said people have a Constitutional right to associate and that when they associate they become interested in the affairs of each other.
“It is not something outrageous for people to be interested in court cases. Unless the court itself declares otherwise, court proceedings are public,” said Msowoya.
He said the fact that journalists cover proceedings, the court agrees that what happens within its premises is for public consumption.
“It is not therefore proper for the DPP to make such a sweeping statement,” said Msowoya.
UDF director of legal affairs Peter Fachi also accused the DPP of trying to erode Constitutional rights, saying high profile cases always attract the public interest and said this has previously been observed when former president Kamuzu Banda and MCP president John Tembo were being tried.
“I never saw anything wrong when all these MCP supporters were dancing at the courts,” said Fachi, who was Attorney General in the last general election.
He said there is nothing wrong with people going to the courts as long as their assembly is peaceful.
“The DPP has no powers to stop this. In fact to pretend that he has such powers, the DPP is breaching the peace of the nation,” said Fachi.
Prominent lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale also spoke against the DPP saying he is misleading the nation.
“Is going to court unlawful? Even the validity of the very offence of unlawful association in the Penal Code is now being questioned. I find the DPP’s remarks extremely disturbing ,” said Kaphale.
UDF national executive member Dumbo Lemani challenged the DPP’s remarks, saying he will be organising trucks to ferry whoever wants to go to court, pay them lunch allowance and have sureties ready to bail them out.
“I have put aside K20 million ($185,185) just for this exercise,” said Lemani.
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