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Justice Minister Henry Phoya and Director of Public Prosecutions Ishmael Wadi are expected to appear before the legal affairs committee of Parliament to explain why President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned three treason suspects before they were convicted by a court of law.
“The meeting will take place before the sitting of Parliament in March,” said Clerk of Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe when confirming the two senior government officials would appear before the committee chaired by Atupele Muluzi, the son of former head of state Bakili Muluzi..
Gondwe was also explaining why the meeting in question was not on the schedule of the committee’s meetings.
“This meeting was not scheduled on the issued programme because the development took place after the programme had already come out,” he said.
Mutharika pardoned deputy Transport Minister Roy Commsy, UDF’s returned prodigal son Harry Thomson and Mangochi Northeast MP Alfred Mwechumu who were found with firearms at the gates of the Sanjika Palace in Blantyre.
Mutharika said he pardoned the trio for purposes of reconciliation and nation building.
The committee will also grill the two officials over “the public perception about the wrangle between the Minister of Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions as reported in The Nation newspaper issues of 10th and 14th December 2004 and the Daily Times of 10th December 2004”.
The Justice Minister is expected to be quizzed and pressed to name the trio which, he alleged, exists in government and is going about milking Asians.
The meeting is scheduled for January 18 at Cresta Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.
The DPP is expected to explain why he turned around within hours of alleging that Phoya was facing a number of corruption cases ready for trial.
He made the allegation in a memo he wrote Anti Corruption Bureau Director Gustave Kaliwo asking to him to ask Phoya about the alleged existence of a trio.
Wadi was reacting to reported rumour mill allegations that the trio comprises him, Chief of Staff Ken Zikhale Ng’oma and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara.
The committee will also seek the DPP’s explanation on the discontinuation of criminal case number 2P of 2001: The Republic versus Patrick Michael Phikiso and criminal case number 13 of 2000: The Republic versus Adam Preston Bwanausi Jere.
Others are criminal case number 65 of 2004: The Republic versus Elvis Thodi and criminal case number 342 of 2003: The Republic versus Wendy Lissy Subila.
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