CSOs in court today for Chaponda’s contempt of court case

A grouping of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) will be in court today lodging a contempt of court case against George Chaponda  whom they say disrespected the court by going ahead to discharge duties as Minister of Agriculture water and Irrigation despite an injunction they sought depriving him of his duties.

Chaponda had last week left the country for Germany on official duties despite a Mzuzu High court ruling that stopped him from working as a minister.

The ruling followed an application by the CSOs in the country who argued that Chaponda was likely to jeopardise investigations on the maize scam which are currently underway.

Lawyer for the CSOs, Wesley Mwafulirwa has confirmed of the news.

He says they will file the contempt of court case because Justice Chirwa will be back in Mzuzu  from Blantyre where he was engaged with other duties.

He says it will involve determining on whether to lift the court order on Chaponda or not.

He said even if the court decides to lift Chaponda’s injunction, Chaponda would still answer the contempt charge.

The CSOs want Chaponda arrested allegedly for travelling to Germany for a conference in violation of an injunction obtained against him.

Earlier on, the CSOs argued that Chaponda must resign to pave way for smooth investigations on the maize purchase deal in Zambia which the minister is believed to have used to defraud government of around K10 billion.

They  have also been questioning the effectiveness of the Commission of Inquiry that President Peter Mutharika appointed arguing that Chaponda was likely to jeopardize investigations since he was not fired from his position as minister.

The Commission has since extended the date of releasing the report to 9 February 2017. From today (31^st January 2017)