Former commissioner of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Linda Kunje has been sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison for obstructing the convoy of President Lazarus Chakwera.
Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate Austin Banda has handed the sentence to Kunje today. Banda has also sentenced Kunje’s former driver Jones Tewesa to 15 months in prison.
On 19 August, the court convicted the two of criminal, recklessness and negligence after they obstructed President Lazarus Chakwera’s convoy in 2020.
Speaking after the ruling, State Prosecutor Levison Mangani said they are satisfied with the ruling because they asked the court to hand a stiff sentence to the two due to the seriousness of the offences and the circumstances under which they were committed.
However, Christopher Masanje, Lawyer for Linda Kunje, said Kunje will take the matter to the High Court.
He argued that when a convict is a first offender, courts usually give non-custodial sentences.
“We are surprised that this has been the ruling of the court. We expected a suspended sentence due to the mitigating factors that we put across,” said Masanje.
The incident which has led to Kunje and her former driver’s imprisonment happened along the Blantyre-Zomba Road when President Chakwera was going to Zomba on December 10, 2020.
At the time, Kunje was still a MEC commissioner and was travelling from Mangochi to Blantyre using an official vehicle bearing registration number MG 148 AK.
Traffic officers testified in court that the Toyota Prado driven by Tewesa defied orders to stop and park on the side of the road to pave way for Chakwera.
Officers then came across the vehicle at Makoka Research Station where it had stopped but the vehicle later cruised in the direction where the President’s convoy was coming from.
Kunje was part of the electoral commission which managed the now nullified 2019 presidential elections in which Chakwera came second.
She was one of two commissioners from the 2019 elections who were also part of the commission which managed the 2020 Fresh Presidential Elections in which Chakwera won.
She was fired from the commission together with three others following a court ruling in 2021.
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