The High Court has vacated an injunction obtained by Juliana Lunguzi’s competitor in Dedza East Patrick Bandawe.
Bandawe got the court order to stop Malawi Congress Party (MCP) from recognizing legislator Lunguzi as the party’s parliamentary candidate for Dedza East.
This followed the party’s primary elections in the constituency November, 2018 in which Bandawe initially emerged victorious before the party made a U-turn to declare Lunguzi as the winner.
In his ruling yesterday, Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda said Bandawe took time to take action after the injunction was granted to him.
Said the judge: “In my view, the only reasonable explanation for the claimant’s lack of interest in prosecuting the main action is that the action was not brought bona fide, but for some other ulterior or collateral purpose.”
The deadline for submission of nomination papers for the 2019 elections is 8th February, 2019.
Bandawe’s lawyer Innocent Kubwalo told the local media that he has since filed an application to have the injunction restored.
Reacting to the court’s decision, MCP spokesperson the Reverend Maurice Munthali said the party was worried that the issue will drag on and that the aspirant will fail to submit nomination papers.
“Our message is that when there are issues in the party, we must learn to trust party structures to handle them than rushing to the courts,” said Munthali.
