By Suleman Chitera
The State has launched a forceful legal counteroffensive against former Minister of Local Government Richard Chimwendo Banda, asking the High Court of Malawi Civil Division to discharge leave and interim orders granted to him in a controversial judicial review that secured his release from custody.
The application, set to be heard on January 23, 2026, lays bare what the State describes as a calculated misuse of the courts, accusing Chimwendo Banda of forum shopping, material non-disclosure, and deliberately bypassing established criminal law remedies in order to fast-track his freedom.
In a sharply worded affidavit, Attorney General Frank Mbeta argues that Chimwendo Banda improperly invoked judicial review to challenge his detention when several alternative and adequate remedies were already available to him. These included habeas corpus, bail, and a review of the magistrate’s ruling—procedures specifically designed to address questions of unlawful detention.
“The applicant chose the wrong forum,” the State contends, insisting that judicial review is not a substitute for ordinary criminal law processes, particularly where liberty is at issue.
More damning, however, is the allegation that Chimwendo Banda approached the court ex parte while withholding critical information. According to the State, he failed to disclose that the High Court (Criminal Division) had already fixed January 20, 2026, as the date for delivery of a ruling on his bail application—information that, had it been disclosed, may have fundamentally altered the court’s decision to grant interim relief.
The Attorney General argues that this omission was not accidental but strategic, designed to mislead the court and secure orders that would otherwise have been unavailable.
The State further asserts that the matter is inherently a private law issue concerning personal liberty, making it unsuitable for judicial review, which is reserved for public law disputes involving the exercise of public power.
In one of the strongest accusations, the application claims Chimwendo Banda abused court processes by filing multiple applications in different courts, all seeking the same outcome: release from detention. This conduct, the State argues, undermines the integrity of the justice system and risks turning the courts into competing escape routes for well-connected suspects.
Chimwendo Banda was released last week after spending nearly a month in custody on attempted murder charges—a development that has already sparked public concern over perceived double standards in the administration of justice.
The January 23 hearing now places the judiciary at a critical crossroads. At stake is not only the legality of the orders granted to Chimwendo Banda, but a broader question that continues to trouble the public: whether Malawi’s justice system applies the same rules to the powerful as it does to ordinary citizens languishing in remand prisons for years without trial.
The High Court’s decision will be closely watched, not merely as a procedural ruling, but as a test of judicial discipline, transparency, and equality before the law.
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