A Magistrate Court in Zomba on Wednesday late night quashed an arrest warrant obtained by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from Lilongwe Magistrate Court against prominent businessman Thomson Mpinganjira, owner of FDH Bank over allegations he tried to bribe judges hearing a legal challenge to the re-election of President Peter Mutharika.

Mpinganjira released from custody and warrant of arrest has been declared by court as void Matemba: Legally disgusting

Mpinganjira, through his lawyer Frank Mbeta sought a court order quashing the warrant of arrest and the court ruled the warrant was void but does not specify the reason for the decision.

ACB head Reyneck Matemba expressed shock with the way bureau’s warrant of arrest has been rendered void by mid night court session, saying it is legally disgusting.

Matemba said he was “speechless” with what he called a very strange legal practice for a court to cancel a warrant of arrest issued by another court and also order release of a suspect in police custody when ACB as a law enforcing agency was acting on a serious complaint.

The court order bears no name of a Magistrate but it is signed and was obtained by lawyers from Mbeta’s legal firm Ritz Law Firm.

“This is legally disgusting. Abuse of court process and it exposes how rotten the judiciary is,” said Matemba.

He said at around 12:05 midnight he was phone by Chipliro Mpinganjira , a deputy minister of defence and one of the lawyers representing the banker. Around the same time the acting Inspector General of police Duncan Mwapasa also phoned about the order which served on police .

Mpinganjira was expected to appear before the court Thursday morning to take plea and be charged following his arrest on Wednesday.

He is a key suspect in the investigations into claims by Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda that bribes had been offered to the five judges presiding over the case.

Social and governance commentator Makhumbo Munthali said the release of Mpinganjira on bail will be received with mixed reaction by the members of the public who expected him to spend sometime in police cell especially considering a background where opposition leaders or critics of government have spent at least a night in policy custody.

“While Mpinganjira has a right to bail, the timing and his connections to the ruling party will raise suspicion by the public that perhaps the whole arrest of Mpinganjira was a well crafted tactic between ACB and some judicial officials to cool down the public pressure that something was being down when in actual fact it was just window dressing,” said Munthali.

“The midnight court bail would also reflect badly on the integrity of the judiciary especially when the timing of such a bail was granted and the sensitivity of the allegations. Already ACB director has not minced words against the judiciary on the matter.

“But then looking at the broader picture whether bail or no bail the very fact that the name of one of the two suspects has been disclosed and that such an individual is closely linked to the ruling party it would reflect badly on one of the accussed parties in the election case,” said Munthali.

The Constitutional Court is expected to rule on the election challenge sometime between January 27 and February 3, its spokeswoman Agnes Patemba.

Airmen from U.S. Air Forces Africa conducted force development training with the Malawian Air Force Jan. 13-17.

“This is a very important partnership for us and right now the force development program is helping us lay the foundation of the Malawian Air Force,” said Malawian Maj. Gen. Andrew Lapken Namathanga, Malawi Air Force commander. “I am very excited because the establishment of the force development program here three years ago has brought a foundation during the transition period for the development of our air force.”

Since 2018 teams with U.S. Air Forces Africa have partnered with the Malawian Air Force to help build, sustain and stand-up an independent air force.

“It is through the program that the Malawian air force airmen are becoming knowledgeable on how an air force functions,” Namathanga said. “Now, our airmen are all equipped with air knowledge and able to execute roles and functions in our air force because of this program.”

Up until August 2019, the Malawian Air Force was not a separate service within the Malawian defense force.

“This program gives us a chance to share ideas, and how to meet current threats and various challenges in terms of Human Resources,” said Mr. Noel Fachi, program manager, U.S. Air Forces Africa Force Development. “Our program brings our partner nations together to try and solve African problems. By providing frameworks for how to address most of these challenges, we bring partners together to collaborate, share ideas and come up with solutions to answer those challenges.”

One unique element about the force development program is its low cost but its lasting ability to have a huge impact, according to Fachi. He highlighted the fact that because of their program, they are able to conduct engagements with countries in Africa more frequently throughout the year. This leads to creating trusted partnerships with those countries and ultimately leads to greater interoperability with partners across Africa.

“To have an air chief and a deputy air chief sit in every single event when we have been here, day in and day out, it shows you how serious they are,” said Fachi. “They have empowered their airmen.”

The majority of events during the week revolved around the sharing of ideas related to the U.S. Air Force’s Deployment Transition Center, located at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The Malawian Air Force routinely deploys to the Democratic Republic of Congo and expressed interest in developing their own deployment transition center for their airmen returning from deployments.

“I think it is imperative to have our own center because currently we do not have one within the Malawian defense force and we have seen the effects of the experiences the troops are facing in the mission area,” says Namathanga.

During the week, members from the U.S. Air Force Deployment Transition Center shared how the U.S. executes their program to help integrate Airmen back from a deployment into their home station environment. They provided the Malawian air force with recommendations on ways they could establish their own program to assist their own airmen who come home from deployments.