Callista, family want out-of-court settlement

Former Malawi first lady Callista Mutharika and the family of former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, have asked the High Court in Zomba to allow them to settle their matter out of court.

Callista filed an application before the court to remove her stepchildren, Duwa and Tapiwa, as administrators of the controversial K61 billion (about $152m) deceased estate left by Mutharika.

Hearing of the application was set for on Tuesday, but when the matter came up in the judge’s chamber, lawyers representing both sides told the court of the proposal to have the matter settled out of court.

High Court Judge Godfrey Mwase allowed the request for an out-of-court settlement, but adjourned the matter to this Friday to allow the lawyers to report back to court on progress made in resolving the matter out of court.

One of the lawyers for Callista, Louis Ulaya, and one of the lawyers representing the Mutharika family, Frank Mbeta, confirmed in separate interviews outside the court the willingness by the parties to have the matter resolved out of court, a process they said already started.

The proposal to have the matter settled out of court is only on this matter, as on the other hand, government, through the Estate Commissioner, is pursuing the matter where government is claiming a K5 billion (about $12.5m) estate duty from Mutharika’s deceased estate.

Callista, who does not appear as a beneficiary in Mutharika’s will, was asking the court to revoke letters of administration, according to the application she filed.

The former first lady, who is already engaged in other legal battles with Mutharika’s children over the deceased property, also wanted the court to give a consequential order that Duwa and Tapiwa fully account to the deceased’s estates for whatever they have done with or under the power of the said order.

Callista wanted the letters of the administration surrendered to the court forthwith.

Mutharika’s “last will and testament” was written in March 2008, barely a year after the death of his first wife Ethel and the former president did not revise it after he married Callista in 2010.

His two daughters—Tapiwa and Duwa—were made administrators of the multi-billion kwacha estate.