Mphwiyo case resumes

Former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo is today scheduled to resume testifying in a case in which five people, including former Minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara, are accused of attempting and conspiring to murder him.

The case was adjourned in July after two days of cross-examination by Kasambara because Mphwiyo was in pain and due for a medical check-up in South Africa.

Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs spokesperson Apoche Itimu said on Friday that the State would continue with Mphwiyo as witness on Monday.

Itimu also said “the prosecution team will be as before” comprising Enoch Chibwana and Dziko Malunda.

Malunda took over from former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba who was removed as DPP before the case resumed in July.

New DPP Mary Kachale is expected to join the case to beef up the prosecution.

Mphwiyo was the prosecution’s second witness after his security guard who told the court that he was not able to identify the people who shot his boss at the gate of his house on the night of September 13 2013, but heard several gunshots.

When he first took the stand, inside the courtroom and at his house, which was the crime scene, Mphwiyo identified the gunman as Macdonald Kumwembe and people with him as Kasambara and businessperson Pika Manondo.

However, during cross-examination, Kumwembe’s lawyer Wapona Kita tendered his passport as evidence that the suspected gunman was in Mozambique on the day Mphwiyo was shot.

During a heated exchange between Kasambara and Mphwiyo, which apparently became personal, the lawyer and accused person disputed the former budget director’s claims that he was nearly killed for not bowing to pressure to approve payment claims to certain companies.