Nyasatimes dares APM

Online publication, Nyasatimes, has hired lawyers to challenge President Peter Mutharika, who sued the publication for defamation.

Lawyer, John-Gift Mwakhwawa, confirmed in an interview on Friday that he has been engaged to represent Nyasatimes, disclosing that he is a lead lawyer of the legal team the publication has appointed.

Mwakhwawa said his legal team has already worked on procedural matters, including acknowledging summons and filing of defence at the High Court in Blantyre.

“We are confident to defend the matter. Our clients have a valid defence and we will strongly defend their case,” Mwakhwawa said.

Recently, former presidential aide Allan Ntata, who was also dragged to court by the President alongside Nyasatimes, disclosed that he had engaged lawyer Gustav Kaliwo to defend him.

Mutharika sued Ntata and Nyasatimes in July following published reports alleging that  he was linked to the K92 billion Cashgate.

The President, through his lawyers, later in August applied to the High Court in Blantyre to allow him to serve the summons to Ntata and Nyasatimesthrough newspapers on grounds that the targeted people were not traceable, a request the court granted.

But Ntata, following media reports about Mutharika’s intention to serve him through newspapers, expressed surprise in an interview with us, arguing he had been in Malawi for several weeks and at the time the President sued him.

Ntata, a lawyer by profession, feared that failure to serve him with the summons, the court was going to enter a default judgement against him.

Kaliwo, in a separate interview earlier, also confirmed that Ntata engaged him.