Usiwa-usiwa appointed High Court judge
Nyakwawa Usiwa-usiwa, deputy registrar of the High Court of Malawi and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, has been appointed a judge of the High Court with immediate effect.
Chief Secretary to the Government George Mkondiwa, in a statement yesterday, announced that President Peter Mutharika has made the appointment of Usiwa-usiwa, a former chief resident magistrate in Blantyre and Zomba.
While serving as a magistrate in Blantyre, Usiwa-usiwa denied the country’s first known gay couple—Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Aubrey Monjeza—bail for holding a public engagement. He later handed the two a maximum 14 years in jail for same sex relations.
His appointment follows that of four new High Court judges—Joseph Chigona, Ruth Chinangwa, Dorothy de Grabrielle and the late George Bakuwa—on October 13. However, Bakuwa died, on a tour of duty in Zambia, barely two weeks after taking his oath.
Usiwa-usiwa’s appointment has brought the number of judges to 26 spread across the four registries of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
The Judiciary has since deployed the three other new High Court judges to Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu. n
