MALAWIAN JUDGES REFUSED US$20M BRIBE TO INFLUENCE OUTCOME OF ELECTION JUDGEMENT

By Our Correspondent, Lilongwe MALAWI

Ghanaian former Republican President Jerry Rawlings has revealed that the Malawian Constitutional Court judges refused a USS$20 Million bribe which he claimed was awarded to the judges  for them to quash the case in favour of incumbent President Peter Mutarika.

In a 500 paged judgement delivered for more than 10 hours, the constitutional court judges came to the conclusion that the May 21, 2019 General Elections were null and void and further asked the Malawi Electoral Commission to organise fresh elections within 150 days from the declaration.

Rawlings congratulated the independent manner in which the decision was arrived at by the Malawian Constitutional Court.

The former Ghanaian head of state said this landmark judgement has proven that Malawi is indeed governed by rule of law.

Jerry Rawlings

“I have been following the elections case in Malawi. Once again, this tiny Southern African country has proved to the whole world that it is governed by rule of law. A few minutes ago, the Court has nullified last year’s presidential elections.

You may argue with me that such similar nullification has occured before in Kenya.  But I challenge that the Malawi case is unprecedented” he said. 

“There were bribery allegations. The Judges stood for the truth and could not accept any money from any politician. We are told that a sum of about US$20 million was offered to the Judges but they refused and decided to uphold the rule of law. If that same money was given to some Ghanaian Judges, they would sold the whole country, including selling Ghanaians abroad. But the Malawian Judges stood firm on the truth.

I admire the Malawi Judiciary which stands for the truth. As Ghanaians,  there is a lot we can learn from the Malawi experience.

Congratulations to the people of Malawi”.

A prominent Malawian banker was arrested last month in connection with a suspected attempt to bribe a panel of five judges presiding over the country's presidential election vote-rigging case.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said it arrested Thomson Mpinganjira after receiving a complaint on December 8 last year alleging that some people were attempting to bribe the judges of the Constitutional Court. - Africa