Assistant Registrar of the High Court Anthony Kapaswiche has dismissed an application by former President Peter Mutharika and former Chief Secretary to the Government Lloyd Muhara on suspension of enforcement of K69.5 million legal costs.

In his ruling, the Assistant Registrar said the respondents have failed to demonstrate that the interest of justice is in favour of granting a stay of execution.

In an interview, lawyer representing the Malawi Law Society (MLS) Wesley Mwafulirwa said the applicants will simply enforce the order.

“The Court has actually dismissed gain the application stay, one of the reasons that the Court cited is that similar application was already before a judge.

“We are going to enforce the order by any legally available means, there are several legally available options now, we can garnish the account, we can have their property sold, we can have them declared bankrupt,” suggested Mwafulirwa.

According to Kapaswiche, even in the event that the interpretation of the ruling was to say that the purpose of the said order was to punish or ‘hammer’ the respondents, he does not think that the Court has powers to reverse or remedy that understanding.

The applicants of the order are the Malawi Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), Association of Magistrate in Malawi and MLS.

Lawyers representing both Muhara and Mutharika are yet to comment on the on the ruling, as their phones went unanswered after several attempts.