Defense lawyers in an abuse of office case involving Director of Energy Cassius Chibambo has bemoaned what they call State’s continued failure to expedite the matter.

The concern follows as the State has paraded four of its ten witnesses who are scheduled to testify in the case.

Chibambo was arrested in December 2021 on allegation that he abused his office by influencing the evaluation team to favour DECO, Ackon, KK Hardware, Gabs, Two Trees, Business Machines and West One; companies that were some of the bidders of the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep) Phase 9 referenced as MAREP-PH9-G-NCB-2020/2021FY-08.

However, commenting on the pace at which the State is prosecuting the trial, one of defense lawyers Khumbo Soko said the State is failing to utilize its time properly.

“The testimony wasn’t very consequential; the star witnesses are yet to come to court and testify which for us today was a source of frustration because for a a case that has been located two days, they have only utilized less time.

“In this case from commencement, the record will bear us out, the adjournments, the delays haven’t been at the instance of the defense,” Soko said.

But reacting to the concern, Chief Legal and Prosecutions Officer at ACB Anafi Likwanya maintained that the State is prosecuting the matter at a right pace.

“In fact, in two days we wouldn’t let four or six witnesses to be processed, our plan was to have four witnesses, one of them is very thorn to them, we expect to take the whole day for her, so she felt sick at the eleventh hour, so we had to do with the three, it’s in the ACB’s interest to have this matter expedited,” Likwanya said.

Chief Resident Magistrate Madalitso Khoswe Chimwaza has set November 1, 2022, as a date hearing of the matter will resume.