The Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CRIDOC) has dragged the Malawi Network of AIDS Service Organisations (MANASO) to court seeking an order of permanent injunction restraining the latter’s current board of trustees that was elected in 2013 from discharging its duties.

According to court summons, which YONECO FM has seen, CRIDOC wants, among others, the court to grant an injunction restraining MANASO’s executive director from discharging her duties.

Reads the summons’ relief: “A declaration that the failure by the Defendant to hold elections for the membership of the Defendant’s Board of Trustees since 2013 contravenes the Defendant’s constitution and is therefore unlawful.

“A declaration that the failure by the Defendant to hold elections for the membership of the Defendant’s Regional Committees since 2013 contravenes the Defendant’s constitution and is therefore unlawful.”

In an interview, the Center’s executive director Edward Phiri said MANASO Board created district committee structure, which is not provided for in the Network’s constitution.

But MANASO’s lawyer Wapona Kita, asked the court to dismiss the application on the basis that CRIDOC’s claim is based on the provision of a purported 2013 amended constitution which was never filed with the Registrar General and does not appear in any official records.

“The Claimant pleads Section 9 of the Trustees Incorporation Act and avers that in so far as the Claimant’s action herein is based on changes in the Constitution which affected the appointment, retirement and authority of the Claimant’s Trustees, its Executive Committee, and Management, the same are ineffective in that they were not approved by the Minister.

“By reason of the matters foregoing, the Defendant pleads that the whole of the Claimant’s claim is untenable and must be dismissed,” said Kita.

The High Court in Lilongwe is yet to set a date for an inter party hearing of the matter.