Convicted Malawi MP slapped with suspended sentence

Convicted Malawi Member of Parliament Joseph Njobvuyalema was on Friday slapped with a three-month suspended sentence for assaulting a journalist in Lilongwe six months ago.

The towering Njobvuyalema was convicted on Wednesday for causing bodily harm to Daily Times reporter Dickson Kashoti in February after the MP threw three blows at the diminutive journalist in his newsroom, seriously injuring his eye.

Kashoti angered the MP when he published an item concerning the latter’s brother who had been arrested for allegedly killing his late wife in bed. The MP disputed details of the account, leading to the physical confrontation with the journalist in front of his newsroom colleagues.

The court also ordered the convict to pay K20,000 (US$200) to Kashoti as compensation for harming him.

In sentencing him, Lilongwe magistrate Mzondi Mvula said he took into consideration the opposition MP’s standing in society and the fact that he was a first offender.

Until his conviction, Njobvuyalema was one of the most powerful leaders in the House, where he headed the influential Public Appointments Committee as its chairman.

The position put him in frequent conflict with the presidency, which regarded his conduct as deliberately meant to frustrate senior presidential appointees for the public service.

Njobvuyalema’s rejection of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s appointee to head the Anti-Corruption Bureau was the latest tangle he had with the head of state.

The conviction automatically precludes the MP from parliament for seven years.