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R 181537Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2771
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0111
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0216
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000428 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/S GABRIELLE MALLORY 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KCOR MI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT FIRES ATTORNEY GENERAL 
 
REF: A. LILONGWE 376 
     ¶B. LILONGWE 401 
     ¶C. LILONGWE 406 
 
LILONGWE 00000428  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: President Mutharika sacked Malawi's 
powerful Attorney General, Ralph Kasambara, on May 17.  The 
move ends the reign of one of the most politically active 
AG's in Malawi's history.  Kasambara often used his post to 
pressure the police into making questionable arrests, and 
masterminded the government's campaign to get rid of the Vice 
President (reftel A). The Solicitor General has been named 
acting AG until President Mutharika appoints someone to fill 
the post. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Kasambara has acted as a legal strong-man both for 
both the President and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 
as a whole, while in office.  He has also led the charge 
against Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha, first by promoting 
the idea of the VP's "constructive resignation" and then, 
more recently, directing the treason case against Chilumpha. 
(ref A)  Kasambara had also used his powers in a number of 
personal matters, recently ordering the arrest of a woman who 
claimed to be the mother of his illegitimate child for "baby 
dumping" after she left the child at his office, as well as 
the arrests of three journalists who wrote and published a 
story accusing him of theft. He had also been investigated by 
the Anti-Corruption Bureau for business transactions in 2005 
involving extortion. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kasambara had also made a number of enemies as he 
amassed power for himself and the party, among them the 
Minister of Justice Henry Phoya and the Director of Public 
Prosecutions Ismael Wadi.  Kasambara had publicly chided both 
Phoya and Wadi while prosecuting the VP's case, and in 
Phoya's opinion had bungled the case from the beginning (ref 
B).  Ambassador's comment:  Henry Phoya is a central figure 
in this story; we know he had two long meetings with the 
President in the last few days and are fairly certain that 
restoring integrity, fairness, and ethical behavior to the 
government's prosecutorial establishment was on the agenda. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) A number of rumors are swirling throughout the 
country over the reason for the AG's dismissal. One embassy 
source, whose story has not been corroborated, says Kasambara 
was not able to present audio tapes he claimed he had of the 
VP hiring an assassin.  If this were true, Mutharika would 
have be forced to fire the AG in order to distance the 
administration from the case, with the news sure to leak out 
shortly. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ambassador had a one-on-one conversation with 
Kasambara in Kasambara,s office yesterday (the day of his 
firing).  As he had done with Justice Minister Phoya the week 
before, the Ambassador expressed our concerns about the 
arrest/release of a number of UDF officials and the arrest of 
the three journalists, emphasizing that the foreign missions 
in Malawi who were committed to supporting the President's 
anti-corruption drive were troubled by the appearance that 
the police, prosecutors and judicial system were being used 
for political and personal vindictive purposes.  Kasambara, a 
very bright and articulate lawyer with an advanced degree 
from Notre Dame, first took the tack that there had been a 
"failure of public relations" but then defended the cases 
along the following lines: 
 
--  The VP,s treason case:  Kasambara said he had listened 
to the six hours of audio (on CDs) upon which the case will 
be based and believed the charges to be valid.  He recognized 
that the prosecutors will have to overcome the similarity of 
the charges and the case of Morgan Tsvangari in Zimbabwe and 
speculated that it might be necessary to seek a technical 
evaluation of the recordings to validate them.  He said that 
the witness lists and other disclosures to the defense would 
be handed over on Monday, May 22, and that the case could 
proceed to trial after the statutory three-week period for 
defense preparation had elapsed. 
 
-- The other UDF defendants:  Kasambara said that the arrests 
had been made at the initiative of the police, but on 
reviewing the evidence the police presented, he had declined 
prosecution.  He deplored the arrest of a spouse in lieu of 
the defendant husband, saying however that in the Malawi 
 
LILONGWE 00000428  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
police, it was believed that detention of a spouse resulted 
in a near certainty that the absconder would appear in court. 
 He declined the Ambassador,s suggestion that an admission 
of error or apology would be in order. 
 
-- The Chronicle journalists:  Kasambara felt that he was 
fully justified in swearing out a complaint of criminal libel 
against the Chronicle,s Rob Jamieson and his reporters, 
saying that he had repeatedly warned Jamieson against 
publishing malicious stories about him.  Ambassador,s 
comment:  This one was personal. 
 
The Ambassador is convinced that Kasambara had no idea he was 
about to be fired from his job, an event which occurred about 
an hour after their meeting concluded. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: In the end, the President did the right 
thing.  Kasambara was useful, with his zeal and formidable 
legal skills, to lead the political score-settling between 
the administration and the UDF.  But his forays into using 
the power of his office for personal revenge and his high 
public profile in these cases turned him into a political 
liability.  We believe the lamentable arrest of the spouse 
and his personal filing of the charges against the 
journalists were the tipping points.  Malawi is swirling with 
various rumors about the firing at this stage, and we believe 
there are probably a number of senior officials who are 
apprehensive about what form his attempts to avenge himself 
will take.  One deputy minister, in a moment of candor upon 
hearing that Kasambara had been fired told Embassy officials 
that, "Kasambara knows everything...he could say that this is 
trumped up or that is trumped up." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Kasambara,s departure will, we hope, introduce some 
rationality and bring to an end at least the more 
over-the-top cases of politically-motivated prosecutions 
against opposition figures (ref C).  Sidelining Kasambara is 
a significant positive step, demonstrating that some senior 
figures in Malawi are committed to the rule of law and have 
the clout to convince the President to take action to restore 
it.  The Malawi government is normally unable ever to admit 
it has acted wrongly, so we do not expect much elaboration of 
the reasons behind the removal of the Attorney General.  Res 
ipsa loquitur. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Mordechai Msisha, a respected attorney and a 
framer of the Malawian constitution, is rumored to be the 
President's pick to be the next AG. End Comment. 
EASTHAM