Witnesses began testifying on Monday against former Chief Executive Officer for Lilongwe City Council (LCC) Kelvin M’mangisa, who is being accused of abuse of office.

Mmangisa is accused of drawing allowances for a trip to Italy which he did not undertake and collecting allowances outside his contract by demanding other monthly benefits totaling K660,000 per month.

Two witnesses, Stanley Mankhwala and Ali Salim Sumaisi, who both work for Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, appeared in court on Monday to provide information against Mmangisa.

In his testimony, Mankhwala said as Chief Human Resource Manager, he was one of the signatories to Mmangisa’s contract which set K627,000 per month and K7.5million per annum as his entitlements.

“I did not prepare the contract, but I am one of the people who just signed the contract as a witness and I can remember that the contract provided for a salary amounting to K627, 000 per month and MK7.5 million per annum,” Mankhwala said.

However, lawyer for Mmangisa, Ian Malera, argued that the fact that Mankhwala signed the said contract agreement was no guarantee that he knew what was contained in the document.

“If you are not the one who prepared the contract agreement, and the only thing that you did was to sign the contract, how sure are you that the contract you signed is the one we are talking about because it shows that you did not go through all the provisions because you just signed,” queried Malera.

Similarly, the other witness, Sumaisi, said Mmangisa was drawing benefits outside his contract because his con-tract agreement never stipulated that but rather stipulated a consolidated salary only.

“My job is to manage pay rolls and contracts and Mmangisa’s contract indicated that he was to receive a con-solidated salary which means that all allowances are included in the salary and should not be sourced from anywhere,” he said.

Another lawyer for Mmangisa, Donavan Silungwe, challenged Sumaisi’s argument.

He said although the contract indicated that Mmangisa was to receive a consolidated salary, it did not define the word ‘consolidated’.

The case has since been adjourned to January 31, 2013 to allow for three more witnesses to testify.

Mmangisa was arrested in July 2012.