The man, Nyenje Nyirenda, denies the charge.

Police say the man has been on the run for three months after the alleged offence in September.

Nkhata Bay First Grade Magistrate, George Longwe, today rejected Nyirenda’s prayer for bail.

And Nyenje Nyirenda fainted. He has since been released on bail on health grounds.

Nyirenda was arrested December 8 in Nkhata Bay on suspicion he set ablaze part of a billboard bearing President Mutharika’s image.

The billboard depicts Mutharika commissioning the next phase of Malawi Rural Electrification Programme MAREP and it is prominently planted outside Nkhata Bay district hospital.

Nkhata Bay police spokesperson, Sergeant Kondwani James, told Zodiak Online Nyirenda was formally charged with malicious damage.

The case is expected back in court on 16 January, 2020.

Nyirenda is from Kamoza Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mkumbira in Nkhata Bay.