Eyewitnesses accounts Of Mphwiyo’s shooting

Malawi Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo’s shooting on the night of September 13, 2013 in Lilongwe has shocked and brought fear in the newlines section of the high class Area 43 suburb where he was shot, Weekend Nation can reveal.

Eyewitnesses Weekend Nation talked to this week said they first thought the shooting was a usual phenomenon as they claimed they were used to Mphwiyo’s tendency of regularly firing his gun in the air at night to scare away any potential attackers or threats on his house.

One of the guards in the neighbourhood (name withheld for his safety) said he witnessed the shooting incident. He told Weekend Nation that he rushed to see what was happening at Mphwiyo’s residence after hearing unusual noise immediately after the shooting.

“I was awake at the time the incident happened just before midnight. He [Mphwiyo] used to fire his gun in the air, maybe two or three times at a time. But when I heard the sound of the gun on this night, I was surprised that it was followed by strange noise and a big clash. That’s when I knew that something was wrong.

“I rushed to climb on top of the house where I guard so that I could see what was happening. That’s when I saw that the gate at Mphwiyo’s house was brought down.

“There was a state of confusion and then I heard his guard crying out,” said the guard who works near Mphwiyo’s residence.

He said the entire incident lasted for about five minutes, saying he did not see how the attackers escaped after the shooting.

“Then I saw Mphwiyo’s vehicle, a black Mercedes Benz, coming out of the fence at a high speed. That gave me another sense that something was terribly wrong.

“When I talked to Mphwiyo’s guard, he told me that there were two attackers with guns who hid in the drains outside the gate,” said the guard.

He said when Mphwiyo arrived at the gate, one of the attackers on Mphwiyo’s right hand side stood from the drain and started talking to the budget director.

“Then Mphwiyo saw another man rising from the drain on his left-hand side with a gun in his hand. The man on his right-hand side also showed his gun. The second man on the left- hand side started shooting at Mphwiyo,” said the guard.

He said at the time Mphwiyo had stopped at the gate, his guard had already pressed the button to open the remote controlled gate after he heard the sound of the vehicle.

“After seeing that the men were shooting at him and that the gate had not fully opened, Mphwiyo just drove into the gate to enter into the fence by force, and in the process crashing down the gate,” said the eyewitness.

He said the commotion and crying continued for some time after Mphwiyo had driven inside the fence.

Another guard in the neighbourhood (name also withheld) corroborated this account, saying the noise and clash that followed the firing of the gun surprised him.

“I then heard the sound of people crying. Then I saw Mphwiyo’s vehicle driving at a high speed from his house.

“This was very strange to me because nothing like this had ever happened in this neighbourhood. Then I learnt that they had rushed him to the hospital,” said the second guard.

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found 24-hour police presence at Mphwiyo’s house during the week. We could not talk to the police officers on duty and Mphwiyo’s relatives at the house as they all refused to grant interviews.

Mphwiyo’s guard and cook also refused to talk, saying their boss was better positioned to comment on the matter when he is discharged from hospital in South Africa where he has been getting treatment.

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also found a CCTV camera at Mphwiyo’s gate. It had already been fixed at the time Weekend Nationvisited the house.

Mphwiyo’s condition after the shooting

Several sources at Area 43 Masm Clinic where Mphwiyo was first rushed to after the shooting toldWeekend Nation that the budget director arrived at the hospital while bleeding profusely from the gun wounds.

“He was walking on his own at the time. It was a crisis situation because he was bleeding excessively and that his face had started swelling because of the body’s reaction to the bullets,” said one source.

The source said the medical staff who were on duty at the time quickly gave Mphwiyo first-aid treatment which included provision of blood and water drips, saying they could, however, not manage to stop the bleeding from the gun wounds because of the bullets which were stuck in his body.

“It was a condition which needed the attention of a surgeon because we could not contain the bleeding as the blood was oozing from where the bullets had landed. We could see the bullets but you do not just remove those things. You need experts to do that.

“We immediately called Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba who came within 10 minutes. It’s Dr. Ntaba who managed to contain the bleeding although he could not do his actual surgery work because that requires availability of special medical facilities and teamwork with other surgeons,” said another source.

The sources said Mphwiyo stayed at the clinic for about two hours before he was referred to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) where he got further medical attention as KCH has special medical facilities including an intensive care unit (ICU).

“When Mphwiyo was leaving the [Masm] clinic, he was still strong but the main problem was the swelling of his body, especially the face.

“He was given breathing aids because we feared that the swelling could eventually block his air canals and stop the breathing process which could have created further complications.

“We put him on a stretcher and drove him to KCH in our ambulance. When he went to KCH, the doctors there were also worried about the swelling of his body,” said the source.

Mphwiyo was later evacuated to South Africa where he had four bullets removed from his body at Milpark Clinic in Johannesburg after doctors had to wait for the swellings to subside before removing the bullets.

We could not talk to Ntaba as we did not find him at Masm’s Area 43 Clinic and his phone went unanswered throughout the week.

The guards told Weekend Nation that it is not only Mphwiyo who is used to firing his gun in the air at night to scare away possible threats or attackers in the neighbourhood, claiming several people who have occupied houses in this area also do the same.

People living in fear after Mphwiyo’s shooting

One of the residents in the neighbourhood, Bornwell Phikani, told Weekend Nation that most people who live in this area have since stopped coming home late.

“In the past, you could see several people coming home at midnight but that has stopped. People fear that anything can happen to anybody,” said Phikani.

Police have since arrested three people in connection with Mphwiyo’s shooting and successfully got court approval to continue detaining Dauka Manondo, McDonald Kumwembe and Robert Kadzuwa, who are facing attempted murder charges in the case.

One of the suspected gunmen, Kumwembe, 38, once served as a soldier in the MDF.