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JB orders chief’s arrest

Banda: The culprits must be brought to book
Banda: The culprits must be brought to book

Malawi President Joyce Banda has ordered the arrest of suspended Traditional Authority (T/A) Chimombo of Nsanje in connection with mismanagement of a maize mill intended for people with disabilities in his area.

The T/A, whose given names are Stanford Mtukula, was suspended in December 2012 to pave the way for investigations into concerns from his subjects that he was ill-treating them.

The presidential directive comes barely two weeks after traditional leaders and area development committee (ADC) members in the area wrote Nsanje Police Station officer-in-charge demanding an investigation into the missing maize mill that the Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha) donated to the area in 2008.

Speaking in Nsanje yesterday, the President said: “I am directing the Vice-President [Khumbo Kachali] to take up the issue and make sure that the culprit [suspect] is taken to book. The law should take its course.”

The President issued the order after acting T/A Chimombo, Harrison Chimombo, sought her intervention in recovering the stolen mill.

The acting chief was speaking during the launch of Mudzi Transformation Trust at Landinyo Village. He said their efforts to recover the mill had proved futile.

“This issue is sensitive, but also very important since the mill was meant to assist people with disabilities in our community. We have tried with all the authorities, including the police but nothing has been done,” said the concerned looking Chimombo.

The maize mill, whose proceeds were meant to help people with disabilities, was in Stanford Mtukula’s custody, according to local leaders.

In the petition to Nsanje Police, concerned local leaders alleged that the suspended T/A exchanged the diesel-powered maize mill with an electric one which he has been using as personal property.

The letter, addressed to Nsanje Police and copied to the district commissioner, Macoha, acting T/A Chimombo, suspended T/A Chimombo, Nsanje Magistrate Court and district information office, was duly signed by 23 local leaders, including senior group village heads (SGVHs) Chimombo, Mangani, Fransiku, and GVH Kamphata in which the police were given 48 hours to act on the matter.

 

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One Comment

  1. When will this president learn to leave the police alone to do their work without interferance from her or OPC at large. Is she trying to say that the police have failed in doing their duty to investigate this chief whether he has a case to answer or not? Surely if we believe that we have a professional police in Malawi why interfering. Leave the police alone or fire those incompetent police officers.

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