Malawi President Joyce Banda has announced formation of an official enquiry on the death of Robert Chasowa, a Polytechnic student considered to have been murdered by government agents last year.
Banda made the announcement at a news conference at her Area 12 residence in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, where she said she had ordered Chasowa’s death be probed to establish who murdered him.
Chasowa was a fourth year mechanical engineering student who was critical of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration.
“I have told them to get to the bottom of this matter. I am a mother and I spent days imagining how my fellow mother felt on the death of her son. People should not be murdered anyhow and people get away with it,” said Banda.
The President said over the years, Malawians have been frustrated with inconclusive enquires, citing her own frustration with police who are yet to release a report on an accident involving her official Mercedes Benz which was hit by a truck.
‘Government is alert’
Banda said government is aware of intentions of some people to loot State coffers and properties, saying the machinery is in place to check the whole administration.
On foreign relations, Banda said she has been in touch with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, UK’s Minister for Africa in Foreign and Commonwealth Office Henry Bellingham, both of whom assured her of support if Malawi restores confidence in the governance and economic systems.
Banda then appealed to various politicians to hold on their declarations on allegiance to the President and her party until the mourning period is over, saying people need to follow the due process of consulting proper structures of her Peoples Party before making pronouncements on the radio.
The President also said arrangements on the bringing of the body of Mutharika will be announced in due course but burial had been set for 23rd of April.
