MP demands security before police vote
Lilongwe Rural North East member of Parliament (MP) Maxwell Thyolera (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) on Wednesday sought assurance from government that Malawi Police Service (MPS) will not be used to harass the opposition anymore.
The legislator made the demand immediately after Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe moved that the provision of K5 878 848 093 vote to MPS stand part of the Recurrent and Development Estimates for the 2016/17 financial year which starts today.
Thyolera said opposition MPs needed assurance of their security before passing the vote to the police.
He said the preceding events have proven that law enforcement agencies are largely used as a government tool to suppress dissenting views.
The legislator was apparently referring to recent arrests of two MCP officials Salima North West MP Jessie Kabwila and regional official Ulemu Msungama over a WhatsApp conversation.
Said Thyolera: “We don’t want to see a situation where the same law enforcement agency whose allocation we are appropriating turning around with arbitrary arrests on innocent MPs.”
However, his demand seemed to have been ignored as Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Atupele Muluzi did not respond.
Muluzi was standing in for Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jappie Mhango who was reported to be up North attending a funeral. n
