Mutharika ‘orders’ life imprisonment for albino attackers
President Peter Mutharika has said those caught killing or mutilating people with albinism in the country should be handed life imprisonment sentences and says he has ordered police to guard schools with albino children.
Mutharika, speaking at Kabudula Primary School in Lilongwe yesterday, where he was installing Traditional Authority (T/A) Kabudula as senior chief, repeated his frustrations with the matter after some 18 albinos have been killed and some more injured since 2015.
The President, once again, reserved some of his strongest language to condemn the barbaric attacks which have led to global condemnation of the Malawi Government’s handling of the situation, labelling the attacks as ‘stupidity, foolishness and madness’.
Earlier, Mutharika said the attacks on albinos were part of breakdown of love and humane values in the country, saying the country’s reputation as the Warm Heart of Africa, was now under question.
APM’s sentiments on the killing of PWA are in line with the nation’s, to be sure.
Most people, possibly based on emotions, would rather see capital punishment as a possibility for the criminals. Some of us, however, like the President, do prefer life behind bars (the reasons are well known)
But is the title and the thrust of the article really accurate? In that the President has actually ordered – for his sentiments to be inserted into the Laws of Malawi? This would indeed be a throw back to Kamuzu; and APM, as one of the framers of the current constitution, would be one person to distance himself thousands of kilometers from “Kamuzuism”.
Heavy and serious punishment for these criminals is overdue, if only as a deterrent.
Officers of Parliament should start drafting the act, asap! So that MPs can also act asap! Asa.
Being one of the framers of the constitution and being the one to implement are different things. I think the President is speaking out of guilty. He is reacting to Hon. Kalindo’s patriotism in solidarity with the marginalised. Considering the economic situation the country is going through and the condition in our prisons, Hon. Kalindo’s reasoning sounds economic palatable and justifible though half-baked Malawians did not agree with him. Putting the albino killers on life imprisonment will continue to siphon the national economy suffering malnutrition and is not a solution. Death sentence, economically speaking is more justifiable and the best option. Kalindo’s point is coming back though denounced.