Police in Lilongwe on Saturday last week “accidentally” shot dead a 16-year-old street-connected child Precious Kalajila, allegedly after he and his colleagues were found trying to break into shops.
Precious’ mother, Salayi Kalajila, 34, and police confirmed the death in separate interviews.
She said: “Area 3 police officers in Lilongwe informed me that my son was caught stealing and was shot accidentally.
“But I don’t believe my son was a thief. He left home a year ago and I reported this to Limbe Police. I have been going to Limbe Police to inquire about his whereabouts. I admit he made a wrong decision to leave home, but he didn’t deserve to die.”
Kalajila, who went to Lilongwe on Thursday to identify the body at Lilongwe Central Hospital Mortuary, stays in Chigumula, Blantyre, with her husband and three other children.
According to the mother, the boy was in Standard Seven before he dropped out of school to start a small business of selling plastic bags in town, but he disappeared three weeks later.
Weekend Nation understands that the boy, in the company of three others, was coming from a live show at Lilongwe Golf Club when police shot him on the buttocks and he bled to death.
In an interview on Thursday, Lilongwe Police Station spokesperson Hastings Chigalu said the young men were found trying to break into some shops around 2am in Bwalo La Njobvu area and were chased by police in a patrol vehicle.
Other street-connected children we talked to claimed police are keeping in custody two other children only identified as Jimmy, 16, from Msundwe in Lilongwe and Kefasi, 21, from Blantyre who were picked up on the night Precious was shot.
A close friend of the deceased, Shadreck Mmakuwa, 21, who comes from Thyolo District, told this newspaper that the boy used to sell pool table tokens and that on the fateful night, he was coming from a live show in the company of friends.
He said: “One of our friends, who escaped from the same police who shot Precious, told us they went to the live show at Lilongwe Golf Club but CID [Criminal Investigations Department] officers chased them from the show. Police shot Precious as he was on his way back home.”
According to Mmakuwa, Precious was operating from Lilongwe Bus Depot, together with other street-connected kids.
Meanwhile, Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) says it has launched an investigation to establish what led to the shooting of Precious.
MHRC spokesperson Kate Kujaliwa, in a telephone interview on Thursday, observed that every life is sacred and that no one has a right to take another person’s life.
She said: “Our investigators participated in the postmortem of the body on Thursday afternoon and it was established that he was shot on the buttock. The commission will investigate the officers responsible for the death of the boy so that the law should take its course.”
Child rights activist Amos Chibwana, in an interview, bemoaned the situation of street-connected children in the country, saying it has reached an extent where they are being eliminated instead of being protected as per the Constitution as well as the Child Care Protection and Justice Act of 2010.
He said despite the existence of instruments such as the Child Care Protection and Justice Act 2010 and the Street Charter that was launched in 2017, there is no effort by government to implement them.
“Every child needs protection, care and support from government and this includes children on the streets,” said Chibwana.
He said there is need to seriously consider addressing the factors which drive children to the streets, adding that the public also needs to change its perception towards children living on the streets.
Tikondane Care for Children social work coordinator Bridget Chetama said in an interview that her organisation was tipped about the shooting incident by friends of the deceased and that social workers took up the issue with police and managed to trace the deceased’s parents.
She observed that broken homes and poverty are some of the factors perpetuating the problem and urged government to deal with the real problems instead of treating the symptoms.
Said Chetama: “All these kids you see on the streets have relatives. It could be a parent, a brother, an aunt or a cousin. These kids need to be reunited with their families, but first we must address the factors driving children away from their homes.”
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