Police move to seal porous borders
Malawi Police Service Inspector General George Kainja has told Parliament that the service is working towards tightening security in the country’s borders to contain the influx of refugees and illegal immigrants.
During an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament for a performance audit that focused on illegal immigrants and efforts by police to reduce crime, the police chief told the committee that they have already engaged experts on how to seal the porous borders.
He conceded that Malawi is facing challenges in terms of handling of illegal immigrants. He attributed the situation to several factors, including corruption among some officers, limited human resource, especially in the Immigration Department and lack of equipment to patrol the lake.
Kainja said the experts have since submitted a proposal that will see involvement of air, marine and land operations in patrolling the borders.
He said: “We want to implement this comprehensive strategy as soon as possible. We engaged experts from Israel. They have presented a proposal to us on how best we can tighten our borders and what is it that we need to do.
“It [the strategy] includes looking at issues from space, in terms of air, including looking at issues from land. It includes looking at issues from the marine side which include looking at issues of boats and what kind of boats we need. It also includes capacity building in the area of marine and border operations.”
Kainja also said there is a need to relocate Dzaleka Refugee Camp from Dowa because the location in itself was a challenge.
He said: “When these people [refugees and illegal immigrants] enter Malawi, they will enter as people seeking asylum. They will say that we are going to Malawi because we are seeking asylum.
“But when they reach Dzaleka, they will not seek asylum. What they do is that they will be at Dzaleka for a few days and use Malawi as a conduit to South Africa.”
In his reaction, PAC vice- chairperson Ned Poya said the committee will help police in lobbying for funding for the stated project.
“Police exist to protect Malawians and there is need for support,” he said
Poya also supported the proposal to relocate the Dzaleka camp, saying moving it to border areas will contain the problem of illegal immigrants.
He said: “Transferring the camp to the border is a very important issue that as a government or country we have to look at seriously. When we talk about immigrants, on the other hand you are talking about the issue of security for the country. So, it is an issue that has to be looked into critically.”
