Police Unit in Mangochi operating with one officer

Dakumba Police Unit in Traditional Authority (T/A) Chowe in Mangochi is operating with one police officer, The Nation has established.

A visit by The Nation to the unit on Saturday, which is about nine kilometres from Malindi Trading Centre on the Makanjira Road, established that the unit, with broken window panes, has five officers’ houses—three in dilapidated condition and one under renovation, a development that compelled four police officers to leave the area.

The officer handles all police cases in T/A Chowe as Makumba is the only police unit in the area.

Asked why such is the situation, Mangochi Police Station deputy spokesperson Amina Tepani-Daudi declined to comment and asked for more time. But when contacted again on Sunday afternoon, she did not pick up her phone.

But two police officers, who separately spoke on condition of anonymity, said initially, the unit had five officers but four were forced to leave the area due to the bad condition of their houses early this year.

“This unit is supposed to have at least seven police officers because it is the only police unit in this area. The nearest police unit is either in Namalaka which is 20 kilometers from Makumba or in Mangochi,” said one of the police officers.

T/A Chowe is closer to Makanjira which has a history of border wrangles with neighbouring Mozambique.