The Malawi Defence Force (MDF) “is ready to protect citizens and the interests of the country,” the Army Commander General Henry Odillo said in an exclusive interview.

Odillo, recently inducted into the Hall of Fame by the United States military college, guaranteed that with the MDF, “peace in Malawi will be there and we can assure Malawians that they are safe.”

He said it was “critical that the country should remain peaceful and stable to move forward…the society and individuals should use combined effort to ensure that this is sustained”.

The Commander urged Malawians not to leave the sustenance of peace to the military alone, but ensure that there is stability in the areas that they are living in by relaying information to Police and the Army when “unusual things happen around them.”

“This is why we have our police presence in all regions of the country; so, if people in that locality have noticed unusual issues happening around them, I think they should not sit down and pretend that there is nothing happening, they should be reporting these things to the Police.

“That is where issues start being exposed; you start understanding the picture of what is developing around you,” he said.

HUGE RESPONSIBILITY

He said the MDF had a ” huge responsibility … whereby we should now start realizing our position in terms of what sort of contribution can we make to support our democracy in this country? It is not an easy task.”

He said he was convinced that despite the challenges the Army encounters, officers, soldiers and members of the Malawi Defense Force should have a clear focus in their role in the Malawi society.

Odillo did not mention the Lake Malawi dispute that has seen Tanzania putting a marine boat in the disputed area.