With 13 days to the May 21 tripartite election, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government led by President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has yet again promoted an additional 1 602 junior police officers.

The development comes barely weeks after the promotion of 7 000 police officers and 20 210 primary and secondary school teachers with many describing the promotion as a desperate attempt by Mutharika to win votes in the forthcoming May 21 polls.

National Police Spokesperson James Kadadzera confirmed of the development in an interview with faceofmalawi reporter.

According to Kadadzera, the promoted officers were those skipped on the list of the first promotions due to technical errors.

“They [promoted officers] were supposed to be there, but because of some reasons, they were skipped. But I will not say anything on the total because I am not in the office,” said Kadadzera.

He said both the promotions are effective April 19 2019.