State President of the Republic of Malawi Mrs. Joyce Banda has said that there was a great need for traditional leaders and the communities to join hands with the Malawi Police Service (MPS) inorder to combat crime in the country.
This call comes in the wake of the gruesome murder of a 51 year old Richard Nsamala, an Inde Bank employee whose body was found buried behind his Soche East home in the commercial city of Blantyre recently.
It also coincides with the arrest of five suspects believed to have been involved in the murder of the late Nsamala.
Speaking when she had an audience with Village Headman Kadzuwa of T/A Bvumbwe and his subjects at Sanjika Palace, the Pasked traditional leaders to stop engaging themselves in acts of bribery and work hand in hand with members of the MPS in curbing crime.
“If it was not for the bravery of Village Headman Kadzuwa and the community policing group including other residents, the police would have struggled in capturing the suspects. I implore you chiefs to work hand in hand with communities in reporting all suspicious people and activities in your areas to the Police,” she said.
Bvumbwe Police officer in charge Assistant Commissioner Paul German asked police officers to ensure that they regain public faith by responding positively whenever communities seek assistance from the law enforcers.
“When we were called in to assist the Village Headman at Kadzuwa, we responded immediately and if it were not for our intense interrogation on the suspects, we would not have gotten the root of the matter,” he said.
On his part, village headman Kadzuwa alleged that he was offered a K15,000 bribe by the suspects but refused and went on to report the matter to Police as one way of helping the police in curbing crime in the country.
The suspects are Timothy Sinalo 26 of Mbenje Village T/A Mbenje, Alfred Mapira, 21 of Tambala Village T/A Mabuka Mulanje, Alick Witness, 35 of Thom Village T/A Lundu Chikhwawa and Kenneth Chimwanga, 23 who hailed from T/A Somba Blantyre and was the deceased’s security guard.
Media reports indicate that Sinalo who was working as a housekeeper for the deceased and Chimwanga are on record as to have said that they committed the crime in order to get reach.
Sinalo and Chimwanga have already started serving their sentences of theft after being convicted by First Grade Magistrate Edna Bodole according to a Malawi News Agency (MANA) online report. They will also face murder charges.
The general public has been raising concern over the lapse of security this year which has seen an increase in murder cases as well as robberies with businesses losing millions of kwacha in most parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Police Service in conjunction with the Ministry of Information lately launched what is called ‘Ndakuona’ aimed at people to alert the police whenever suspected people are seen in communities.
People have been advised to dial 0800 990 997 for free to police for rapid response and deal with suspects accordingly.
