Malawi Army officers' residents searched

Chidziko: Brigadiers wants him jailed for contempt of court

Senior Malawi Defence Force (MDF) officers had their houses searched, Nyasa Times has established Nothing was found during the search and it was not immediately established why the search was conducted. 

About ten armed Military Police (MP) Personnel conducted the searched which was headed by  Major Namwela, chief of MDF's Military Police.  The search was not conducted in the main houses of the senior officers but rather their servants' quarters only. 

The first house to be searched was that of Brigadier Cosgrove Mituka who is among the other two Brigadiers answering treason charges which were politically motivated. 

After Mituka's house the MP's went to the house of military chief spy Brigadier Ruben Ngwenya a neighbour to Mituka and later proceeded to the resident of MDF's chief of Staff Major General Everisto Kadzeya. 

Other senior officers who had their servants quarters searched included Brigadier Chimowa, Colonel Clement Namangale, Major General Sefu. 

Only senior officers residing in Kamuzu Barracks, MDF Headquarters were searched leaving out those who are residing outside the Barracks. 

Military sources confided to Nyasa Times that the search for other houses was a smoke screen  but  main target was the house of Mituka. 

Malawi intelligence had earlier gathered that the suspects were keeping evidence relating to  treason fantasy at their servants quarters but the yielded an egg. 

Soon after the arrest of the senior officers last May, all cars entering or leaving the Barracks were also roughly  searched for two weeks except cars driven by the MDF commander General Marko Chiziko, his deputy Lieutenant General Ntonya and Major General Kadzeya. 

MDF follows the British military system even in its hierarchy of ranks and this is how it is from junior officer to senior officer: 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier, Major General, Lieutenant General then General.

According to military rules the chief of Staff, in this case Kadzeya accompanied by chief of Military Police is the one who is supposed to arrest any senior officer from the ranks of Colonel and above and take them to a place called officers mess where they await a court marshal.  

But that was not the case when Brigadier Juvenalis Mtende and others were arrested. Police constables led the arrest team and later taken to police custody where they stayed for one week. 

Currently, Mituka and Brigadier Mtende want MDF's commander Chiziko and other two government senior officers arrested for contempt of court for not reinstating them back to their duties after the two had applied for the renewal of their contract. 

Nyasa Times sourced two letters by the two Brigadiers who had applied for renewal of their contract but the Human Resource department said they never got their letters at that showed lack of interest by the two Brigadiers to have their contracts renewed. 

In a related development Nyasa Times has gathered that the contract for Brigadier Marcel Chirwa who also answering treason charges has been renewed four months after Chirwa applied for its renewal. 

The letter with reference number DOP/CA/132/1/B titled: Renewal of Contract Brigadier General M R D Chirwa, MSM, osc (US) partly reads 'Sir, I have the honour to apprise you that my performance related contract expires on 31st August 2008.  May I take this opportunity to renew for further period of Three Years.  

But the MDF General Chiziko - who is an operative of ruling DPP-  applied to the secretary for national Defence on 7th August 2008 24 days before its expiry through Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Chaona in a letter with file number CA/132/1/B. 

When granting bail to the three Brigadiers and other senior UDF members, former security officers who were also arrested for planning to overthrow government, Judge Elton Singini gave government until February next year to provide the court with sufficient evidence on how the suspects planned to overthrow government of President Bingu Mutharika or the case will automatically dropped. 

Until today government has not tendered any credible evidence prompting former President Bakili Muluzi's demand to have the treason charges levelled against him and other nine dropped. 

Muluzi who is  main contender for next year’s presidency had his bail requirements scrapped by the High Court last week effectively making a “free man”.