EDITORIAL | Another Malawian brutally killed in Area 25: Who is next as Police are busy with breathalyzers!

We are angry. We are heartbroken. And we are tired of writing eulogies instead of news.

Another young man, Peter Chalusa, has been murdered—beaten to death near Kalambo School in Area 25, Lilongwe. He was coming from Nsungwi Market at just 10PM, only to be ambushed and killed in cold blood. His only crime? Trying to get home.

This is not an isolated incident. In the past three months alone, over five innocent people have been killed in Area 25 by thugs who roam freely in the night like ghosts. They do not fear the law—because there is no law to fear. They kill. They disappear. The police come late, if at all, only to confirm what the family already knows: their loved one is gone.

Where is our police?

Area 25 has more roadblocks than schools. But these checkpoints are not about safety—they are revenue traps. Night after night, police officers line the roads not to protect citizens from criminals, but to hunt innocent Malawians with breathalysers, hoping to catch a drunk motorist for a quick bribe.

This is what “security” has been reduced to: extortion disguised as law enforcement.

What policing is this?

You claim to serve and protect. But who are you protecting when people can’t even walk home from the market without dying? Who are you serving when mothers have to bury their sons, again and again, because your patrols are too busy chasing cash instead of criminals?

Let us be clear: the blood is on your hands too.

Area 25 residents no longer feel safe. They have lost faith. They are terrified, not just of criminals, but of the system that has failed them. And they are right to be angry. We all should be.

This cannot continue. We demand urgent action from Malawi Police Service leadership. Reinforce Area 25. Patrol the hotspots. Investigate the killings. Remove useless roadblocks that only terrorise law-abiding citizens.

The people of Area 25 are not drunkards or statistics. They are Malawians who deserve protection. And if the police cannot provide that, then what is the point of having a police force at all?

Enough is enough.

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