Headteacher shot dead in Mzimba
Police in Mzimba District are hunting for criminals who shot dead a head teacher at Luwanjati Junior Primary School in Champhira with a muzzle loader on Tuesday.
Confirming the development Wednesday, Mzimba Police Spokesperson Constable Gift Nyirongo identified the head teacher as Arnold Saka, 45, from Chigwazi village in Traditional Authority Mzikubora in the district.
Nyirongo explained that the school, which has standards 1 to 4 and had Saka as the only teacher, benefited from Local Development Fund (LDF) project to have a teacher’s house constructed at the school.
“Two weeks ago, prior to the incident, unknown criminals came to the head teacher’s house asking him to give them money but teacher denied having any money, and the strangers went back without getting anything,” Nyirongo said.
He added that on 15 October at around 11 pm, the unknown thugs armed with a muzzle loader came back to his house and ordered him to open the door. He said when the teacher opened the door, the thugs immediately shot him.
Nyirongo said postmortem conducted at Jenda Health Centre showed that the deceased died due to severe bleeding secondary to gun shot.
“We are appealing to the community to report to police anyone they know is connected to the incident,” he said.
When asked about the future of 95 pupils at the school, District Education Manager for Mzimba South, Leman Mvula, said he cannot promise as to when another teacher would be deployed to the school.
“It is difficult to have immediate replacement due to the incident. Obviously, teachers need to be assured of their safety. So, I cannot promise how long it will take for another teacher to be posted to the school,” Mvula said.
Mvula explained that the school had only one teacher because it had shortage of houses hence the LDF project to construct another house at the school.
“The school was identified to benefit from LDF project and the procurement of materials for the project were to be done yesterday; I suspect the robbers thought the head teacher was keeping money meant for the project in his house,” he said.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
