Joyce Banda demands action on Buleya Lule’s death before elections

Former president Joyce Banda (JB) has demanded the Democratic  Progressive Party (DPP) government should release an autopsy report  into the death of Buleya Lule, a key suspect in the abduction of a boy with albinism  before Malawians go to polls on May 21 2019.

Banda, who is campaigning for the ticket of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera, said in Karonga during campaign meetings that government  should release the autopsy report on the matter and ensure justice.

According to Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (Apam) president Overstone Kondowe, quoting an oral report of preliminary results from pathologists who include Dr. Charles Dzamalala, Lule was electrocuted and hit on the head with some metal bars.

Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) commissioned pathologist Dzamalala to do the autopsy  .

Banda said government should  bring to book  “those response for the killing of Mr Buleya Lule.”

She said the nation cannot continue to see the culture of extrajudicial killings.

Lule died in police custody after he appeared in the Lilongwe Magistrate’s Court on February 21 on the first day of trial over the abduction of Goodson Makanjira, 14, from Mphanyama Village, in Traditional Authority Chilikumwendo, Dedza.

The accused, who had pleaded not guilty and was charged together with five others, is said to have been offered the abducted boy by two of the fellow accused, including Makanjira’s step-father, for a price of K800 000.

MHRC said it is conducting a special inquiry into Lule’s death and will quiz people conntected that include police officers at Lilongwe Police Station, where Lule was in remand before he died, and Mitundu Police Station, where he was briefly kept after arrest, relatives and other key witnesses.

Lule had been among six men who were arrested in connection with the abduction.

The others are Kumbilani Patson, 51, the first accused, Sainani Kalekeni, 44, the second accused; Lukas Kagomo, 36, the third accused; Katiya Mizeck, 42, the fourth accused; Lule, 44, the fifth accused; and Wiskes Gana, 58, the sixth accused.