Joyce Banda’s life ‘still in danger’ says aide to Malawi-ex-president after thugs break into her Chintheche residence 

An aide to former president Joyce Banda (JB) has agains sounded concern that the former Malawi leader is living dangerously after unknown criminals broke into her private residence  in Chintheche and went away with some household items.

Banda’s spokesperson, Andekuche Chanthunya, said electronic and physical documents in the house were tampered with by the unknown thugs.

The former president was not in the house as is abroad.

The robbery comes amidst  a letter retired chief justice Richard Banda wrote foreign missions and development partners in the country, asking them to intervene in “repeated political harassment and persecution” of his wife, JB, by the Peter Mutharika administration and that there are more sinister motives.

He raised an alarm that “lives could be at stake here!”

And commenting in the Daily Times newspaper, Chanthunya  said there could be more than meets the eye on the Chinthenche house robbery.

“It appears whoever went to steal was going through some papers and documents because we found the desktops in the house switched on, right now we can’t exactly say what has been stolen because there was lots of stuff in the house,” said Chanthunya as quoted by the paper.

He told the paper that the incident testifies of the security lapse in the country and further blamed government for removing the security detail of the former president.

“This is what we are talking about. Dr. Banda was deprived of her security detail and an official residence in Lilongwe, government through the President is failing to honour the Constitution on the privileges of the former head of State and yet he swore before the people that he will uphold and protect the supreme law of the land,” he explained.

Chanthunya said houses to several other senior government officials like Vice President Saulosi Chilima and Housing Minister Atupele Muluzi were broken into whilst they were in, arguing that the country is currently in a security mess.

According to Malawi News Agency reoort, Nkhata Bay Police Spokesperson Sergeant Ignatius Esau said unknown criminals in the early hours of Saturday broke into the house of Banda and went away with duvet and home theatre.

Sergeant Esau said that Rabison Phiri, who works at the residence as a garden boy, told the law enforcers that on the night of 8 April 2016 the house as they went to sleep was well secured.

“On the early morning of 9^th April 2016, Phiri was surprised to see that the door gate was half opened. Upon checking further, he discovered that the rear door of the house was also open and when he went inside the house, he discovered that the house was broken into and some items in the house were missing,” Sergeant Esau explained.

He further said that: “The missing items include; duvet and home theatre and the value is yet to be established”.

According to Nkhata Bay Police Publicist, the residence has one watchman Numeri Mwale aged 60 who has been picked by police for questioning.

“The arrest of the watchman will lead us into arresting the unknown criminals who will answer chargers of breaking into a building and committing a felony therein once nabbed,” Sergeant Esau said.

In the letter, the retired chief justice wrote the international community and donors, he said:”Malawians remember very well that when Her Excellency Joyce Banda was Vice-President, the DPP government, under the late President Bingu wa Mutharika, withdrew part of her security detail. A few days after the withdrawal of security, in November 2010, the Vice-President’s official vehicle…was hit on the side she sat at Kanengo as she returned from Kamuzu International Airport. Luckily, she survived because she had used a different vehicle.”

He said the withdraw of security they fear that history may repeat itself.

“It has become a matter of urgency on the part of my family to implore upon you and the entire international community to take note of the DPP machinations against Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda and hopefully take unequivocal action against this frightening conduct by the DPP government. My family is grossly concerned that Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda’s own life might be in danger,” reads the letter in part.

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