Malawi gov’t to buy marine boat for Liwonde police patrols, parliament told
Home Affairs Minister Uladi Mussa on Tuesday assured Parliament that his Ministry and Government as a whole, is concerned with the safety of the Malawians who live and earn their living by prying their trade close to the lakeshore areas in the country.
The minister said this in response to a request from Member of Parliament (MP) for Balaka Central East, Yawumi Mpaweni who asked the ministry to consider providing an engine boat to Liwonde Police to carry out patrols at the Kamuzu Barrage where most of the times accidents occur.
In his response, the minister said he was in total agreement with the proposition to have the engine boat patrolling the area as a matter of urgency considering the number of accidents that have occurred at the place.
“As a ministry we indeed have to move in to take control of the situation at the Kamuzu barrage. I would like to assure the House here that we are taking the issue of safety at this place as a priority and once funds from the budget that has just been passed are made available we will purchase this engine boat.
“Not only are we concerned with the situation in Liwonde but across all the Lakeshore areas across the country. We are looking at offering both short term and long term measures to address this issue,” said Mussa.
He said in the meantime marine police will be deployed in the areas of concern as an interim measure on top of carrying out sensitizations notifying the communities around on the possible dangers that these areas pose to the people.
“We will engage community leaders to help us civic educate their subjects on the dangers these places can pose. Here we are not only looking at dangers inform of accidents that can take place on the waters but also the presence of crocodiles in such areas,” said the home affairs minister.
Apart from the question and answer session, Members of Parliament also debated and passed three Bills on Tuesday morning namely; The Customs and Exercise Amendments Bill, Taxation Amendment Bill and The Value Added Tax Amendment Bill to bring the number of bills passed during the session to 20 from the 28 that were received for the meeting.
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