Malawi Police arrest Admarc guard over killing

Malawi Police in Nsanje have arrested a 48 year old Admarc guard at Mbenje for killing a community policing official following a fracas that erupted as people jostled to buy maize.

Nsanje Police Station officer in charge Kelby Kaunga said the guard, Anderson Kantepa has since been charged with negligence after he forgot to close his gun and  fired  in the air to scare people who were jostling to buy the few tonnage of maize which arrive at Mbenje Admarc depot.

Kantepa accidentally killed Wyson Bisengo on Monday after accidentally triggerring a gun he was holding when he was floored and tramped upon by people seeking to buy the maize.

Kaunga said Kantepa was supposed to close his gun after firing in the air.

Bisengo, a member of community policing in Mbenje, went to the Admarc depot to bring peace after people jostled and caused pandemonium in a bid to buy maize.

The fracas started around 11 am and the Admarc guard was overpowered by the people who had come to buy the maize, he fell on the ground and accidentally triggered the bullet that hit Bisengo on the neck, killing him instantly.

The irate villagers, after the killing, run amok, ransacked the market, looting all the maize that was there.

The body of Bisengo was taken to Nsanje District Hospital for postmortem.

President Peter Mutharika on Friday reiterated that despite food shortages, no one in Malawi will die of hunger saying Admarc has stated buying maize to avert hunger that characterized last year’s season.

On Monday he met leaders of Zambia and Mozambique and high on the agenda was the issue of food as Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi are this year expected to experience acute food shortages.

Malawi is expected to have 1.4 million tones of maize out of the needed three million metric tones.