Malawi police say no live bullet was used in Nselema

Malawi police in the Eastern Region have set the record straight that no single shot was fired when Democrtaic Progressive Party (DPP) and its political bedfellows United Democratic Front (UDF)  thugs blocked roads to stop State Vice-President and Tonse Alliance running mate Saulos Chilima from going to Ngokwe, Ntaja and other places in Machinga on Friday.

Following the incident, the Vice President cancelled his rallies and returned halfway before Nselema, technically meaning that there was no any showdown between his security and the DPP/UDF supporters.

DPP-UDF running mate Atupele Muluzi and former vice-president Cassim Chilumpha, who is also Assembly for Democracy and Development (ADD)  have separately accused Chilima that his  bodyguards used live bullets and shot people.

However,  Eastern Region police spokesperson Joseph Sauka has refuted these reports, clarifying that Chilima’s bodyguards did not reach Nselema and that no gun was used by the police who were deployed to Nselema.

“No live bullet was used. No gun was used. The only incident we had was that Nselema police used one teargas canister  to disperse DPP/UDF supporters. This affected a lady but she is fine.

“The canister hit a man on the leg. He is fine too. In all this, there was no involvement of police from Chilima’s security detail,” said Sauka in an interview with Zodiak Brodcasting Station.

Asked to comment on the matter, UTM publicity secretary Chidanti Malunga said both Atupele Muluzi  and Chilumpha are  either being petty or largely uninformed.

Malunga said  ruling a country is not by stoning, insulting or hacking people.

Master Dicks Mfune, a peace, security and conflict resolution expert at Chancellor College—a constituent college of the University of Malawi,  has said there are  indications that  DPP-UDF Alliance are the architect of the violence.

He said: “They are creating anarchy so that the country becomes insecure and a State of Emergency is declared.

Youth-Decide Campaign team leader Charles Kajoloweka said in a statement madeavailable to Nyasa Timea that as the country counts down to the fresh presidential election, political intolerance and thuggery pose a worrying threat to a peaceful and credible election.

Reads the statement he signed: “Most disturbingly, authorities, including President Peter Mutharika, Minister of Homeland Security and the police, paradoxically remain unresponsive, unmoved, elusive and absent despite rising calls for law and order.

“The absence of decisive leadership to clamp down on the horrifying wave of criminal terror causes deadening concern and only nourishes public fears that the perpetrators could be agents of the ruling elite.”

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