Malawi rejects US rights report: ‘Based on incorrect information’

Malawi government has denounced as incorrect a recent Country Report on Human Rights Practices published by the US State Department last week which accused Malawi on human rights abuse as evidenced by, among many cases, government’s failure to bring to justice police officers who were charged with manslaughter in July 2011 anti-government demonstration and on Robert Chasowa’s death.

Solicitor General, Janet Chikaya Banda, rejected the American report as being founded upon “incorrect information”.

The report, which is based on the occurrences of 2014, and was posted on Malawi’s US Embassy website on Friday, June 26, states that police arbitrarily shot and killed innocent people in the course of their work mostly because of indiscipline and poor training.

The US report noted that Police officers arrested in connection with the 2011 deaths of anti-government demonstrators remained free on bail.

The report also faults Malawi government’s government’s failure to bring to justice regime agents who killed university student activist Robert Chasowa.

“By year’s end, a trial date was not yet set for eight police officers arrested in the 2011 death of student activist Robert Chasowa, and they remained free on bail,” reads the report in part.

But the Solicitor General said some of the contents in the report about Malawi are unsubstantiated and false.

Banda said the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) ordered another investigation to be conducted on Chasowa’s death because the first one was not properly done.

“The earlier investigation was not properly done, it had a lot of loopholes and after going through it, the DPP ordered another thorough investigations that were going to seal those loopholes because no one wants to go to court with a case they are going to lose,” Banda said, as quoted by local press.

According to the report, police were inefficient, poorly trained and corrupt as evidenced by involvement of Malawi Defence Force (MDF) for support in internal security although the latter’s responsibility is external security. It also notes impunity as another problem.

The US report also noted that although an independent police complaints commission is provided for by law, it was not yet established by year’s end.

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