Minister Kaliati storms bakery of Pakistan over sexual abuse allegations
Allegations have surfaced of sexual abuse and inhumane treatment against a staff member of Panda Supermarket and Bakery of Pakistan origin operating in Lilongwe, towards some Malawians which include allegations of rape of a 12 year old girl.
The issue came to light when Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati on Tuesday late afternoon hours, paid a surprise visit to the premises, situated at area 47 Chitukuko in Lilongwe in a follow up to various complaints that reached her office against one of the people running the family business.
The allegations include sexual harassment, physical assault, inhumane treatment of Malawians, and a sexual violation of a 12 year old girl and a K1 million payment to suppress the matter.
However, when Kaliati stormed the shop, she was told by the man in charge of the shop (also of Pakistan origin), that the man purportedly behind these abuses had allegedly left the country for Pakistan.
“Every day we are getting reports that a number of people are being harassed here and sexually abused, including street children who are facing various abuses,” she told journalists.
“We have heard that he would urinate in empty energy drink bottles and throw these outside for the street kids to be taking them as if it is juice; yet it is urine. We have people who have been invited into this shop and suffered sexual harassment including a vulnerable girl from Mtandire (name withheld).
“A certain case was taken to Lilongwe police where K1 million was given to end the case. So we are tired of getting these reports of these abuses,” said the seemingly furious Kaliati.
Kaliati however, said this is just the beginning of the investigations to find out the whole truth behind all these serious allegations, and whether the man has really left the country or is being shielded.
She has since said her office through the Director of Social Welfare, Child Care Protection will engage the police and all other relevant authorities in a quest to bring all offenders to book.
“We have also challenged the person running this shop to know the kind of people he is employing following what is happening, otherwise we might close the shop because we do not want people to be harassed or sexually abused here,” she warned.
Kaliati also warned of following up on allegations of a staff member at Labour offices who suppresses complaints after receiving money.
The minister added saying government intends to make sure children are kept out of the streets to protect them from abuses, introduce needy kids on cash transfer and empower them with vocational skills.
Efforts to talk to the shop manager proved futile as he denied granting an interview.
However, Mana caught up with one of the whistle blowers identified as Master Chiyembekezo, who agreed to go on record to provide further details of the allegations.
He alleged the name of the man in question to be Tybu Raza, while the manager Kaliati had talked to at the shop was Kashif Raza. He alleged these to be brothers running the family business.
Chiyembekezo detailed a chilling account as to what has been happening behind the closets of the shop and how he signed for a K1 million payment to keep an alleged rape case out of court.
“He (Tybu) would, after taking Dragon energy drinks, urinate in the empty cans and pretend it was a normal drink and give it to guards to drink it. Sometimes they would deliberately put those in trash bins, which street kids would pick and drink, thinking it was an energy drink,” alleges Chiyembekezo.
“I know of these things, I was working there as a company manager and I just recently resigned.
The ex-worker also alleges of a young man (name withheld), a tyre fitter operating nearby who was also sexually assaulted.
He claims the younger brother at one time asked the victim to clean the toilet, and while there, started making sexual acts on the victim, removing the victims trousers promising him K50,000 for sex.
However, one of the damaging claims was the defilement of a 12 year old girl by the younger brother.
“He raped a 12 year old girl, the issue was reported to the regional police at area 3, but since they have money, they paid K1 million to the relatives for the issue not to be taken to court.
“I was there when the money was being paid. They refused to sign for the K1 million but I, as a company manager then, acted as a company representative and I was asked to sign payment for the money which I did. This effectively ended the case, but I was not comfortable with that,” he says.
He also claims of a case of a woman was also impregnated, beaten and subsequently lost both the pregnancy and her uterus.
“My resignation came after suffering abuses too. When this Taybu would be angry, he would shout at me, insulting me telling me to go and have sex with my mother, saying my sister smells badly.
“I started way back tendering in my resignation letter but they refused to accept it saying they could not afford to lose a good person like me. But it was too much to bear and I finally resigned,” he says.
Chiyembekezo said he is making the revelations to make sure justice takes its course, saying people are suffering in silence because of poverty.
He said he reported the issue to the ministry officials hoping proper investigations would be done.
“When some of these things were previously reported, money would exchange hands to end these cases. But this time around I believe the people handling this case now cannot be bribed and justice will flow,” says Chiyembekezo.
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Ooh no, Tonse Alliance Govt under Dr Laz and Dr SKC, please liberate Malawi from this mess created by the previous corrupt regimes. We need to own our country back, it appears anybody from these Amwenyes, matchaina and International organisations are taking advantage of Malawians. The guys of Indian origin are abuding our poor peope, sexual abuse, aiding corruption and untold hatred against owners of the continent We, Africans. The so called international organisations bring in fake and valueless experts who take away jobs for locals and add NO value at all ( Ministry of Labour , Foreign Affairs and Immigration) check and vet the people coming into our country. There are many valueless foreign workers (wearing the label expatriate) just stealing jobs for local experts, they add no value at all, only sharing money. They mistreat locals ( check their Daily Allowances against the meagre token for locals for similar activities and same number of nights ( bwana Chief Secretary) deal with this deceit and mess once and for all. They also have the propensity and appetite to dictate their mismatching plans on government agencies( let us STOP any foreign imposition) and are disrespectful to local authorities, staff and systems. Amwenyewa ndi anzawo matchaina, ndiye kuzunza our poor people through sexual exploitation, torture, little salary (enslavement), kuonomga za chingedwe etc. Let us reclaim our country back. All foreigners that are adding no value must be sent back to their home countries! We managed 2020 fresh elections much better than the poorly managed 2019 elections with many numerous coaches!
Arrest Mchacha for marrying or impregnating a small girl. He abused his position as minister. That is sex and marriage under duress.
NGOs please take on Mchacha. He must have used or abused his position to impregnate and marry that young woman. What did he do before marrying her? He used his position and money. That alone is a crime.
Thanks very much honourable Kaliati for taking the Bull by its horn
Those of us who bother to read Malawi’s history will know that In the early days of Kamuzu’s rule in 1964 Kanyama Chiume was going around Indian owned shops threatening the Indians just like Kaliati is doing. As soon as Kamuzu’s found out from an Indian family deported to Rhodesia of what Chiume and Rose Chibambo were doing Kamuzu being the statesman he was immediately put a stop to this kind of nonsense. HE Lazarus Chakwera needs to put a stop to his Ministers going around like Kaliati and ask his Ministers to report wrong doers to the police, or immigration or MRA etc to follow up on complaints and investigate! We cannot have the law of the jungle in a democracy.
Investigate all businesses belonging to these Asians as most of them are dirty abusers. Check the safety and conditions of all workers and arrest and deport all abusers. No za masewera in tonse government.
Will cabinet Ministers (Roy Kachale at Salima Sugar and now Patricia Kaliati) be the ones to bring such malpractices to a halt? I don’t think so, it will ne too much for them. Why not ensure that relevant government handle such issues. In this case just let the police or immigration officers handle these issues. If for some reason they willfully dont want to do their work take them to to task
If they involve police then DPP will claim it is witch hunting
Mr Kaliati. I am sorry i hated u for bad publicity on social media but now i have a change of heart. You are our to five ministers that we can recomend to the president.
This is disappointing. I hope this is not the end of the conversation. The owner of the shop has the responsibility to protect his employees and to ensure they are working in a safe environment. He knew of the events happening and signed of a check to silence the case as such he has a case to answer. The owner should taken to court.
Being a Muslim,I am very saddened with this news….I don’t know when this issue was reported to government and why the minister did not take action at the time…now we hear the culprit is gone to pakistan. Please minister take a firm action straight away…this is not acceptable in our society…imagine if this young daughter of ours was his sister…
Kaliyati-Please close the shop and deregister the company and send the Paki back home.
Send Police not Hon Kaliati. But among the Indians, Pakiatani, Nigerias and other foreigners there are many illegal immigrants. And there are many criminals. They are taking our jobs as well as our women. Please chase them away
Nkhani ya police ndi immigration iyi. Afufuzeni and send them back
It is not good in a functioning democracy for a Minister to be doing the work of the police or immigration. For a Minister does not have constitutional powers to investigate and prosecute cases, that power is vested in the police and other government departments for example immigration and MRA. Hon Kaliati by her actions has in fact prejudiced the case against these Pakis.
Ministers should not be running around Malawi doing the work of the police or immigration officials or the MRA.
Nevertheless what Hon Kaliati has proved is that the police and worse still immigration departments have been negligent in corruptly allowing dubious foreigners to enter and settle Malawi.
Those Malawians who disagree with what I say about Ministers not running around doing the work of the police or immigration, should remember our past history when prisons were full of people arrested without any case to answer because Ministers like Albert Muwalo made accusations against them. Ministers should not seek popularity by doing the work of the police or immigration. Instead make the police and immigration do their work.
In a democracy there has to be a demarcation between the work of the police and other government departments and Ministers. It would have been more acceptable if Hon Kaliati had asked the police and immigration to accompany her when she went to the business premises.
Do not forget we are praising Hon Kaliati today, but will be unhappy when we see innocent people being harassed.
Having said this I say bravo Hon Kaliati, now lets ensure that these Pakis are arrested and charged and then thrown out of Malawi. Foreigners who present a threat to our country and people should all be thrown out of our country. Kwacha!!!
Stupid Pakistanis! Go back to your country! You have abused Malawians enough and this can’t continue!
A mwenye oyipa
The mwenye should engage Chisales cadet lawyer, who will tell Malawians there is no case because he has paid 1 million kwacha to the victim who was sexually harassed and assaulted.
Clean this mess up pls kaliat
Foseki
It a criminal offence to deliberately contaminate food. He must be arrested and the business closed
Bravo Minister Kaliati. But surly in a democracy these are matters that the police should handle. You cannot go around intimidating people. It’s for the police to investigate and arrest wrongful doers. Now that you have taken the initiative let there be arrests and punishment
Please let us reopen Mikuyu Prison to dump these Pakis, Amwenyes and other foreigners. Just arrest and dump them at Mikuyu to be held at the ‘pleasure of H E President Chakwera.
No need for charges or trials. Let Ministers go around arresting and dumping them at Mikuyu and lets put to work to grow maize and beans for their own consumption. No chapatis or biryani. If we do this then no foreigner will want to settle in our country.
Its wrong what this shop has done. But look at the comments here, no wonder you guys are where you are.
The police are corrupt especially when it comes to dealing issues with Amwenye. Kaliati is setting precedence that she will deal with corrupt officials and Amwenyes. She is sending a message that this behavior won’t be tolerated in the new Malawi
Are u stupid. She is a minister social welfare thats why she went there. You have heard that these matters have been reported but nothing happened. These ministers are working on the ground. Time to work on reconditioned offices are over. We need a clean Malawi like Botswana or Rwanda
Who’s she intimidating?
Idiot tomorrow she could do same to you. She was obliged to ask the police to investigate. You don’t understand the implications of such behaviour by ministers on democracy. And what did Kaliati achieve by going there. Nothing
Her actions were not intimidating. She was sending a very clear message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. Period. And might I add, she achieved a lot. Job well done!
So what did she achieve. The Pakistani is still operating his business. Kaliati is back in her office. Can’t you apologist for Kaliati understand that in a democracy Ministers do not go around behaving as Kaliati did. It is police and immigration who should deal with the matter. No wonder we are as poor as we are as a country. You people are a disgrace. You have no understanding of what a democracy is.
it obvious he even contaminates the items that he bakes.
Why are we keeping such pigs within our boarders? Time to clean up…apite ku Mikuyu galu ameneyu!
How can one run a supermarket and we call it investment?
Kaliati kuchenjela konseko basi mmwenye anakuputsitsa?? When you work with vulnerable groups you would easily know that the owner of the shop is the part of the syndicate. Trust me Kaliati you encountered the culprit, but you innocently believed his lies and let him go. Arrest that bakery owner and he will explain his side from the cooler. If his answer was like that it means only two things 1. He is the person who you are looking for or 2. He knew all the abuses under his watch as a manager but decided to not speak about them hence he is more guilty than the person he is accusing. For those saying this is a police job, Why in your right mind would you think Malawi police can help on this issue? Nde bwenzi tikuti clean the mess? We are talking about cleaning the mess because our police is incapable for now. Malawi police are still powerless hence Kaliati was the right whip. Malawi police will need to be trained on how to deal with such cases first otherwise for now that is why it is making sense for our newly elected ministers to do the job themselves, ie leading by example. Pat go back and get this evil man, close the shop immediately and mlandu palibe pamenepo. Pat do what is right, if you do so it will send a strong signal to other pakistanis who are sleeping with minors, urinating in empty juice bottles yuk! Pat take my word, arrest him he is the culprit.We are to protect our children, they are our responsibility. Anthu ena amakonda kunena kuti wakula basi ameneyo. Trust me those who comment like that are usually less educated plus have an immoral spirit themselves hence they feel vindicated when they hear others do the same. In other countries touching their minor, I mean simply touching them inappropriately would mean many years behind bars. It all begins with us. It shouldn’t be kuti ngati ndi mwana wanga? We are all Malawians hence each other’s keeper. Our own kids have be held in high esteem. We can do better Malawi.
Much as it purportedly seems to be real. This just screams sour grapes from a disgruntled employee who has been fired.
This is coming from a disgruntled employee who was fired for stealing
‘ikarim’ you are a dog. You keep defending your Indians and Pakistanis. You nothing but a dog ‘ikarim’.
Better to end all these nonsense by deporting all Pakistanis, Indians and foreigners. Never mind justice or rights. Malawi is too exposed to these crooks. Lets rebuild Malawi without these blood suckers.
This is very commendable. And it tickles my mind. These asian arabs are bad people. We need also to ensure that their bakery products like bread and cakes are not contaminated. Like those from Sana you literary taste funny things and sometimes bite sand and wonder. Even the creameries in juices and yoghurt, please we need thorough checks. One day we will wake up to discover we were feeding on funny mixtures. Very bad people. Malawi please wake up.
Why give K1 million to a fired disgruntled employee?
Ma comments opusa awa.
sure the abuses are all over, people are suffering in silence because of poverty. Our authorities should help clean this mess. its a pity modern slavery is being practiced in most foreign companies unnoticed.
Well said. You are right. Our leaders and government have left us Malawians too exposed to these crooks and criminals – deport all foreigners.
ofatsa3 – I agree that our people are suffering in silence because of poverty. However it would be wrong to say that they only suffer in foreign owned companies. For some of us Malawians who employ fellow Malawians are the worst, we mistreat our own brothers and sisters sometimes far more then the foreigners. We treat our own like slaves. God has created all of us in God’s image lets begin to treat the less well off in our country fairly and with compassion.Zikomo
Is this shit happening in Malawi the warm heart of Africa? My country, Kaliati thanks for job well done pls do not relent poor Malawians have no say, act on our behalf I personally salute you whole heartedly.
The Kaliati I know. She moves quickly on issues. How I wish you can do the same on Nsundwe saga. Good JOb keep on cleaning this shit
Please go around tobacco companies ,there are abuses at it stinking point,people staying 3 years no salary increaments,some whites come in Malawi and start work without work permits and they ill treat workers ,please see into these dogs.
Go and check at Tobbaco Commilssion one of the Boss’s there doesn’t deserve to have the position he is holding. He didn’t even pass the interviews he was just placed at TC because he is related to Mwananvekha. Clean TC.
These sort of Animal Farm accusations can lead to rule of the jungle with freedom to make the wildest accusations, to revenge personal grudges.
Kaliati’s behaviour is not befitting a Government Minister of the Republic of Malawi.
As line Minister, when the matter was reported to her, she was supposed to have phoned the IG of police, and Chief Immigration Officer to carry out investigations, better still, she should have phoned the Minister of Home Affairs.
Rushing to the supermarket as she did is not conduct befitting a Minister. And what did she achieve, nothing. The supermarket is not closed down and the Paki in the photo does not appear to be scared at all.
The police service itself needs to be thoroughly cleaned up it’s full of cadets with no certificates