Mutharika fails Malawi Rights Commission over Chasowa, Njauju murder probe

State rights body, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) says it is disappointing that President Peter Mutharika has not lived up to his word to conclude investigations into the murder of  of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) official Issa Njaunju and University of Malawi student Robert Chasowa.

Chasowa – a student activist  -was on September 24 2011 found dead at The Polytechnic campus in Blantyre with a deep cut in his head.

Police declared his death as suicide, claiming he had jumped to his death from a high rise building, but this claim was contradicted by a postmortem report that said he had been murdered.

A presidential inquiry found that ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and police killed him seven years ago because of his criticism to former president Bingu wa Mutharika and his government.

Njauju was killed seven years ago in what people say top DPP and government officials anger over his alleged leakage of some sensitive corruption dossier to some donors.

MHRC executive director David Nungu said both Mutharika and Justice minister Samuel Tembenu promised that the government would probe the murders before the end of the tenure of office of this government in May.

“But now they are saying that the police cannot do it because the investigations would need high tech facilities,” he said.

Former chairperson of MHRC Justin Dzonzi pleaded with Mutharika to speed up the investigations, saying these were issues of national concern as the murders were bound on human rights matters.

The British offered to send murder forensic experts but the government seemed not to be interested as senior DPP officials and police were allegedly involved in the murders.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Pilirani Masanjala and police spokesperson James Kadadzera asked for more time to get details.