Police lay murder charges to 3 suspects arrested over albino death: ‘Kweni’ on the run

Malawi Police Services  have swiftly arrested three people in connection with the death of the 54-year-old  person with albinism on New Year eve in Nkhata Bay and laid murder charges but it is reported that the person with the bones is still on the run.

Police identified the arrested as Francis Kalua, 37, Ceaser Banda, 31 and Lawrence Banda, 32 all from Nkhata Bay.

But the police say  a key suspect who is keeping the bones, only identified as Kweni, is still on the run.

The arrests on Wednesday came barely a day after Inspector General of Police Rodney Jose said the law enforcers had clues as to who killed a person with albinism on Monday in Nkhata Bay.

Yasin Kwenda Phiri was brutally murdered on New Year’s eve in his house at Kande Trading Centre in Nkhata Bay, a development that has shocked the country. He was working as a hospital assistant at Kande Health Centre.

“The police are working on some clues. They are looking for two men who come from the same community at Kande but we are requesting people with some information to come forward to us,” he said.

He said the police were shocked that one more person with albinism has been killed, more so in the presence of his nine-nine-year-old son.

Both the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM Party have condemned the killing and said this is a sign of security lapses in the country.

However, Homeland Security minister Nicholas Dausi said there was need for a concerted effort from everyone to protect people with albinism.

“The assailants make such sinister plans in secrecy, this is why it makes it difficult for the police to foil the murders,” he said.

Association of People with Albinism in Malawi president Overton Kondowe said the only solution to end the killings is for the government to set up a special tribunal to hear such cases in a bid to speed justice as courts delay in hearing the cases.

He said stiff punishment for the offenders would send a strong message to would be offenders, a sentiment shared by Inspector General Jose who asked courts to speed up cases of killings of people with albinism.

Meanwhile, disability organisations in the country have asked President Peter Mutharika to urgently institute a commission of inquiry to probe attacks and ruthless killings of people with albinism.

The organisations, under the umbrella of Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi (Fedoma) and the Disability Rights Clinic of Faculty of Law at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, made the call Thursday during a news conference in Blantyre.

And  the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has also asked government to take decisive action and deal with the issue once and for all this year.

In a related development, University of Malawi, College of Medicine Professor Adamson Muula has offered a K100 000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of killers of Yasin.

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