Police now blame army for Mzuzu demo

It is only God and Satan now left for the so called reformed Malawi Police Service to push the blame to for the fracas that ensued during the July 20 anti government protests in Mzuzu where nine people were killed and property was destroyed.

In a quest to justify their behaviour which led to the killings and injuries to 39 people altogether, the Police have now pushed the blame to Soldiers from Moyale Barracks  of the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) in Mzuzu.

On Monday another senior Police officer, Northern Region Police Operations Officer Isaac Maluwa also blamed Harry Mkandawire, Mezuwa Banda, Loveness Gondwe and Yeremiah Chihana for the same incident.

Maluwa: Testified under  oath

But in Mzuzu case, the Soldiers were called in to complement the Police who were overwhelmed by irate demonstrators.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Bernard Ligoya Nkhoma, who was Regional Commander for the Police Mobile Service in the north, told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on anti-government protests currently sitting in Mzuzu that the Soldiers incited the  people to give the Police a tough time.

“They were saying Tiyeni nawo ma Khoba. Zimene akugwilitsa ntchito atenga kwathu ,” Nkhoma said under oath.

According to Nkhoma this was in reference to the blank ammunition the Police had borrowed from Moyale after their supply was finished.

“I thought these Soldiers had come to help but when I heard them saying that I knew they had other motives so I asked them to return to their barracks although the crowd out numbered us,” Nkhoma said.

Nkhoma expressed ignorance when asked to divulge the name of the person who ordered the use of live ammunition after the Police had emptied the armoury.

“Under normal circumstance it is supposed to be me but I did not order my boys to kill but to shoot in the air to disperse the crowd,” he said.

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