Malawi’s homeland security minister Chimwendo orders probe into police’s ‘shoot to kill’ in Thyolo

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)–Minister of homeland security Richard Chimwendo Banda has ordered for an independent inquiry into the shooting to death of two people at Bvumbwe Trading Centre in Thyolo.

An eye witness told Maravi Post that one of the victims was shot on the chest as he was resisting to be handcuffed on Monday at Bvumbwe Trading Centre.

“In the course of fleeing the scene a police officer also shot another male civilian”, narrated the eye witness.

According to the findings of a preliminary inquiry by the police, the two that were killed are Chipiliro Masikamu aged 21 and Solomon Mandindi aged 32.

Speaking to the country’s media, Chimwendo Banda said what happened at Bvumbwe is unfortunate because it brought about disorder and that two people lost their lives.

Chimwendo Banda has since directed the Complaints Independent Commission to probe the matter.

Meanwhile, James Kadadzela, spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service has backed the decision of conducting an independent probe.

Kadadzela says police are still hunting for their fellow officer who is involved in the case.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).