Mphwiyo narrates shooting ordeal

On Friday September 13 this year, Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo had plans to leave for Blantyre with his family and a friend to attend his sister’s engagement ceremony the following day.

Mphwiyo told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that seeing that it was after 5pm, he postponed the trip and went out to meet friends at Africana Club in Lilongwe’s City Centre. He and his friends took some drinks.

Around 10.30pm, Mphwiyo said he left Africana for home using the exit from City Centre into the Presidential Way close to Golden Peacock Shopping Complex where he claims to have stopped for five minutes as he spoke on the phone with his wife.

While still speaking to his wife, Mphwiyo said he arrived at the gates of his Area 43 residence, the front of which is clearly illuminated with security lights.

He said his house is located close to some unburnt bricks which are surrounded by bushes.

He recalled that as he parked at his gate, he saw his guard peep and point to his right-hand side where, he said, he clearly saw two people who he thought were just passing by. The next moment, Mphwiyo said, he felt his jaw loosen and blood spatter all over which indicated that he had been shot.

Mphwiyo told the committee: “I did not hear the gun shots, but my wife must have heard over the phone and dashed out, quickly rushed me to Masm Clinic in the company of my 12-year-old daughter because she was awake at the time. My daughter must be the most traumatised person right now.”

Mphwiyo confirmed that he was slightly stabilised before he was transferred to Kamuzu Central Hospital where his friend, Dr Carlos Valera, opened his trachea to help in breathing.

After a day, Mphwiyo was airlifted to South Africa where he said doctors removed a bullet from his jaw, but were not able to remove the other two which are still lodged too close to his spinal cord.

“Two bullets went through the jaw, this was completely damaged and it was reconstructed with titanium metal. One bullet went to my shoulder and two of them are still lodged close to my spinal cord and cannot be removed,” Mphwiyo said.