51 presidential guards sent packing

State House has evicted 51 presidential guards from its precincts in a move Malawi Police Service (MPS) has described as normal.

The expelled officers join a growing list of security personnel and other State House employees exiting President Peter Mutharika’s official homes over a 13-month period he has been at Plot Number One.

While confirming the removal of presidential guards, National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo, in an interview last evening, could not give reasons behind the mass eviction believed to be the biggest number of officers removed from State Residences at one go.

She said: “I can confirm that the transfers have indeed taken place, but that is normal within the police service because we are not supposed to be at one place.”

Manjolo said the transferred guards would be reassigned to perform other duties in various work stations nationwide.

However, she could not confirm the number, saying she was yet to get actual statistics as she was out of office attending interface meetings in Zomba and Blantyre.

Both the director general of State Residences Peter Mukhito and his deputy Lawford Palani were not available for comment as they were reported to be with the President in Mozambique for that country’s independence celebrations yesterday.

But some affected officers who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity said they were advised to immediately report to their respective regional headquarters for redeployment.

In March this year, State House also removed Mutharika’s aide-de-camp (ADC) lieutenant colonel Fostino Gunda-Phiri and sent him back to the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) “to carry out other duties”.

Prior to his removal, several other Mutharika aides hired following his victory in the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections left State House and were reassigned to other public departments.

The presidential guard commander Duncan Mwapasa also left State House after his appointment as deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG).