Family, police tussle over man’s death
A fresh incident of alleged police brutality has emerged in Lilongwe where 52-year-old Emerson Migoza, who was working as a guard at the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM), died on Sunday from head injuries sustained due to alleged severe beating by some law enforcers.
But since his death on Sunday at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), Migoza’s body remained at the hospital, as the family and police tussled on who will conduct postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.
A solution was only reached yesterday after the intervention of the Independent Complaints Commission (ICC).
Narrating how the incident began, TUM secretary general Charles Kumchenga alleged that Migoza, who lived at Kauma, Area 12, met his fate on his way to work on December 25 2025.
A report which Migoza detailed at his workplace before his death indicates that he met police officers [names withheld] in civilian clothes just before Wullian Shopping Mall.
Said Kumchenga: “They shouted at him and used vulgar language claiming he was not cycling well on the road and the deceased responded zomwe mwanditukwanazo, inunso zomwezo [those swear words should also apply to you].”
He said the officers, two of which he identified as CID staff jumped from the vehicle, pounced on Migoza and beat him up, mostly in the head.
Kumchenga said the officers threw Migoza at the back of their Land Cruiser and took him to Lilongwe Police in Area 3 (Old Town).
He said: “He called me from the station. I rushed to the station where I met the officer-in-charge Mr. Guro and pleaded for his release. He was released on December 26th.”
But according to Kumchedwa, their employee had since his release been in and out of hospital. He said Migoza had sought treatment at KCH and African Bible College Clinic in Lilongwe.
Details recorded by medical personnel in the health passport of the deceased, indicated that Migoza had complained of headache, dizziness and a lack of sleep due to severe headache.
“His family took him back to KCH at midnight on Sunday where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival,” said Kumchenga.
He said there was a misunderstanding with the police over a postmortem which the family and TUM officials want to be handled by their own appointed specialist Dr Andrew Master Mwale, while the police had already identified Dr. Charles Dzamalala to conduct it.
The deceased’s first born child of, Ramsey, said in an interview yesterday that they had reported the matter to the Independent Complaints Commission (ICC), who came in to help find a pathologist.
ICC commissioner Christopher Tukula confirmed receiving the complaint from the family.
Migoza comes from Traditional Authority Chitukula in Neno District.
He is survived by a wife and six children.
