Govt vows action On chakwera raid

Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Grace Chiumia yesterday vowed to probe an armed attack on Malawi’s leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera’s home in the early hours of yesterday.

Chakwera—who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president—became the latest high-profile personality to experience the impact of security gaps in the country after armed men invaded his residence in Lilongwe’s Area 9.

In an interview yesterday, MCP deputy secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka confirmed that unidentified armed thugs raided and opened fire on the residence of the MCP president before they were over-powered by Chakwera’s personal security detail.

He said the intruders invaded the premises at around 2.45am.

Said Mkaka: “They [the gang] came in a vehicle that was parked close to the fence. Two men alighted from the vehicle as others [whose registration number we could not tell] were armed with a gun.”

He said the armed men later made their way inside the fence by climbing branches of a tree growing inside the perimeter fence to beat an electric fence.

According to Mkaka, security guards provided by MCP to beef up the party president’s protection were alert and foiled the gang’s mission.

He said the guards made some moves that disturbed the intruders and made them fire in the air, a development that woke up Chakwera and other occupants of his house.

Mkaka also said when the thugs noticed that they had attracted attention, they escaped using the same route into their waiting vehicle and sped off.

According to Mkaka, an armed police officer who guards Chakwera’s residence did not report for duties on the night of the incident. But police have rejected the assertion that a police officer assigned to guard the leader of Opposition’s premises was absent from duties.

He said nothing was stolen in the attempted attack.

Mkaka said MCP is not treating the incident as an ordinary attack as the party suspects the assailants had a bigger mission.

He said: “Looking at the political climate in the country where there is a lot of political intolerance, we cannot rule out political involvement. This is a very unfortunate incident.”

Mkaka said MCP has reported the incident to police as a matter of formality despite having issues with the conduct of the officers after they failed to bring to book panga-wielding thugs who attacked Chakwera’s bodyguard at a rally in Mzuzu.

National Police spokesperson James Kadazera confirmed the incident, saying a police officer who was on duty foiled the armed robbers’ mission to get into the compound.

However, he dismissed Mkaka’s assertion that the police officer did not report for duties.

Chiumia yesterday told the National Assembly that the incident will be thoroughly investigated.

In her address, she assured members of Parliament (MPs) that it is the duty of her ministry to provide security to every citizen regardless of status in society.

Chakwera joins a growing list of high profile crime victims.

In September 2014, daring robbers beat the security system and broke into Mudi House in Mandala, the official residence of Vice-President Saulos Chilima in Blantyre.

Two months later in November 2014, panga-wielding thugs attacked the residence of then Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Atupele Muluzi, now Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, in Lilongwe’s Area 9 residential area. n