How many should be murdered, Mr Dausi?
There is no contestation that Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi is an affable man. Famed for using bombastic words in the Queen’s language, Mr. Dausi is also usually humorous. He interacts freely with people from all walks of life and professions besides the fact that and he rarely shows anger even under intense provocation. These are some of the positive things that define the Taiwan-trained former MYP cadre, former Kamuzu body guard, former MCP publicity secretary, former MCP vice-president, presidential aide during the Bingu era, former NIB chief under the APM government, former DPP spokesperson and minister of Information and Communication Technology and now spokesperson for the DPP.
But this week, Dausi has been in the news for very wrong reasons. He goofed big time in his statement on the sensitive issue of abductions and murders of persons with albinism. As the man at the helm of a ministry responsible for internal security, he seemed to be completely out of sync with what is expected of him when he stated that the murders and abductions of persons with albinism have not reached a critical level to justify members of the Association of Persons with Albinism (Apam) to hold a vigil at State House. How many people does Dausi want to be murdered? The 24 that have been murdered so far and the 160 crimes registered against them since 2014 are not scary enough? No wonder the DPP government has been so aloof to the abductions and merciless murders and dismembering of persons of people with albinism.
I did not listen to the press briefing in Lilongwe where Dausi is alleged to have stated that the issue of the murders and killings of people with albinism has not reached a point to warrant members of the Association of Persons with Albinism (Apam) to hold a vigil at State House.
But if indeed Dausi made that statement, we all ought to be afraid, very afraid. How many persons with albinism does Dausi want to be murdered and their bodies mutilated to move him and his government to take a decisive move to stop the vice? If true, Dausi’s statement is, to say the least, scary, indeed very frightening. It is indicative of how fringe to his ministry the issue of abductions and murders of persons with albinism is. It is the reason the DPP government is not investigating suspected murderers with the seriousness the matter deserves and swiftly prosecuting those that are caught. And when some are arrested, they die in police custody!
Apam’s objective of holding a vigil at State House is to move government to roll out a national action plan aimed at providing protection to persons with albinism across the country and increased socio-economic support to persons with albinism, pressure government to uncover the alleged market fueling attacks on persons with albinism through a commission of inquiry, research and hire foreign investigation experts, expedite access to justice through establishment of special courts. In response to the pressure so far, President Peter Mutharika announced the establishment a presidential task force on persons with albinism. But after Dausi’s remarks, Apam has withdrawn its membership from the task force, understandably because the statement gives a glimpse to government’s lack of seriousness on the issue.
It is quite in order for anyone to blame government for its passivity to curb the social ill. MCP president Lazarus Chakwera is also quite in order to point an accusing finger at government’s failure to act decisively on this grave matter. To quote hakwera, APM should do his job. As president of this country he is the only person with all the powers and resources at his disposal to deal with this issue once and for all. One would think that coming soon after the blood suckers saga, APM will have mastered the art of how to swiftly deal with such social ills. APM should indeed do his job. Maybe APM has a wrong person in this job and so he is not getting the right advice on issues. Reminds me of Bingu’s scornful public statement in 2012 when the country was down to its knees due to the scarcity of fuel in the country. APM hit back—if you say there is no fuel in the country, lie on the tarmac road and see if vehicles will not run over you.
As for Mr Dausi, do your job. But this presupposes that you know it. I take it, however, that as a security expert and former NIB boss you are better placed to
