Justice at Kabuwa is justice denied

As the world is commemorating 16 Days of activism, JAMES CHAVULA explores how lack of police posts in Khosolo, Mzimba, is suppressing women’s access to justice.

The mention of September 11 often brings to mind the grisly scene of how the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in the US went up in flames and were reduced to rubble in a terrorist act which has gone into history as 9/11.

Ironically, since last year, Gogo Janinge Banda, 73, who prefers to be called Nyakalua in honour of her husband who died in 1997, remembers September 11 2012 as the day her house was set ablaze by three young men armed not with airplanes like those that slammed into the Twin Towers, but sharp pangas and ill intention to steal the money she was thought to have received from her granddaughter who migrated to South Africa in search of greener pastures.

Unfortunately, the widowed granny’s year-long struggle to see the police act on the thugs has been a long-running battle which is relegating her to a pitiful face of prevailing lamentations in her Chimulu Village, T/A Khosolo in Mzimba. Justice delayed is justice denied, but people of hard-to-reach Khosolo are literally cut off from the justice system partly due to poor access to police services.

“I feel bad that no arrest, investigation or visit to the scene has been done even though I reported the case to Nkhunga Police Station in Nkhotakota and kept following up,” says the woman, arguing: “If you walk a long distance to access justice it is justice denied. If nothing happens or the wheels of justice turn so slowly, widows, women and other vulnerable populations have a reason to worry for their rights and lives.”

The gogo vividly recalls how the trio from a neighbouring village torched her house for reasons she may never understand, but says it is painful to see her attackers walking scot-free and threatening to attack her again. She recounts that on the fateful day—around 1pm—the invaders surrounded her three-bedroomed house, stole about 10 mobile phones she had just received from her granddaughter,

hacked a grandson who tried to resist the invasion and set the grass roof on fire. In less than an hour, she lost what, for slightly over a year, she had called home.

“It was a quiet day and I didn’t know that fate was about to strike where it pains most,” says the woman. “We did not save anything from the fire, not even the K20 000 (about $50) my daughter had sent for construction of a new house. Also gone up in flames were bags of maize, groundnuts and other farm produce.

Her loss alone is grave, but the delay by law enforcers to tackle the case, which was reported to Nkhunga Police Station in Dwangwa, Nkhotakota, is what pains her more.

From the back of a bicycle taxi, the long journey she travelled searching for justice flashed past: A 30-minute bicycle voyage through sugar cane fields from Nkhunga Police Station to Dwangwa River which costs K300, cyclists warn travellers that only the strong peddle beyond the river because the terrain is hilly, slopes steep and roads rocky beyond this point.

During the visit last week, the river between Dwangwa and Mzimba was filled by sand dunes as is the case throughout the dry seasons. During the rainy season, it floods, leaving Khosolo residents relying on risky boats which hardly ply beyond 5pm.

Beyond the point to the hard-to-reach parts of Mzimba, the road snakes over hills and valleys, a three-hour walk over rocky, steep slopes and bushes where women and girls fear to tread because lack of police presence within reach leaves them vulnerable to rape, defilement and other violent crimes. There is no police personnel in sight. No station nearby.

This is the journey women facing gender-based violence travel with little hope for the offenders to face the law.

“Even girls walk long distances to get to school and you cannot guarantee their safety,” says Kabuwa Day Secondary School head teacher Champhlex Kamanga.

And adds village head Chimulu, who has taken about 10 trips to help Nyakalua access justice: “We need a police station here to safeguard the rights of our people, especially women, girls and children. We talk about it during political and development rallies. Power holders must act now not only to safeguard our safety but also rights of women who walk over three hours to access a police unit?”

The traditional leader’s question offers some food for thought as the country commemorates 16 Days of Activism when the world unites in the fight for gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment, among other things.

Like Gogo Nyakalua’s last born Allan—who quit his business in Lilongwe and returned to the village to safeguard his granny from further attacks—says, the fire that gutted her home shows how the community, especially women and girls, suffer as government is dilly-dallying to establish police stations closer to people dying for law and order.

“Like my granny, women live in fear. We feel forsaken by government which has an obligation to make police units accessible to the people not only to safeguard law and order, but also to ensure women rights and access to justice in times of need,” he says.

Amid questions about ailing security in the country, police blamed poor funding for failing to fulfil their mandate: Protecting lives and property of the people regardless of where they live.

However, the scapegoat is subdued by recent revelations that government officials and politicians siphoned about K120 billion from Capital Hill in a corruption scandal dubbed cashgate. Government did not come to a halt despite the haemorrhage. If put to good use, the money could have helped build accessible police stations for the hard-to-reach communities like Kabuwa.

In October last year, Khosolo Women Forum, a group of women spearheaded by ActionAid to eliminate gender-based violence, took up gogo Nyakalua’s case to officers in charge of Champhira and Mzimba police stations convinced that Nkhunga was reluctant to help because Kabuwa is situated outside its jurisdiction and mandate. To get to Mzimba, Kabuwa residents endure a six hour bus trip through Dwangwa, Nkhata Bay, Mzuzu and Chikangawa Plantations which costs about K5 000 (about $12.50).

This can be a tall order for women who seldom have income generating activities, especially the widow.

Kabuwa Women’s Forum committee member Salome Jere says they are disappointed that the law enforcers continue to renegade on their promise to end Nyakaluwa’s wait for justice, saying: “Gender violence is rife, but women suffer in silence. How can they start speaking up when the police treat offenders with kid gloves?

“We had to intervene after our gogo opened up on the treatment she is getting from Khunga Police. The police system is failing us, but we will keep pressing for justice until the battle is won.”

Having seen decision -makers talk the talk, Jere says Kabuwa needs a police station, court and judge to walk the walk of gender justice. Access to police services is a critical component of justice delivery system, Government should make sure that police stations are closer to the people, adequately funded and trained to understand and prioritise issues of women rights,” says ActionAid project officer for Khosolo Local Rights Programme.

This is the cry of Gogo Kalua and the rest of the hard-to-reach population in Mzimba, near Nkhotakota.