Lilongwe Police Station lay visitor’s panel chairperson Chancy Lutere has appealed to communities in Lilongwe Mpenu-Nkhoma and Nkhoma Synod of Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) to honour their pledge to rehabilitate Nkhoma Police Unit.
Speaking on Saturday at the synod’s headquarters during the meeting between the police, the church, traditional and political leaders, he said the facility needs renovation a year and a half since the community and the church committed to do the work.
Said Lutere: “In October 2021, the synod and community pledged to renovate the police unit. But nothing has been done.
“We are worried about the status of detained persons. We observed that their conditions in the cells were too horrible and not in line with the constitutional requirement under Section 42 Sub-section 1 (b) which stipulates that any detainee, including convicted persons, shall have the right to be detained under conditions consistent with human dignity. We evoked Section 127 of the Malawi Police Act of 2010 which empowers us to liaise with communities to not only renovate the police unit but also to provide toilets.”
Panel member Alfred Mphote asked the synod if it was still committed to provide a piece of land to build a new police unit.
In his response, the synod’s general secretary the Reverend Vasco Kachipapa said the land offer was still intact.
“We need to set up a task force to look into how we can build this new police structure. But in the meantime, we will focus on renovating the old structure and building a toilet,” he said.
Group village head Kanyumbu asked the police to deploy competent and sober-minded officers.
Lilongwe Police station officer Eunice Mwamkili pledged additional officers to fight an upsurge of crime in the area.
“We understand that you have few officers. But we are sending in more officers, who are sober and competent,” she said.
