Unima students demand justice on Nyondo’s death
The University of Malawi Students Union (Umsu) has given theIndependent Police Commission up to January end to commenceinvestigations into the circumstances that led to the shooting andsubsequent death of a Polytechnic student Blessings Nyondo.
Umsu president Scoliati Chithokonya told the media on Friday that should nothing happen on the matter by end of the month, they will be forced to take “unspecified action”.
Nyondo was a final year electronics and computer engineering student at The Polytechnic, a constituent college of theUniversity of Malawi. He succumbed to gunshot wounds on January 8this year.
He was shot on the night of December 31 2020 near KwachaRoundabout in Blantyre. It is alleged that a Malawi Broadcasting Corporation security guard shot him when he sought help while fleeingfrom thugs.
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) already launched a probe into his shooting and death after Minister of Homeland SecurityRichard Chimwendo Banda asked them to do so alongside the IndependentPolice Commission.
But Chithokonya said Umsu is demanding justice on the shooting anddeath of their colleague who was a self-boarder living in Chitawira Township.
He said: “The union would like to bring to the commission’s attention thatUnima students are prepared to vigilantly stand against suchimpunities and hereby demand a report stating the commencing ofinvestigations by end of January.
“We do not purport to live in silence or fear against our owngovernment, rather, we believe in the rule of law and the same shallbe demanded from the State.”
The students’ union leader also challenged the commission to prove tothe country it will guarantee Malawi Police Service’sdiscipline by getting to the bottom of the matter.
“We request the commission to exercise its powers conferred upon itunder Section 129 of the Police Act to expose the true perpetrators ofthe victim’s tragedy so that they are held accountable,” said Chithokonya.
Nyondo’s roommate Nimrod Theuand Pastor Lloyd Bwirani of Fountain of Victory Church International where the slain student usedto worship, in separate interviews also demanded justice on the matter.
“While we commend the minister for facilitating the investigations on the matter, we demand justice to be served. We strongly oppose the version of the Malawi Police Service that Blessings was a suspected robber,” said Pastor Bwirani.
Theu, who knew Blessings for several years as a friend, roommate,classmate and prayer partner, also expressed his dissatisfaction withthe police narrative which he said “presented a very tainted andnegative image of my prayerful brother and friend”.
Born Bonet Blessings Nyondo on March 7 1997, the deceased was the second born in a family of four. His 25-year-old sister still lives with their parents at Chitipa Boma.
He did his primary and secondary school education in Chitipa from where he was selected to pursue electronics and computer engineering at The Polytechnic in Blantyre.
Nyondo was laid to rest on January 10 this year at his home village Mwenefuvya in Traditional Authority Mwaulambia in Chitipa.
