Six law enforcement agents arrested over student death

Malawi’s new President Joyce Banda has moved to end police impunity for violence against students and lecturers, with the arrest of six law enforcement agents in connection with the death in police custody of a student in January.

Banda has also sworn in members of a commission tasked with probing the death of student leader Robert Chasowa, who was critical of the government of the late Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika, who died early this month.

Just days after assuming power, Banda – who had been deputy president – fired head of the police Inspector General Peter Mukhito, who triggered nearly a year of academic freedom protests when he summoned and questioned University of Malawi political scientist Dr Blessings Chinsinga over comments he made during a lecture.

Banda’s actions have won many hearts in the higher education sector and are a complete departure from Mutharika’s policy of defending questionable actions taken by the police against students and lecturers.

The new president has also appointed envoys to Britain in an effort to restore relations with Western countries that had cut development aid to Malawi, impacting negatively on the country’s budget and on sectors including higher education.

On 20 April, Malawi’s Daily Times newspaper quoted a police spokesperson confirming the arrest of the six officers in connection with the death of Edison Msika, a Natural Resources College student who died on 29 January in police custody.

“I can confirm that six officers have been arrested. Very soon we will issue a statement,” the paper quoted northern region police spokesperson Norah Chimwala as saying.

Banda has also now sworn in a commission mandated with unravelling the details of the death of Chasowa. The commission is headed by Supreme Court Judge Andrew Nyirenda with other members including professor of pathology George Chaomba, lawyer Paul Maulidi, civil servant Ben Mbewe and Mary Magwiza Manyusa.

Police had dismissed Chasowa’s death as suicide, even though the young man was found dead with a cut to his head. But a large section of Malawian society was not convinced and church and civil society groups petitioned Mutharika to institute an inquiry, but to no avail.

Chasowa was vice president of the Youth for Freedom and Democracy group, which distributed a campus newsletter that was highly critical of Malawi’s leader.

A week before Chasowa died, the newsletter published an article that warned Mutharika that at the end of his presidential term, in 2014, the youth group would work to have him arrested for human rights abuses and to make him account for wealth accumulated over the years.

“Mr President – explain to the people of Malawi how you spent and used U$100 million you borrowed from PTA Bank for the purchase of petrol and diesel. Mr President – why should Paladin Africa, a company which is mining uranium at Kayerekera, be banking U$100,000 every month into your personal account in Australia – when Malawi is experiencing an acute shortage of forex,” read part of the article.