Man arrested over social media post accusing MP of diverting relief maize

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A man aged 39 has been arrested in Lilongwe for alleging on Facebook that relief maize meant for people in Kasungu West had been diverted to the house of Member of Parliament for the area Jailosi Bonongwe.

Lilongwe police spokesperson, Hastings Chigalu, has identified the suspect as Joseph Mathews.

“Mathews wrote on his Facebook page called Friends Connect Malawi that the parliamentarian was in hot water after he diverted two trucks of relief maize to his house and sold them to vendors in private,” said Chigalu.

The legislator, Jailosi, reportedly approached Mathew to remove the Facebook post which had gone viral but the suspect allegedly demanded K20,000 as a condition.

The issue was reported to Police and the law enforcers conducted investigations which found that the publication was false.

Mathews has since been charged with cyber stalking contrary to the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act.

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