The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has demanded Government to suspend compensation payouts to relatives of two suspects who were shot by police in Salima.
Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday in Lilongwe, CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa, has said the process should be suspended until forensic investigations and prosecution of all those involved is conducted.
According to Namiwa, the calls are necessitated by the information at hand which indicates that the two met their fate on October 4, 2018 as
they were allegedly fleeing from the hands of police officers.
Relatives of the two are seeking compensation as a result of police shooting incident of two suspects Samuel Samson aged 37, who hailed from Katunga Village, in Traditional Authority (T/A) Chiwere’s area in Dowa district, and Mussa Assabi, 36 from Chimasuka village, in T/A Kaphuka’s area in Dedza district.
Namiwa says his organisation has gathered information which indicates that days after this shooting incident, a naturalised Malawian of Rwandan origin, Joseph Sekanabo, who is doing business at Kamuzu road in Salima, was arrested and
subsequently released on police bail by the Lingadzi Police in Lilongwe, in connection with the same incident.
“It all started on July 11, 2017, when a Puma fuel attendant was shot dead while a guard was injured in two separate incidences. The same night, a Rwandan business person Vincent Nyionegera was shot very close to his house in Salima and that preliminary Salima
Police investigations revealed that two different guns were used,” he highlighted
According to Namiwa, CDEDI does not have problems with government paying compensation to the two families that lost their loved ones.
“However, we hold a strong view that the above twists and turns are too glaring coincidences to be ignored, Malawian taxpayers have a right to know what really happened before the funds are disbursed,” said.
Meanwhile the office of the Attorney General has confirmed receipt of the letter but is yet to comment on the next course of action.
