By Vincent Gunde
Political activist Bon Elias Kalindo, has described the state of affairs in the Malawi Prisons as deathtraps saying the country’s prisons were not built for inmates to reform their behaviors but to rot and die while they are still alive.
Kalindo said people are being beaten while they are in prison making one to wonder if Malawi indeed attain democracy, the toilets and where inmates are sleeping, are not conducive to a living person but animals.
He expressed his sadness that those who are being sent to prison are those who stole bulbs, 3 maize cobs, 6 sugarcanes claiming that those that are rich, they don’t sleep under those conditions, there are special rooms like rest houses for them.
Speaking through an audio clip circulating in various social media platforms, Kalindo has thanked Malawians for their love shown after hearing of his arrests by the police and sent to Maula Prison in Lilongwe.
Kalindo has also thanked his team of lawyers for their tireless job and MPs from opposition UDF, AFORD and DPP for coming to the court led by DPPs Leader of Opposition Mary Navicha advising them not be tired, the police are on his feet cooking up cases against him.
He said he would have loved if police built a house for him inside prison so that they should not find it difficult to arrest him but to go to the house and charge him there assuring the police that he has no fear, Malawi is a democratic country.
Kalindo said if politicians were loving this country just the same Malawians are loving Kalindo, Malawi would have by now develop, but politicians in Malawi have proved themselves that they don’t love their country, they love themselves, their families, and relatives.
He said Malawians are following to wherever the police have kept him to make sure that he is safe and there is no harm on him assuring Malawians that he will not retreat that even if the police arrest him one million times, he will not be shaken.
The activist said he has suffered through arrests and rearrests but has not developed Blood Pressure (BP) because he sacrificed his heart to be arrested, prosecuted, and die for Malawians so that one day Malawi is liberated from the shackles of MCP dictatorship.
“I know many Malawians wants to know the truth of Kalindo possessing a gun in 2021, where is it and who is the owner of the said gun,” said Kalindo.
He said time of keeping secrets are over, Parliament passed the access to information bill observing that Malawians have the right to know about the claimed gun by the police and has vowed to do so on a special day where he will speak to Malawians for the truth to prevail.
On a sad note, Kalindo has lamented that people from Kasiya in Lilongwe, and Dowa are being ferried in trucks to Lilongwe to claim K750,000 each while others are pocketing K150,000 each via their mobile phones describing Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) as a tool for campaigning for the Chewas to massively vote for President Chakwera and his MCP in 2025