By Chisomo Phiri
Two men identified as Pearson Chimimba,48, and Hector Ndawala,38, who were on a funeral procession are in police custody for allegedly blocking President Lazarus Chakwera’s convoy in Blantyre last Friday.
A acrime police report from Blantyre Police says Chimimba is believed to be a driver of one of the vehicles that blocked the presidential motorcade.
On the other hand, Ndawala is believed to be one of those who stoned the convoy.
According to the crime report, Chimimba hails from the area of Traditional Authority(T/A) Njolomole in Ntcheu District while Ndawala comes from the area of Traditional Authority(T/A) Chimaliro in Thyolo District.
That day, a funeral procession was coming from Golio in the populous Ndirande Township heading to HHI Cemetery and reportedly refused to pave way for the presidential convoy as Chakwera was rushing to Chileka International Airport to catch a flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC).
Among others, people on the funeral procession chanted songs; demanding Chakwera to stop and at least show some respect for the deceased.
Currently,some rights groups including National Advocacy Platform (NAP) are demanding a comprehensive investigation into the matter; arguing the incident exposed and compromised the president’s security.
Meanwhile, Police say they are still hunting for other suspects and expect more arrests in relation to the incident.
Previously, Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court sentenced former Malawi Electoral Commission commissioner Linda Kunje to 18 months imprisonment for criminal negligence after her vehicle blocked President Chakwera’s motorcade in Zomba on December 10 2020.
Her former driver, Jones Tewesa, was given 15 months custodial sentence.
The two were found guilty of the offence of criminal negligence against Section 246 of the Penal Code.
