Clement Chiwaya’s burial Saturday
The body of former second deputy Speaker and member of Parliament for Mangochi Central Constituency Clement Chiwaya, who reportedly shot himself Thursday, will be buried on Saturday in Mangochi, United Democratic Front (UDF) spokesperson Yusuf Mwawa has said.
Mwawa said the body would depart Goodwill Funeral Home in Area 4, Lilongwe, today at 9am, adding that further details of the funeral would be communicated later.
Parliament Thursday confirmed that Chiwaya committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol on Thursday in front of Clerk of Parliament Fiona Kalemba in her office.
Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye confirmed the development and described it as unfortunate.
Mwenye said Chiwaya complained about some employment benefits which he claimed were not honoured.
He said Chiwaya was demanding that Parliament replace a vehicle he was using after it was involved in a road accident.
“The vehicle had run out of its comprehensive insurance by the time it was involved in the accident. Following the incident, Chiwaya made a number of requests to Parliament secretariat to remedy his situation,” Mwenye said.
He said Parliament sought legal advice from Attorney General who faulted the former deputy speaker.
Then, Chiwaya took the matter to the Commercial Court but, before conclusion of the case, he further took the matter to the Office of the Ombudsman where a ruling in his favour was granted.
The matter is still at the Commercial Court for final determination.
The security at Parliament could not detect Chiwaya’s pistol.
Parliament has since said they have reported the matter to police for further investigation.
Police spokesperson James Kadadzera said the police will release a report on the circumstances that led to Chiwaya’s death.
However, there are reports that the former deputy speaker left a suicide note which police are investigating.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, UDF has expressed shock at the death of their party member.
“Until his death he was a member of the National Executive of the UDF party. He also served as Cabinet minister and member of Parliament for Mangochi Central Constituency.
“The death of Hon. Chiwaya and circumstances surrounding it should make all of us do a serious soul-searching on how our administrative justice system in our country has for so long caused untold miseries to innocent Malawians,” the statement reads.
Chiwaya bowed out of frontline politics in 2019, after clocking 15 years in Parliament.
He served as deputy speaker of Parliament twice.
