By Deogratias Mmana:
It is now five years since police superintendent Usumani Imedi was stoned to death by protestors at Msundwe in Lilongwe.
Deployed to bring peace, he was brutally murdered on October 8, 2019.
Today, five years on, those that killed him are walking scot-free as no justice has been delivered.
- Advertisement -
Four people were charged with Usumani’s murder.
- Advertisement -
That day, the mob had blocked the main road between Mchinji and Lilongwe to prevent those travelling from Mchinji to a presidential function in Lilongwe.
In the aftermath of the Usumani’s killing, police arrested 44 people, 40 of whom were charged with endangering safety of people on the road while four were charged with the murder of the police officer.
Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) have since expressed concern as authorities seem to have buried the case instead of ensuring that justice is done, they say.
The government admits that the matter has been delayed and attributes this to several factors including lack of resources.
- Advertisement -
MHRC Executive Secretary Habiba Osman said the commission will follow the matter through with the Independent Complaints Commission under the Malawi Police Service.
“The Commission made specific recommendations to the Police IG [Inspector General]. The first recommendation was that the police must expedite criminal investigations into those involved in his death and bring suspects to justice. The Director of Public Prosecutions is better placed to comment on the status,” Osman said.
She added that the police complied with another recommendation which called for the fast tracking of the compensation for his family.
The Ministry of Justice said the case, just like other murder cases, has been delayed because there are no resources.
“In general, all murder cases are experiencing significant delays due to various factors. These include resource constraints, the pace of investigations, and the limited number of prosecutors and judges available to handle these cases,” the ministry’s spokesperson Frank Namangale said.
He added that the ministry has recently implemented an electronic case management system for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and “we are currently in the process of uploading and cleaning the relevant statistics.”
HRDC’s chairperson Gift Trapence said it is disturbing that five years down the case has not moved.
“Burying the case is the same as burying justice. The silence on the matter is suspicious and we need the case to be concluded with prosecutions by bringing the suspects to court.
“Justice should not be selective; as such HRDC is calling upon the police, Director of Public Prosecutions including Malawi Human Rights Commission to push for this case for its conclusion,” Trapence said.
MHRC carried out an investigation into the death of Imedi and made several recommendations for the police.
In an interview yesterday, national police spokesperson Peter Kalaya asked for more time to consult, adding that most of the officers who were close to the matter were redeployed elsewhere.
Lawyer Ayuba James who at that time represented the 40 that were charged with endangering public safety promised throughout the week to give a comment on the issue. He had not done so as we went to press.
But in August 2021, James told Malawi News that he was frustrated with failure by the police to make progress on the case.
“There has been no movement on the files since they were granted bail. It’s now close to two years; so we are making an application for them to be discharged from the obligation this week so that they can be free people,” James said then.
On October 8, 2019, the then president Peter Mutharika had a public event –launching a United States government funded project to construct 250 secondary schools across the country –at Kamuzu Institute in Lilongwe and some protestors blocked the main road at Mpingu and Msundwe in Lilongwe West.
Police officers from the Mobile Service C Division were deployed to control the situation and clear the road for traffic.
Imedi led the officers.
The killing of Usumani is seen as having triggered the alleged sexual offences against 18 women and girls said to have been perpetrated by the police in Mpingu and M’bwatalika in the area.
It is said the police committed the sexual offences in reaction to the murder of their colleague in the service.
The civil part of the Msundwe Rape Case, as it is often known, was concluded, resulting in the awarding of K121.5 million in monetary compensation to the victims.
Up to now, no police officer has been identified as having committed the sexual abuses.
A leaked report from within the police which we also reported on in this paper claimed that the sexual abuse case was cooked up.
The incident happened amid tension in the country as some sections protested the results of the 2019 elections, leading to the nullification of the election by the court and ordering of fresh elections in June 2020.
The Ministry of Justice said the case, just like other murder cases, has been delayed because there are no resources.
“In general, all murder cases are experiencing significant delays due to various factors. These include resource constraints, the pace of investigations, and the limited number of prosecutors and judges available to handle these cases,” the ministry’s spokesperson Frank Namangale said.
He added that the ministry has recently implemented an electronic case management system for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and “we are currently in the process of uploading and cleaning the relevant statistics.”
HRDC’s chairperson Gift Trapence said it is disturbing that five years down the case has not moved.
“Burying the case is the same as burying justice. The silence on the matter is suspicious and we need the case to be concluded with prosecutions by bringing the suspects to court.
“Justice should not be selective; as such HRDC is calling upon the police, Director of Public Prosecutions including Malawi Human Rights Commission to push for this case for its conclusion,” Trapence said.
MHRC carried out an investigation into the death of Imedi and made several recommendations for the police.
In an interview Friday, national police spokesperson Peter Kalaya asked for more time to consult, adding that most of the officers who were close to the matter were redeployed elsewhere.
Lawyer Ayuba James who at that time represented the 40 that were charged with endangering public safety promised throughout the week to give a comment on the issue. He had not done so as we went to press.
But in August 2021, James told Malawi News that he was frustrated with failure by the police to make progress on the case.
“There has been no movement on the files since they were granted bail. It’s now close to two years; so we
