Hundreds of Malawian police officers are deployed to line the routes taken by President Peter Mutharika\u2019s motorcade during his constant tours of the country, prompting complaints of a \u201ccomplete abuse\u201d of the security services.<\/p>\n
Policemen told amaBhungane that they have to stand for up to 16 hours during these exercises, often without being fed.<\/p>\n
Investigative journalism takes time and money. Help us do more. Be an amaB Supporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n That is despite a 2.7-billion kwacha (R54-million) contract to supply VIP protection officers with 500 000 ration packs, which has been at the centre of corruption allegations against Mutharika.<\/p>\n An Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) report leaked to the media in June last year forced the president to confirm that the businessman who won the rations tender, Zameer Karim, had deposited MK145-million (R2.9-million) in an account of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for which he (Mutharika) is the sole signatory. The president called it \u201can honest donation\u201d. (See sidebar).<\/p>\n Signed on August 4 2015, the contract required Karim to deliver the 500 000 ration packs within 20 weeks.<\/p>\n Allegations that the rations are not being distributed has turned a spotlight on Malawi\u2019s unique practice of stationing police along all the routes Mutharika takes on his frequent trips around the country, both within and between cities.<\/p>\n Police declined to say how many officers are involved in these VVIP protection exercises. However, the guards are stationed about 100m apart, meaning that for the 312 kilometre trip between Lilongwe and Blantyre more than 3 000 officers would be required.<\/p>\n The practice began under Malawi\u2019s first president, Kamuzu Banda, who deployed members of the Malawi Young Pioneers, the paramilitary wing of the ruling party. When the Pioneers were disbanded, the police took over their guarding function.<\/p>\n Eugenio Njoloma, a security studies lecturer at Mzuzu University, said much as the security of the head of state is of paramount importance, the lining of routes by police is not a responsible use of police time.<\/p>\n Njoloma said policemen are already few in number, with the police-citizen ratio standing at one to 1 000.<\/p>\n He said routine police duties such as foot and vehicle patrols and the processing of prosecutions are disrupted whenever the president is on the move.<\/p>\n Police stations with fewer than 40 officers are left denuded, as the entire staff is forced to stand guard as the president passes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis diverts policing attention to one person,\u201d he said. \u201cIt prevents citizens in many policing areas from accessing police services.\u201d<\/p>\n Njoloma said Malawi does not pose such unique security risks that require such a practice, which may have started as a result of \u201coverzealous senior police officers wanting to please the president\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president in Malawi is not naturally at risk\u2026 [but they] create risks themselves by disregarding good governance, which incites people\u2019s anger. Then the president feels threatened,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n Retired Malawi Defence Force brigadier Marcel Chirwa, who now a runs a security consultancy, the Centre for Peace and Security Management, said Kamuzu Banda\u2019s successor in the presidency, Bakili Muluzi, continued the practice of lining the president\u2019s routes but transferred it to the police.<\/p>\n Chirwa said it is a \u201ccomplete abuse\u201d of police time, as a motorcade is quite sufficient for security.<\/p>\n An intelligence source told amaBhungane that Mutharika\u2019s motorcade typically comprises between eight and ten motorcyclists and up to 90 vehicles, all armoured.<\/p>\n These carry bodyguards, intelligence officials and medical personnel.<\/p>\n In interviews with amaBhungane, officers said that that the duration of their guard duty varies depending on Mutharika\u2019s itinerary.<\/p>\n One police source said that when he travels the 300km route from Mzuzu City to Chitipa in the north of Malawi, along poor roads, officers are stationed along the roadside by 4am.<\/p>\n The president might pass the first officers between 8am and 9am and then return at 8pm at night. The policemen would thus stand continuously for 16 hours.<\/p>\n Mutharika goes on regular excursions and always travels by car. According to the government\u2019s Facebook page, he took 30 trips between January and March this year.<\/p>\n With national elections set for May 21 he is constantly moving round the country whipping up electoral support.<\/p>\n An officer from northern region said police guards were told that they were not generally entitled to allowances or food rations because protecting Mutharika\u2019s motorcade was deemed part of their normal duties.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes they give us a pack of dry rations which consists of either tinned beef or tinned fish, a biscuit and a packet of porridge powder or juice powder,\u201d explained the officer who asked to remain anonymous. \u201cBut most of the time we spend hours without food.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that guards were often deployed in places far from human habitation, meaning that the water and power required to cook porridge and mix juice are not available.<\/p>\n An officer from the central region agreed that that the provision of food rations is intermittent. \u201cI would say out of 10 of these operations, we can get the rations once,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The officer also complained that policemen sometimes have to stand in the rain without raincoats being provided.<\/p>\n He added that there had been attempts to take up the matter with senior officers, who argued that \u201cwe just stand for a couple of hours and so do not need food\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a lie because the minimum we spend on the road when the president is travelling is five or six hours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An officer from the southern region said that \u201csometimes they will just cook some rice and beans and start distributing that to us\u201d.<\/p>\n However, this was rare. \u201cMost of the time we are left to fend for ourselves, and we can just suffer with hunger. You know as a constable my net salary is not even 100 000 kwacha (R2 000) a month.\u201d<\/p>\n He said lower-ranking officers suspect that most of the food rations are shared among the \u201cbig bosses\u201d.<\/p>\n Mutharika\u2019s press secretary, Mgeme Kalilani, said the allegations that policemen posted to guard Mutharika are not being fed are \u201cnews to the State House\u201d.<\/p>\n Kalilani said that the government made inquiries and established that the rations are available.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have gathered is that the police have adequate food supplies for staff during operations in all policing regions. The supplies can actually [last] them several months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf indeed there are such concerns, you may wish to check with the police commissioners in charge of the policing region concerned why that should be the case when they have the stocks,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n On whether guarding Mutharika\u2019s motorcade was an appropriate use of police time, Kalilani said this is purely a security issue.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the President should be the one explaining or justifying how the police carry out their duties in relation to the President\u2019s office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The regional commissioner referred amaBhungane\u2019s questions to the spokesperson for national police, James Kadadzera, who said \u201caggrieved\u201d police officers should forward their complaints to the authorities \u201cusing proper channels as per police procedure\u201d.<\/p>\n A senior officer in the police procurement department, speaking anonymously, said that rations were sometimes not provided \u201cbecause of issues of funding\u201d, and that in such cases \u201cofficers will have to sort themselves out\u201d.<\/p>\n The system, he said, was that the supplies are sent to national police headquarters, which then distributes them to regional headquarters.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the regional offices run out of stock because headquarters haven\u2019t supplied them the officers will have to operate without rations, because security issues cannot suffer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Minister of homeland security Nicholas Dausi, who is responsible for VIP protection, also said he is not aware that police officers are not being fed while protecting Mutharika. Dausi asked for more time to make his own findings.<\/p>\n Pioneer Investments boss Zameer Karim refused to comment. \u201cYou are phoning the wrong person,\u201d he said. \u201cFind out from them (the police). I don\u2019t want to comment on this matter any more. It\u2019s my right not to comment.\u201d<\/p>\n There is plenty for the police to do in Malawi.<\/p>\n The country does not publish crime statistics, but a 2018 assessment by the US state department, prepared for American visitors, says the crime and safety situation is \u201cconsistent with many impoverished and developing countries where crime remains a serious concern\u201d.<\/p>\n It refers to vehicle robberies, car hijackings, residential burglaries, armed robberies and home invasions.<\/p>\n The report also says that criminals, commonly armed with pangas and sometimes with firearms, tend to work in groups of between five and 15 and are quick to use violence if their demands are not met.<\/p>\n It also refers to outbreaks of vigilante violence, saying these \u201care often a result of public distrust and lack of confidence in the Malawi Police Services\u201d.<\/p>\n