Kamlepo accused police of being behind his abduction

Rumphi East Member of Parliament Kamlepo Kalua has come out of his cocoon to accuse the Malawi Police Service (MPS) of being behind his abduction.

Kalua went missing last week and was found on Sunday at Kwacha Roundabout in the commercial capital Blantyre while tied both hands and legs with blue ropes.

In a statement released on Monday, the police through its national spokesperson James Kadadzera accused the Kalua of staging his own abduction to gain political sympathy.

“Firstly, someone abducted would not have time to spit and polish by among other things, shaving their beard, cleaning their clothes and looking as smart as the Honourable member was found at Kwacha.

“Secondly, someone who claims torture would have marks to prove that they were indeed subjected to torture but Honourable Kalua was found with no single mark that would have otherwise substantiated his claim,” said Kadadzera in a statement.

He added: “Thirdly, as the Honourable member claims that he was picked from Chileka on the alleged abduction day at a site where he is constructing a house, police interviewed the workers at the site who revealed that three months have elapsed without the Honourable member showing up at the site.”
But reacting to the claims, Kalua accused the police of being behind his abduction.

“I feel I am OK. How did it [the abduction] happen? I was in Chileka, inspecting my construction project. The police claim I was last seen there [in Chileka] three months ago. That is not true as I have to regularly go to my place to pay the workers. These workers need to be paid so that they use the money as transport to their homes. If I went there three months ago so, who is paying them?

“Again, the police are just contradicting themselves when they say they took me to Naperi Hospital. The police knew I was at Seventh Day Adventist Hospital [Blantyre Adventist Hospital-BAH], but they preferred to lie,” said Kalua.

He added: “The very same police claimed [then Polytechnic student] Robert Chasowa had committed suicide and showed a suicide note to the whole country. The very same Chasowa whom Dr [Charles] Dzamalala said he was killed.

“And they [police] told professor Boniface Dulani that he was evading tax and impounded all the computers after he had done that research [indicating that President Peter Mutharika was least popular].

“If I was found dead, they [police] could have said I committed suicide because I was running away from evading tax.”

Meanwhile police have launched investigations on the matter.