Concerned Police officer pens Mutharika: ‘Sir, see how we are dying!’

One of the concerned police officer has written President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika demanding immediate intervention on the current political impasse which has led to the death of two law enforcers.

The letter come barely house after the death of a police officer identified as Superintendent Usumani Imedi who was stoned by angry residence of Nsundwe area.

In the letter dated October 8, 2019 made available to faceofmalawi reporter, the concerned police officer said he is deeply concerned with the events that are taking place in our country.

Below is the letter;

OPEN LETTER TO H.E THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI Prof ARTHUR
PETER MUTHARIKA, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF MALAWI POLICE SERVICE

FROM A CONCERNED POLICE OFFICER

DATE: 8TH OCTOBER 2019

IS THERE ANYONE WHO CARES? A CALL FOR HUMILITY AND SOUL SEARCHING

I address you Sir as a concerned police officer who is deeply concerned with the events that are taking place in our country.

I wish it was possible to append my service number, name and rank at the bottom of this letter but am sure you know what will befall me should I attempt to disclose such details. On the onset, may I ask those who treat such epistles as political propaganda to stay away from the contents of this letter. It might be difficult for our bosses to tell you this message because all what they can tell you is that all is
well and that officers are happy. This is a cry from an attested officer of the Malawi Police Service and therefore I call upon you Sir to speedily address the crumbling situation of our safety. We are dying!

Sir let me begin by reminding you that the police/public relationship has never been entirely shinny. Right away from the one party era up to the present time. This is despite several efforts to bring the two sides to a mutual understanding, cooperation and coexistence. The general public knows that most of the times the Malawi Police is used as a political tool for the governing party and that is why each and every time police action is heavily screened and scrutinized in order to rid it of any political smell before accepting such actions to be legitimate and lawful. The spate of hate, negative reactions, mob justice,
burning and torching of police formations, wounding and killing of police officers are all a clear sign of the deteriorating relationship between us police officers and the general public, our masters.

Our masters are heavily aggrieved with our way of doing things. We have openly and defiantly departed from our police culture, norms and ethics. Sadly, we are silently ordered to discharge our duties selectively and this puts our lives on the edge of the knife. Our masters want a better service but our hands are tied and we are now surrounded with political hoodlums who want to survive and keep themselves afloat using the police. Everyone knows that there is a fierce political war in this country. Unfortunately, in any war there must be casualties and we are the casualties. Not only us but also our spouses and children who become orphans because of the political fights. We know we all shall die one day but it’s heart breaking when our fellows die in circumstances that could have been avoided if there was someone caring enough.

Superintendent Jailosi died in Thyolo years back, Senior Assistant Commissioner Katuya was heavily wounded, Assistant Superintendent Gani died early today after being heavily wounded by angry demonstrators and around midday Superintendent Imedi’s life came to an end when he was brutally and mercilessly butchered. All these officers’ survival was left at the mercy of the angry demonstrators. They died like criminals yet they are heroes. In all cases, the officers died serving a nation which is in pursuit of peace.

Sir, see how we are dying! Stoned and left to breath the last like dogs!It pains when we hear political insults thrown against each other at political meetings because we know we have to bear the consequences of such careless remarks and pay the price on behalf of the political gods. Sir, we no longer serve Malawians with pride. Today, introducing oneself as a police officer is next to death itself. Sir, the organizational reputation is heavily spoiled and it will take a good twenty years to bring it back to the internationally accepted standard of a police institution. These people we are made to fight are our neighbours, our brothers and sisters of one Malawi. How do you expect them to smile at us and offer us livelihood when we spend days teargassing them and torturing them? Today we fear for our lives because no one seems to care.

We do not know what may befall us when we move in streets and in our places of abode. Our silence should never be presumed to mean that we do not have a voice Sir. It is just that there is no ear to listen to our endless songs of lamentations which we sing as we grieve and mourn every other day. Our relatives live frightened lives not because we are not professionals but because some people have buried our professionalism in order for them to survive. Today, our lives are being sacrificed and mercilessly taken away by our own brothers whose mindsets have been politically oriented to believe that we are their sworn enemies. The one minute of silence is good but not sufficient to silence the hardships and problems that await the bereaved families. Our lives are helpless, hopeless and valueless! When a police officer dies, he/she seizes to exist as a police officer (where his gap is quickly filled up) but more painfully he/she seizes to exist as someone’s father/mother, husband/wife, brother/sister and
all that.

Sir, these gaps never get filled! We took oath to protect life and property but how will this happen when our very lives are in constant danger and exposed to death from all angles? When buried, the officer is long forgotten and the family is left to battle the venomous bite of life without a spouse, without a father and mother. May I ask you to end this political quagmire so that we too live normal lives and continue to exercise our bonafide rights just like any Malawian. Mind you, we are humans and Malawians first before being a police officer. End the war so that we can survive in dignity and happiness. Value our lives! Value our families because even when everybody does not need us, our families need us and are happy to see us back from our points of duty alive! We might be nothing to others but we mean everything to our families! We carry their hopes and their future! Help us to live like any other Malawian because we are not half citizens.

When we joined the Malawi Police Service we did not forfeit our lives, our dignity and happiness! Rather, we offered to serve our mother Malawi in a different capacity from all others.

Sir please check our working conditions, our welfare and our rights. This will be meaningful if done with an earnest fatherly heart. Do it as if the police officer is your son or daughter. May God bless you

CONCERNED POLICE OFFICER