Police officer beats-up JETU in Lilongwe

Information reaching this publication indicates that a police officer has beaten –up rising entertainment content creator-cum musician, Jetu in the capital Lilongwe.

‘Chakwaza’ hit maker met her fate at Nathenje road-block yesterday while together with well-known socialite Dorothy Shonga Kingstone, popularly known as Cash Madam.

Dorothy Shonga has confirmed of the accident in a statement posted on her official facebook page seen by this publication.

According to Shonga, the incident happened as she was negotiaciting for the release of her vehicle which was impounded for flouting road traffic regulations.

“Av never been humiliated in my entire life like today, around 3PM I started off to drop JETU and attend my 8:30pm meeting in Blantyre. As we were passing Nathenje road block, one police officer stopped us for drivers licence and car insurance. After he asked for number the plate, but before we responded he had already called one Sheila Mumba (MRA officer) “Sheila tabwera anthu angoyenda ndima galimoto opanda ma number plate kuzinva u celeb”.

“When Sheila came she asked for papers and we realized the papers in the car were for another car. She told us not to worry about the papers saying she is going to check the system using Chassis number. After one hour my driver followed her and he was told the network was down, another 40 minutes passed without any trace of her just to be told the car is not reflecting in the system which means it was not cleared-we invaded taxes. When we insisted of it being cleared she said, if it was cleared it means we cleared the car using dubious means or we store the car and for the above reasons she instructed the police officer to take the keys from our driver and issued us a detention docket,” wrote Shonga.

Below is Dorothy Shonga Kingstone statement;

 Av never been humiliated in my entire life like today, around 3PM I started off to drop JETU and attend my 8:30pm meeting in Blantyre. As we were passing Nathenje road block, one police officer stopped us for drivers licence and car insurance. After he asked for number the plate, but before we responded he had already called one Sheila Mumba (MRA officer) “Sheila tabwera anthu angoyenda ndima galimoto opanda ma number plate kuzinva u celeb”.

“When Sheila came she asked for papers and we realised the papers in the car were for another car. She told us not to worry about the papers saying she is going to check the system using Chassis number. After one hour my driver followed her and he was told the network was down, another 40 minutes passed without any trace of her just to be told the car is not reflecting in the system which means it was not cleared-we invaded taxes. When we insisted of it being cleared she said, if it was cleared it means we cleared the car using dubious means or we store the car and for the above reasons she instructed the police officer to take the keys from our driver and issued us a detention docket

We called the guy who sold us the car to follow us with the MRA papers and requested Sheila to give us few minutes for the guy to arrive with the documents but she refused and ordered the police officers to get us out of our car and put us in a Police (Land Cruiser ) while talking on top of her voice “amazimva kutchuka amenewo, lero nde tiwaonesa show, Ayaluka ngati uli u celeb ndikwawo konko” this attracted attention of people within the vicinity which left us with nothing but shame as if we were criminals.

The boys went in the cruiser but I refused while holding onto JETU after some minutes one police man came in and instructed our driver to drive to MRA office while being escorted by the cruiser. Half way to MRA office, the car seller sent us soft copy Documents which we showed the police officers and they called Sheila but she adamantly told the police officer to proceed with the detention instructions which left the car seller with no any other option but drive to Nathenje roadblock to meet Sheila Mumba to show her the documents in person .

When we arrived at MRA office(Mchinji road) the police officers ordered us to remove our belongings from the car and hand over the keys.

This time the car seller was at Nathenje Road block with Sheila checking the Authenticity of the documents while we were busy pleading with the police officers to give us few minutes for Sheila to finish checking the documents but instead the police officers got our things out of the car, locked it and started dragging us out of MRA office premises saying “mutuluke mukadikile panja pa gate, this was around 8 something pm.

The saddest part of the story is when Jetu got kicked on her back and found her self down crying. At this point my patience level got provoked to the limit. I talked to the officers of their inhuman act considering the way they treated JETU and they threatened me, calling me a mad person I shouldn’t teach them how to do their Job. With no option we found ourselves out side, exposing us to danger. After 20 minutes of us standing outside MRA gate waiting for another car to come pick us, the police guard on duty called us inside to pick the car that there was nothing wrong with it after 5 hours of detention,

I hope and I believe that MRA understands the damages caused.

1. Assault (due to Jetu being kicked and injured)
2. Emotional distress or trauma
3. Harassment or bullying by the authorities
4. Violation of human rights (e.g., right to dignity, right to freedom from cruel treatment)
5. Unlawful seizure of property (the car)
6. Defamation (if the officers made false accusations or statements that damaged your reputation)
7. Loss of business