UNNAMED investigators have joined the Malawi Police Service to establish the cause of the fire that gutted Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development’s offices, including former minister George Chaponda’s. On February 14,
On February 14, fire destroyed property in the office whose estimates and cause are still unknown. In an interview on Friday, Inspector General of Police Lexten Kachama confirmed the development, but he declined to disclose the identity of the external investigators. “We have been joined by other investigators on this investigation,” said Kachama.
Quizzed to disclose the identities of the investigators, Kachama said: “That will be against principals of an investigation. All I can say is that the investigation is under way.” He, however, indicated that the police are investigating the cause of the fire and that the public would be informed of its outcome.
In an earlier interview, Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Grace Chiumia described the investigation as important and that the police should be left to do their job.
“You know this is not something that they [the police] cannot just rush through but whenever they reach a conclusion, we will let you know,” she said.
Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) executive director Gift Trapence said, in an interview, that Malawians are looking for transparency on the manner in which the investigations are being carried out.
“What we would want to see are transparent investigations. Malawians would want to know what happened for the offices to catch fire. We have had so many fire accidents but we haven’t seen any conclusive investigations, so we are eagerly waiting for the results to come to the fore. Whoever is on the investigations should be aware that Malawians are waiting,” Trapence said.
He warned that lack of information may lead to speculations. “We would like to urge all those investigating the matter to make sure they give the right information to Malawians at the right time,” he said.
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