Malawi Army bruise locals in Mzimba

By Thula Chisamba

Malawi army hired to bruise locals in Mzimba

Tear-jerking findings indicates that the Malawi armed forces have been hired by Reply Malawi limited to be bruising some locals plying their timber milling trade in Viphya forest in Mzimba.

This publication understands that authorities from Reply Malawi Limited hired about ten army officers who are mistreating locals over unspecified reasons.

Patrick Zimba who owns a plot of trees in the forest told our reporter on Friday that two army officers almost killed him last week over reasons he doesn’t know.

“But on Tuesday, I saw them forcing my friend to drink petrol. When we try to ask them, they dont answer with words but instead bruising us with tree logs. Our lives are not respected,” he said.

Another victim, Benjamin Banda claimed they forced him to eat rotten food and a flog but without doing anything wrong.

He added that they also confiscated some of his properties including money worth MK 80,000 without telling him what he did to deserve the injustice.

“We are slaves in our own country i tell you. What they do to us is beyond our imaginations. They are very aggresive each time they see us,” he said.

Confirming the torture, president of the local timber millers in the forest, Paul Nthambazale added that the army officials are treating them like dogs and not citizens of Malawi.

“What i know is that after Reply Malawi limited failed to steal timber from our plots, they hired the army to be bruising us. The thing is Reply dont know the boundary where they have to stop milling their timber,” he fumed.

On his part, the forest manager Custom Nyirenda also confirmed hearing such injustices happening to locals but then he promised to help cralify the boundary which the two are fighting on.

When asked to comment on the unprofessionalism of Malawi army, their publicist Melvin Mkolokosa doubted the credibility of the accusations.

He maintained that Malawi army officers can never be hired by a foreign company to bruise fellow Malawians.

“Our army team is professional,” he said.

Edited by: Brian Culwell