Who will police the police in Malawi?

In April, security guard Felix Kachingwe sent a friend a WhatsApp voice note describing his assault and torture by police officers in Blantyre.

“They beat me with a machete while my hands and legs were tied,” he says in the voice note, “This assault has changed my life.” 

The voice note has since gone viral, prompting the Independent Complaints Commission, which investigates the police, to take up his case.

That’s the kind of reaction Kachingwe was hoping for when he sent the note.

“This is a corrupt world,” he said. “I know I can’t just get help so I want human rights organisations to know about this.”

But, if prior complaints to the commission are any kind of predictor, viral empathy may be all the justice Kachingwe ever receives.

In the small hours of 17 February, robbers broke into the premises of Popat Wholesalers where Kachingwe worked. Nothing was stolen but when he informed his boss, he showed up with police officers from the criminal investigations department.

The police detained the guards, including Kachingwe, for interrogation.

“This is when they tortured us,” he says. “They didn’t stop even when I screamed. They made fun of my private parts.”

Kachingwe says his injuries were ignored for two days until other officers not involved in the assault took him to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. 

From the hospital he was taken back to the same cell. He was eventually charged with theft, along with one of his colleagues.

Kachingwe says his health passport — a booklet issued by the ministry of health and kept by patients as a portable medical record — went missing while he was at the Blantyre police station. 

It held information about the assault, medication prescribed and follow-up appointments.

He has since had some of the information from the hospital’s electronic recording system noted in an older health passport. It shows that on 4 July, months after his detention, Kachingwe underwent surgery for serious injuries to his genitalia.

Aubrey Kawale, the officer-in-charge at the Blantyre police station, denies Kachingwe was assaulted in police custody, saying he only learnt of the allegations after the voice note went viral.

“If the issues were reported to us rather than social media, we would have investigated and dealt with officers involved,” he says.

As the civil courts examine the charges against Kachingwe, the police oversight body will investigate his own claims against officers. It has a dismal record.

Established by law in 2020, the commission receives and investigates complaints by the public against the police. It has received 285 complaints over the years but 186 of them remain under investigation. Only 50 investigations have been resolved, 10 were withdrawn and 39 complaints are categorised as “pending”.

The body’s complaints log is a troubling look into the misconduct of Malawian police. It includes 37 complaints of physical assault and nine reports of wrongful death in police

custody. 

One complaint documents the case of a 13-year-old boy whose hands were amputated allegedly a result of police negligence. Another case has parallels with Kachingwe’s: a security guard died allegedly because of police action.

Many of the cases remain unresolved in part because of collusion within the police force, says the oversight body’s commissioner, Christopher Tukula.

“There is still a tendency to protect each other or conceal information among officers,” he told a parliamentary committee earlier this month. “There is a failure to report issues to oversight institutions in fear of reprisals.”

The commission is also struggling with limited resources and inadequate training for investigators.

All this leaves Kachingwe in painful limbo. “I’m heartbroken and frustrated,” he said.
This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. It’s designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here