JB shake-up Malawi Police top brass: New deputy IG’s

Less than a week after unidentified gunman shot and severely wounded a senior government official, President Joyce Banda has made abrupt changes in the top leadership of the Malawi Police Service (MPS).

The changes also come a few days after President Banda summoned the country’s heads of security agents in the country such as police, Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Prisons and the National Intelligence Bureau.

Last Friday, unknown gunman shot three times, Paul Mphwiyo, the Director of Budget in the Ministry of Finance in a move the President has accused elements opposing her government’s drive to curb corruption for being behind the incident.

Mphwiyo is currently undergoing treatment is a South African hospital where reports indicate his condition remains critical but stable.

The new changes have seen President Banda removing the two Deputy Inspector Generals of Malawi Police, Finely Binali, who was responsible for Operations and Doreen Kapanga, who headed the Administration.

Binali has been replaced by Commissioner Nelson Bophani while Commissioner Chris Ngauma has taken over from Kapanga, according to a statement issued by Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).

The statement, signed by Chief Secretary to OPC, Hawa Ndilowe, further says Kapanga has since been posted to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she will serve as Malawi’s deputy high commissioner.

However, the statement has not mentioned the new destination for Binali, who according to Nyasa Times sources, has been on forced leave for close to 10 months.

Before their new appointments, Bophani and Ngauma were regional police heads responsible for Central and Eastern Regions respectively.

Binali and Kapanga were appointed deputy Malawi Police bosses a few days after President Joyce Banda took over power in April last year following the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Kapanga took over from Loti Dzonzi as in-charge of Administration after his appointment as Inspector General.

Binali has been on forced leave since the release of the Commission of Inquiry report into the July 20, 2011 police killings.

According to Inspector General of Police, Loti Dzonzi, the former deputy police chief is on leave pending finalisation of investigations of July 20 shoot to kill incident.

Binali was Regional Police Commissioner for the North during the July 20 incident in which 20 people, majority of them from the north, were shot dead by police.

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