Police have arrested two people for allegedly creating a bogus evacuation camp for Tropical Cyclone Freddy survivors where they received relief items at Bvumbwe in Thyolo District.

In an interview on Saturday, Limbe Police Station spokesperson Patrick Mussa confirmed that the two alongside their colleagues whom he did not mention collected 20 bags of maize flour and 100 packs of Likuni Phala meant for the purported cyclone survivors.

The relief items were collected upon request from the district commissioner’s (DC) disaster risk management office.

Mussa said police have since launched a manhunt for the duo’s accomplices.

The two arrested have been identified as area development committee (ADC) chairperson Watson Gulumba, 61, and Graves Luhanga, 48.

Mussa: We are looking for their colleagues

Mussa said: “The fraudsters requested for the relief items from the district disaster management office before sharing it among themselves.”

He said after the fraudsters shared the relief items, they apparently started selling them within Bvumbwe Market in Thyolo which raised suspicion among the buyers.

Mussa said the fraudsters claimed that the evacuation camp was created at Nyambalo Primary School in Bvumbwe.

Following a tip-off from community members, officials at the disaster risk management office on March 24 reported the matter to police who later arrested the duo.

According to Mussa, investigations to recover the relief items and arrest the undisclosed number of suspects remain ongoing.

Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) commissioner Charles Kalemba said they are aware of the matter and asked the Thyolo DC’s office to ensure the culprits are brought to book.

“As Dodma, our role is to ensure that we provide relief items to councils who should facilitate the distribution to the evacuation camps. But, they are not supposed to let others collect the items, be it councillors or whosoever,” he said.

Kalemba said despite the councils being told what to do with relief items distribution, some remain negligent and, as a result, they have encountered situations where some relief items are stolen by office-bearers.

To avert such cases, he said Dodma engaged the Principal Secretary for Local Government to in turn sensitise DCs as regards their roles in the distribution exercise since they are answerable to his office.

Our efforts to engage Thyolo DC Rosemary Nawasha yesterday proved futile as she did not pick up our phone calls on various attempts.

But Kalemba said after engaging the DC, it was agreed that the district’s disaster risk management officer will be the key witness in the case.

In recent weeks, stories of community leaders and individuals managing camps stealing from the cyclone survivors have been rife.

In some instances, police have arrested such individuals, who at times include chiefs and ADC members, apart from ordinary individuals.

Consumer rights and social commentator John Kapito yesterday said the cyclone has raised a lot of questions on accountability and transparency in the country, especially as regards to raising and collecting relief items, including money.

He said government needs to immediately come up with conditions and regulations to guide the cyclone response to avoid such scenarios where relief items are easily stolen.

On March 18, President Lazarus Chakwera warned against abuse of relief items meant for the cyclone survivors and stressed that the law would take its course.

The President issued the warning when he cheered cyclone survivors at Chilala Primary School evacuation camp in Machinga.

Cyclone Freddy made a landfall on March 12 with heavy rains that triggered mudslides and floods which resulted in the loss of lives, infrastructure and washing away crops.

Dodma statistics show that 676 people have died while 537 are still missing and 2 171 nursing injuries. The statistics further show that 659 278 people have been displaced and are in 747 evacuation camps. 

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