By Collins Mtika
For more than 15 years now, a syndicate comprising Malawi Police Service Officers and human traffickers in the northern district of Karonga has been operating with impunity by arranging passage through Malawi of thousands of undocumented persons, especially from war-torn Somalia and Ethiopia.
About 500-1000 – 1000 illegal immigrants are aided to enter Malawi per week, according to statistics from both the police and the immigration department.The local syndicate is part of a wider network spanning Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, sources said.
A former member of the syndicate, who preferred anonymity for fear of retribution, said they charged MK60,000 (US$120) per person to facilitate passage through more than 10 police checkpoints to the capital city of Lilongwe, about 650 km from the Malawi border with Tanzania.
Once in Lilongwe, another syndicate takes charge of the undocumented persons and arranges either for their onward travel to other countries or for their stay in Malawi.
Our source also said the trafficking will not stop because senior cops are also part of it. The presence of cops in this trafficking syndicate is a well-known fact, yet the Malawi government seems unworried.
An investigation financed by the Centre for Investigative Journalism Malawi (CIJM) has found out that the Malawi government and its security apparatus are aware of the existence of this syndicate.
However, anecdotal evidence points to the fact that because the government is benefiting from the fines the court mete to those unfortunate to be arrested, the syndicate continues its work.
The syndicate’s modus operandi
Once the Syndicate gets word from their counterparts in neighbouring Tanzania, they inform their police counterparts manning the checkpoints that they have ‘goods’ that need clearance.
From the Malawi Border at Songwe to Karonga, there are four police checkpoints at Iponga, Kaporo, Rukuru, and Mwenilondo. Cash payments of MK100,000 (US$200) are dished out to cops who will be manning the checkpoints when the ‘goods’ come.
The ‘goods’ are transported in a three-vehicle convoy that travelled two kilometres apart.
The leading vehicle, euphemistically christened ‘the’sweeper,’ makes additional payments of MK70,000 (US$140) to the cops at each checkpoint and signals for the vehicle carrying the ‘goods’ that all is well. Once that is done, the cops leave open the barricade, and the ‘goods’ vehicle just speeds through.
This procedure is repeated at each of the remaining five police checkpoints in the capital city, Lilongwe.
Police in the syndicate
Former Karonga Police Officer-in-Charge Foster Mangani admitted to the presence of some of his charges in the syndicate but fell short of what he had done to discipline them.
In April 2014, a senior Cop based in the northern City of Mzuzu sent a Police Van to Karonga, about 225 KM from Mzuzu, to collect his ‘goods,’ which turned out to be 25 undocumented Ethiopians. The cop is currently on trial and interdicted from work.
In 2012, twelve cops who were fingered as part of the syndicate in Karonga were allegedly internally disciplined and never brought before courts. The Malawi Police Service claims it is still investigating, three years down the road.
Local magistrates, in their judgements on several cases of aiding undocumented immigrants, have repeatedly questioned how cops in the border district of Karonga seemed to have amassed unexplained wealth beyond their perks.
The magistrates have repeatedly ordered the Malawi Police Service (MPS) to probe such cops who were living beyond their means. But the MPS is adamant.A typical cop gets $100 per month.
Malawi safe route for illegal immigrants
In February 2013, police in the northern city of Mzuzu, in conjunction with forestry officials, nabbed 44 illegal immigrants from Somalia and Tanzania in an operation meant to rid the 53 000-hectare Viphya plantation of illegal operators.
In March last year, the Immigration Department in Mzuzu arrested 29 Ethiopians who were packed in the chassis of a flatbed Lilongwe-bound truck trailer following a tip-off.
The 30-metric-ton freightliner truck belonging to UJ Trucking of Lilongwe was coming from the Songwe border, Karonga district, about 260 km from Mzuzu, and had successfully passed through about four police checkpoints manned by both armed and unarmed cops and even some in plain clothes.
In June 2013, the Malawi Police Service arrested 27 Ethiopians after intercepting them in two hired minibuses that had used uncharted routes to avoid police checkpoints at Dunduzu and Samikwa in Mzuzu.
Police confiscated the two vehicles registration numbers MJ6297 and MJ5848 belonging in Karonga district residents and charged in absentia the two drivers with aiding illegal entry contrary to section 36 of the Immigration Act.
“One fixer bolted at the scene of arrest, and the other two who were handcuffed together jumped from a moving Land cruiser pick –up and they are still at large,” Public Relations Officer for the Immigration department in the northern Region Comet Jeremiah told NyasaTimes.
However, immigration officers said that when they arrived at Dunduzu Road block with the seized truck and the illegal immigrants, police officers at the checkpoint were busy playing ‘Bawo’ (a traditional game played with small stones) and appeared not concerned.
Malawi’s porous borders
The Malawi government has always conceded that its borders are porous, hence the influx of undocumented immigrants. Mangani, the former top cop in Karonga who has since been transferred, said despite the government’s commitment to sealing the country’s porous borders, the efforts have registered minimal success.
“The undocumented immigrants do not know the routes. They need Malawians to help them avoid police checkpoints. Unfortunately, it is our cops who help them and cash in on the deals,” he admitted.
The Immigration Department has about 600 employees to police the country’s 118,000-kilometre borderline. Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI) Executive Director Rafiq Hajat said Malawi will be a haven for illegal immigrants if the situation remains the same.
“The question of our borders being prone to illegal entrants has been long standing since the days of the civil war in Mozambique. From what has been observed of late, it is clear that it is impossible to stop the trends. The country is underresourced in terms of personnel, equipment, and technical know-how,” Hajat told the local media.
Court fines vis~a~vis government revenueThe Immigration Act limits the
Courts to impose only a US$60 fine and/or confiscate vehicles or modes of transport used and order repatriation the undocumented persons.
“Any person who aids or abets any person whose entry into or presence within Malawi is contrary to this Act to enter… shall… be liable to a fine of MK500 (US$1) or to imprisonment for twelve months,” reads part of the Act.
In some cases, the courts also order imprisonment of up to 12 months with hard labour if offenders default in the payment of the fines. In 2013, the country recorded 279,000 illegal immigrants, according to the Immigration Department records. So roughly, the Malawi government collected and used US$34 million (Malawi Kwacha 17 billion).
The monies the courts collect as fines go into Malawi government account number one, which is a pool of all government revenues and finances the government’s daily operations and development programmes.
When they are released, the immigration department is supposed to organise for their deportation to their country of origin, but in all cases, the department just buses them to the Malawi border with Tanzania at Songwe and leaves them there.
Malawi Presidents’ plea on illegal immigrants
President Peter Mutharika said his government is concerned with the high influx of illegal immigrants trekking into the country. To address this challenge, Mutharika said his government will also intensify day and night patrols in all strategic boundaries.
“Furthermore, we will put in place programmes that will dissuade traditional leaders and their subjects from harbouring and aiding illegal immigrants,” he said.
Mutharika also announced that his government will also establish a National Security Council, which will provide oversight on matters of national security,” he said. To date, the said council remains a dream.
Former President Joyce Banda repeatedly pleaded with Malawians not to aid illegal immigrants into the country, saying the continued influx of illegal immigrants poses a threat to the country’s economy, security, and even jobs.
“Interestingly, I have some passports of people who cannot even utter a single word of Chichewa or any other Malawian language. And they got their passports in Mzuzu. Let’s love Malawi,” said Banda.
She was particularly angered with those that pass through Malawi’s roadblocks, saying that is a clear indication of rampant corruption.
“This is a very serious issue,” Banda said.
Calls for review of Immigration Act
The First Grade Magistrate Court in Mzuzu said there is a need to urgently review the Immigration Act, saying the current penalties for perpetrators convicted of aiding and abetting of illegal immigrants is “too soft and attractive to aspiring offenders.”
Aiding and abetting unlawful entry, which is contrary to Section 36 of Immigration Act Cap 15:03 Volume 3 of the laws of Malawi, attracts a maximum sentence of 1 year imprisonment with hard labour or an option of MK25,000 (US$50) fine.
Many convicts have paid the MK25,000 (US$50) with ease in almost all the call cases NyasaTimes has covered concerning the trials of either undocumented immigrants or their ‘fixers’.
Magistrate Anthony Banda made the impassioned plea when he ordered two Malawians to pay MK25, 000 (US$50) each or, in default, serve a 10-month custodial sentence for allegedly aiding and abetting the unlawful entry of 14 Ethiopians into Malawi.
“We know that most illegal immigrants use uncharted routes, and that is why we have been able to make arrests,” Northern Region Police Spokesperson Sergeant Maurice Chapola said but failed to answer why the cops were failing to close those routes.
The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJM) financed this investigation.
