Maravi

Kawambwa farmer kills aunt, sisters-in-law over fertilizer

Kawambwa farmer kills aunt, sisters-in-law over fertilizer
By Lambwe Kachali
Tuesday December 04, 2007 [03:00]

A man in Kawambwa district has shot dead his aunt, two sisters-in-law and wounded several other people over what he claimed was biased fertiliser distribution. Pambashe PF member of parliament Dr Bernard Chishya confirmed the incident yesterday. He said Simon Pule of Kota village shot dead his aunt and two sisters-in-law in unclear circumstances. Dr Chishya attributed the incident to what he called “government’s useless agricultural policies”. He said wrangles over shortage of fertiliser started some time back and he had even brought this problem to the government’s attention.

“This is useless. The problem of fertiliser started some time back because most farmers had prepared their fields. But because this government has reduced the number of people to access this fertiliser, it is causing a lot of problems. When Pule found that his name was not on the list of people who were supposed to get the commodity, he became furious and got a gun. It was in this process that he shot dead three people and injured several others including his own mother,” Dr Chishya said.

“His mother was severely wounded. The government’s useless agriculture policies have brought a lot of problems to farmers.”

He said more wrangles and deaths would continue if the government did not come up with alternative measures to address the situation.

“I have been fighting for more fertilisers for my people but it seems the MMD government has no ears. Unless we change the government, this problem will not end,” he said.

Dr Chishya said police had since arrested Pule. And an eyewitness, Evelyn Musonda, said the shooting incident made all the people to flee the village. Musonda said Pule went on rampage, firing at anybody near him.

“We all fled the village and only returned after police arrested him. The shooting started around 13:00 hours on Saturday and Pule was arrested around 02:00 hours. So you can see that we slept in the bush,” Musonda said.

She appealed to government through the Ministry of Home Affairs to reposess guns from villagers before more lives were lost.

“In fact, Pule was saying that he would only leave chickens and dogs in the village. He called himself a descendant of Bin Laden and he really aimed at eliminating all people in the village,’ said Musonda.

And police sources in Kawambwa said some of the people who were injured in the shooting have been admitted to Kawambwa, Luwingu and Kasama hospitals.

“Most of them were severely injured including Pule’s mother. For now, only the hospital staff can give you their state of conditions,” said the source.

Labels: FARMERS, FERTILIZER, PF

posted by MrK @ 6:04 AM