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(NYASATIMES) Mia family implicated in cattle theft scandal

Mia family implicated in cattle theft scandal
By Nyasa Times
Published: July 22, 2009

Livestock farmers in Malawi’s lower shire districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje are accusing the Mia family where the Defence Minister in President Bingu wa Mutharika’s government hails from of buying stolen cattle, Nyasa Times can reveal.

The family of the minister Sidik Mia (pictured) who is also Member of Parliament for Chikwawa Mkombezi are the owners of S&A Cold Storage butchery and according to farmers Nyasa Times spoken to, the Mia’s have agents in strategic trading centres in the two districts who buy cattle from cattle rustlers in the middle of the night at a very cheap price.

The situation is said to be worse in villages surrounding Ngabu and Nchalo in Chikwawa, Fatima and Bangula in Nsanje. The farmers said the cattle are transferred the same night to either Mia’s farm in Ngabu or to Cold storage headquarters in Blantyre where they are slaughtered and sold.

In Bangula, one livestock farmer who only identified himself as Bango said he has information to the effect that Mia has agents particularly one business man answering by the name Mr. Karim and has a group of men who go into the villages at night to steal cattle in turn they are given money for their crooked services.

Bango said by buying stolen cattle, the Mia family is making huge profits as it buys the much sought after beef at a half down price than buying straight from the farmers.

A 200 kg cow is sold at K80 000 while Mia through his agents is buying the same at as low as K40 000.

Said Bango: “There have been series of livestock robberies for years now and each incident is reported to the police but nothing is being done to bring the culprits to book. I’ve got information that the stolen cattle are bought by the family through their men that they have placed in various trading centres.

“Last year my colleague stormed Mia’s farm in Ngabu after his two cows were stolen. He saw the two cows in the company of several others…he reported the matter to Ngabu police who promised that they’ll investigate the matter but up to now almost a year down the police have not yet concluded their investigations.”

Bango added: “This is not the first time that a villager has stormed Mia’s farm to look for missing livestock….however efforts to take the matter always hit a blank wall as you are aware the man has money and our justice system doesn’t favour the poor.”

Another livestock theft victim of Ngabu who pleaded with Nyasa Times not to have his name published for fear of political persecution said had his five goats and five cattle stolen in a space of one week and he suspected that they were sold to the Mia family.

He said what is surprising though is that at first the family used to go into the villages to buy cattle for both their farm and cold storage butchery but now they are no longer doing so.

Another farmer from Bangura answering by the name Ndidyemo said: “My cattle and goats were stolen and I together with some villagers searched all over the village soon after I had noticed that robbers broke into the kraal but no avail and after we had given up we decided to go home that was around 2 am and on our way back a huge truck with its trailer drove passed us and it bore signs and registration of one which Mia uses to carry cattle from his farm to Blantyre.”

When contacted Chikwawa police publicist said he was ignorant about the story and as such cannot comment while his Nsanje counterpart said he only heard about the issue as a rumor but nobody has come so far to complain about stolen cattle being sold to Mia’s farm.

The two publicists however said separately that there are too many stories about cattle in lower shire and every one is blaming another for the loss of cattle.

But an officer at Ngabu police confirmed receiving complaints from the villagers and that some indeed stormed the farm to search for their missing cattle.

However the officer who pleaded for anonymity said that although some villagers were able to identify their livestock it is difficult to tell whether they say the truth or not because cattle resemble.

The other reason according to the officer why police shows no interest in conducting thorough investigations on the reports is that Mia family has over the years established itself as political dinosaur of the Shire valley region and they are the ones who help in fighting cattle theft.

The officer went on to say that most of the complainants are not able to bring concrete evidence and as such they treat the complaints as malicious and coming from those that do no like the family.

“The Mia’s are very kind people and they are there for everyone but like every one successful they have enemies too who would like to tarnish their image. The police do not want to take part in personal fights by individuals nor will police be used to fight political differences between parties and individuals,” confirmed the police man.

Labels: CATTLE, CATTLE RUSTLING, SIDIK MIA

posted by MrK @ 4:21 PM