Malawi Defense Forces.
The Commander of Malawi Defense Forces (MDF), General Manken Chigawa was assassinated on 18 th April 1995 as he bought vegetables on a roadside market at Tsangano in Ntcheu along the border with Mozambique.
According to the communication from the MDF headquarters issued on 21 st April 1995, the Commander was shot to death by two armed robbers who were allegedly attempting to steal his car.
The death of the Commander shocked the nation and drew attention to the rise in crime and civil unrest following the democratic transition from the one-party state that Malawi had just undergone.
A report by the Amnesty International (1996) stated that General Manken Chigawa was killed amid rumours that an attempted military coup had been foiled.
Thomas Denson Chibonga, a civilian detained in connection with the assassination of the Commander, died in suspicious circumstances later in the same month while in police custody.
The police reported that Thomas Denson Chibonga was killed when he threw himself from a police vehicle in an attempt to escape. However, other sources stated that he had died as a result of torture while in police custody.
Five years later on 14 April 2000, an inquest opened in Blantyre on the assassination of General Manken Chigawa. The U.S. Department of State’s Report on Malawi (1996) highlighted that the inquest had revealed not only sketchy police investigation into the death of the Commander but also serious inconsistencies between police and witness accounts of the deaths of his two alleged killers while in police custody.
On 7 December 1993, President Dr. Kamuzu Banda addressed the nation to appeal for calm in the wake of Operation Bwezani. In the same speech, he announced the immediate appointment of Major General W. Mponela as a Minister of Defence. Since independence, Dr. Kamuzu Banda himself had all along been Minister of Defense and other four portfolios without anyone to deputise him.
Two days later, on 9 December 1993, Dr. Kamuzu Banda made changes to the command of the MDF. Generals Yohane, Manyozo and Liabunya were placed on retirement. Generals Dimas Maulana and Manken Chigawa were then appointed as Commander and Deputy Commander respectively.
When President Bakili Muluzi came into office as head of state of the Republic of Malawi following the May 1994 General elections, he promoted General Chigawa to become the Commander.
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