Published in: GENERAL

Malawians on Twitter mock MP accused of stage-managing his abduction

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Published on: June 15, 2023

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Malawi police have threatened to take an outspoken Member of Parliament to court for allegedly staging his kidnap, supposedly to evade the country’s public tax collector.

Rumphi East MP Kamlepo Kalua’s family last week reported that the vocal legislator had been abducted, though no reasons were given.

Kamlepo had reportedly been at loggerheads with Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and Malawi Police Service (MPS) before then. The two State agencies raided his houses in Blantyre and seized three vehicles for allegedly evading tax.

High Court judge Rowland Mbvundula however gave the MP a temporal reprieve from imminent arrest in connection to the alleged tax evasion, and further ordered MRA to release his two vehicles.

Kamlepo was found dumped in Blantyre, his hands and legs tied in blue ropes, but looked smartly dressed and clean shaved.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera is reported to have said the vocal parliamentarian “faked the kidnap.”

“Someone who is abducted for one week cannot dress as smart as he was at the time he was found. He couldn’t have had time to shave his beads and put on clean clothes and shoes,” he said.

Kalua’s family spokesman John Mapunda however dismissed the claims by the police, saying the MP could not stage manage his abduction.

Following this incident, Malawians on Twitter took to the social media site to mock the MP, under the hashtag #KamlepoChallenge.

They posted hilarious pictures showing their hands and legs tied in ropes, and used funny captions to show theirmockery.

Here is a sample of the tweets;