PETER SICHALI writes
@sunzambian
A-62-year-old man of Chama District has committed suicide after failing to settle debts.
Precious Banda 62 of Zuwalimo village in Chief Kambombo’s area committed suicide by hanging himself using a string from Chitenge material.
Muchinga Province Commissioner of Police, Lizzie Machina, said the incident happened around 12:00 hours in the Chama District.
He said Banda’s wife, who is 53 years old, reported that her husband had committed suicide by hanging himself using a string on Friday last week.
“The now deceased person was a Malawian national who relocated to Zambia in 1997 where he married and stated growing tobacco,” she said
Ms Machina said it is the believed that Banda accumulated a lot of debt from different people who started pursuig him to get tobacco for the debt he owed.
She said he was reported to the Community Crime Prevention Unit(CCPU) members, who apprehended and handcuffed him, much to his embarrassment.
“He was giving out his tobacco to the people he owed which angered male Alpha others who had given him a loan to help with the farming inputs, who then reported the matter to a CCPU member.
“They handcuffed the now deceased person who couldn’t bear the embarrassment of being handcuffed in public and decided to take his own life,” Ms Machina said.
She said officers from Chama Police station visited the scene and found the body down, facing upward after being cut off from the string. Physical inspection discovered that the throat was broken, suggestive of suicide from the string used,” She said.
Ms Machina said the matter was now being handled by Malawian Police who visited the scene earlier as Banda was a Malawian.
