Sep 30 • Front Page, National News • Written by : Frank Namangale
Part of the main presidential palace at Sanjika which was affected by blackout
If a presidential compound can be attacked and robbed, then who is safe? Some daring vandals on Saturday night found their way into the grounds of the official residence of State President Joyce Banda in Blantyre, Sanjika Palace, and vandalised an electricity transformer.
The vandals drained oil from the transformer, causing a blackout to staff houses.
Confirming the incident yesterday, police said they have launched an investigation to trace the suspects who entered one of the most highly guarded State residences in the country.
National Police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo said in an interview that police and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) Limited were jointly working on the matter.
Said Manjolo: "There was a blackout at the staff houses [within the Sanjika Palace compound].
"The blackout was reported to Escom and Escom officials were trying to establish the cause. It was in that process that they later found out that oil had been drained from a transformer."
However, Manjolo said the blackout did not affect the main presidential palace.
She said police would welcome tip-offs that could lead to the arrest of the suspected vandals.
Oil drainage by vandals has been a major setback to Escom's operations in recent years, costing the organisation millions of kwacha to repair or replace the vandalised transformers.
But all along it has never been imagined that vandals could be that daring as to enter premises that house a Head of State, which is heavily guarded around the clock.
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