By PETER SICHALI
A-62-YEAR-OLD man in Chama has committed suicide after failing to settle debts.
Mr Precious Banda of Zuwalimo village in Chief Kambombo’s area committed suicide by hanging himself using a chitenge material.
Muchinga Province Commissioner of Police, Lizzie Machina, said the incident happened around 12:00 hours in Chama.
Ms Machina said Mr Banda’s wife reported that her husband had hanged himself last Friday.
“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 believed that Mr Banda accumulated a lot of debt from different people who started pursuing 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 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.
Ms Machina said the matter was now being handled by Malawian Police who visited the scene earlier as Banda was a Malawian.
