Police in Lilongwe on Wednesday arrested Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) executive director Sylvester Namiwa over vigils that were conducted outside Parliament Building.

On Wednesday morning, Namiwa led a group of people holding vigils at Parliament over smuggling of Loan Authorisation Bill to the House.

However, it transpired that the vigils were not authorized by the Lilongwe City Council (LCC) which cited Covid-19 and the ongoing SADC Summit as major reasons.

The cancelled vigils were aimed at forcing President Lazarus Chakwera set up a committee to investigate and report back to Malawians on the motive behind the smuggling of the said bill.

The smuggled was intended to sought parliament’s approval to secure K93 billion, as a loan from the Bank of Baroda, for the construction of houses for the country security officers.

In addition, CDEDI wanted Clerk of Parliament Fiona Kalemba, together with the Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara, and the Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda to address issues surrounding the mysterious bill that was smuggled into the honourable House, a few weeks ago.

Apart from Namiwa, police are also keeping in their custody eleven CDEDI members including its media manager Edwin Mauluka.