Blantyre Police Officer-in-Charge, Deputy Commissioner of Police Obrey Nyirenda (centre) receiving the symbiotic donation

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) Plc has donated five security cameras worth K8.1 million to Blantyre Police as they plan to enhance security in the city.

Earlier this year, Blantyre Police launched an initiative to install surveillance cameras in Blantyre City.

Speaking during the handover ceremony at the bank’s head office in Blantyre on Wednesday, NBM Chief Financial Officer, Masauko Katsala said the Bank is geared to collaborate more with the Malawi Police Service (MPS) to help them carry out their duties effectively.

”As ‘The Bank of the Nation’ we are very much aware that security and peace is one of the prerequisites for conducting business, so, we cannot run business effectively or successfully if there is no security and peace, therefore security comes as a priority,” said Katsala.

Blantyre Police Officer-in-Charge, Deputy Commissioner of Police Obrey Nyirenda expressed gratitude to NBM for the donation saying it will go a long way towards the drive of combating crime in the city.

“We are moving in the right direction though we haven’t yet installed the CCTV cameras in Blantyre CBD, we have procured and secured some of the gadgets, so as we are now receiving this donation we know that our drive towards crime and traffic management will be done in a manner that we want it to be to make Blantyre a secure city,” said Nyirenda.

He, however assured residents that cameras will not be used to infringe on people’s rights but for security surveillance purposes only.

The cameras manufactured by Chinese super surveillance company HikVision are being banned in the Western world for containing “back doors” which leak information back to China.

Blantyre Police plans to plant about 50 cameras in the city to monitor every hotspot area rolling out in the next two months.