RL’s Project Officer, Richard Muluzi, said this on Monday on the sidelines of an interface meeting with various stakeholders in the fight against trafficking in person in Phalombe district.

He said with Phalombe sharing boundary with Mozambique, perpetrators use pedal and motorbike operators to traffic people using unchartered routes.

“We are appealing to Kabaza operators, lodge owners and those that transport goods to join hands in the fight against the vice by reporting to relevant authorities,” said Muluzi.

He, however, disclosed that there have been some positive slides through coordinating with some stakeholders such as police, social welfare and the court where nine victims were rescued from the suspected traffickers between April and June 2022 up from one rescued during the same period in 2021.

Muluzi has since appealed to stakeholders to lobby for the construction of safer homes, adding most survivors are kept at police station while waiting to be repatriated to their respective areas.

Secretary for Phalombe Business Association, Wellington Nasangwe, said the association will work with police to enhance patrols in the district through provision of resources to the police.

RL is implementing a project dubbed ‘Tigwirane Manja Pothetsa mchitidwe wozembetsa anthu’ in Phalombe with funding from USAID through Global Hope Mobilization (GLOHOM).