Cama distance itself from ‘bogus’ group, July 17 demos
In twist of events, the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has distanced itself from a ‘bogus group’ that is planning to hold second round of public demonstrations on July 17.
The group in question, led by demonstration’s organizing committee chairperson, Henry Mikuwa announced last Thursday that it would hold public demonstrations from July 17 this year to force government address the concerns it raised in theJanuary 17 petition the organization presented to government.
The group convened a news conference in Blantyre where it claimed that Cama sanctioned the July 17 national wide demonstrations.
Mikuwa claimed that they resorted to holding the vigil following fruitless discussions with the government on issues they raised in January petition.
In the January 17 petition, Cama called on presented Joyce Banda to declare her assets, reduce presidential internal and external travels and manage the floatation of the Kwacha.
“As there has been no response or a sign of commitment to address the issues in our January petition, Cama has resorted to a second round of public demonstrations in all regions in the country on July 17, 2013.
“Our main objective is to pressurize government to take Cama’s concerns seriously and address them immediately,” Mikuwa told reporters.
But Cama executive director, John Kapito refuted to have sanctioned the forthcoming public demonstrations, stressing that no Cama official is part of the demonstrations.
He said the group never consulted or involved people who were behind the January 17 demonstrations.
“As Cama, we are not part of those activities. Actually, I was equally shocked when I learnt that a certain group, disguising as Cama, called for a press briefing at some lodge in Blantyre where they announced plans to hold demonstration.
“It’s not true that Cama has sanctioned the demonstrations. We are not part of it,” said Kapito before renouncing the group.
Kapito also stressed that human rights activist and Chancellor College lecture Jessie Kabwila is the only spokesperson for the identifiable group which he led during the January 17 demonstrations.
“There is no way we can be calling for demonstrations when our MPs are still going through the petition we presented to them two weeks ago.
“The legislators promised to look into the issues we raised in the petition and promised that they will get back to us on the same; as such we cannot just rush to the streets before getting feedback from them,” he said.
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