Cilic calls for stop of Muluzi prosecution
Malawi’s leading human rights organization, Civil Liberties Committee (CILIC) has called for an end to prosecutions against Muluzi, saying it is a futile exercise that does not benefit the people.
Cilic executive director Emmie Chanika told a local radio station that she fears the corruption charges arrayed against Muluzi is a smokescreen for politically-inspired motives by President Bingu wa Mutharika.
The award-winning libertarian has broken ranks with other rights-based institutions by speaking out on what could be seen by Mutharika as support for Muluzi and therefore a target for vilification.
The civil society which had been vibrant in speaking for the “voiceless” pledged loyalty to Mutharika in 2005 fell into deafening silence, openly refusing to criticize government excesses but attacking the opposition in violent demonstrations at Parliament premises worst, becoming nothing more than a political extension of the government.
“The focus today is on the case involving former president Dr. Muluzi, as Cilic, we’re saying let bygones be bygones and we forge ahead because I don’t think the case is being pursued in the interest of natural justice.
“The man is sick and the continued harassment by the government is degenerating into unnecessary political tension,” explained Chanika who was Muluzi’s strongest critic during his 10 year rule.
Chanika’s resolute demand may have been drawn from her experience as one of the commissioners of the infamous Mwanza 4 probe in which three cabinet ministers and one law-maker in the one-party government of dictator Kamuzu Banda were victims of foul-play by politicians and police resulting in the extra-judicial killings in May 1983.
Muluzi’s prosecution comes hot on the heels of a leaked telephone recording of a conversation between Mutharika and sacked Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Gustav Kaliwo, to ‘shake up’ the former president.
“He (Muluzi) is the one who started. I said alright, you must stop this nonsense about impeachment…But he has not listened so he must know what government is…” Mutharika was heard talking to Kaliwo who during the conversation promised the president to keep him posted on developments of cases that he would fabricate against Muluzi.
The corruption charges laid against Muluzi are not the easiest to conclude as foreign governments named as sources of the funds in question have said the funds were not for government as such but to the president of the United Democratic Front, the ruling party at the time.
Mutharika has also received funds from disgraced former president of Taiwan Chen Shui bian amounting to USD10 million during a visit to the island nation. It is reported that an aide cheated him out of other proceeds in 2005.
He also fell out with a cabinet minister who disappeared with US$40 million from the People’s Republic of China as a donation to his party two years ago.
The subsequent trial by jury found the murder and conspiracy suspects, Kamuzu and John Tembo, not guilty after months of state expenditure and threat of nation fragmentation due to what was seen as political interference and regionalism surrounding the case.
It became increasingly clear that Muluzi’s administration would not gain any mileage from the trial of Kamuzu. When Judge Mackson Mkandawire read the jury verdict of not guilty, Muluzi quickly directed that the state appeal be dropped.
Kamuzu died in 1997 and was accorded a state funeral and full military honors. It was probably a reminder that a minority voice cannot be ignored since Kamuzu got 37 percent of the vote in the 1993 national referendum on the question of whether the country should continue with one-party government or adopt multiparty.
Muluzi has found an unlikely ally in Chanika who was a fearless campaigner of governance and was thorn in his presidency between 1994 and 2004.
Chanika’s call for the government to drop Muluzi charges comes amid growing tension following ACB’s decision to seize his property including his private BCA residence and all personal vehicles he acquired during his 10-year stint as president.
Muluzi was scheduled to leave the country last Wednesday for United Kingdom but his trip was delayed after the ACB seized his travel documents claiming they had information from anonymous sources to the effect that the former president would not come back home.
Tagged with: ACB, Bingu, Cilic, Emmie Chanika, Muluzi, Nampota
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