Attorney General, HRDC exchange wish list ahead of meet

Attorney General (AG) and Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC)  have exchanged  wish list as they are set to meet for talks this Wednesday as sanctioned by the Supreme Court of Malawi to discuss ways to ensure that the ongoing anti-Jane Ansah demonstrations are peaceful.

HRDC official Reverend MacDonald Sembereka said the wish list will guide their crunch talks on Wednesday.

“We exchanged the wish lists on Monday to guide the dialogue,” he said.

Sembereka also confirmed that the wish lists contain demands from HRDC on demonstrations and another list of demands from the office of Attorney General representing the government including Malawi Police.

HRDC last week demanded presence of military personnel during the next round of dialogue and it is not known if the army officers will be available as requested.

The meeting follows an order made by Justice Lovemore Chikopa of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal that the two parties must, within 14 days, hold negotiations to on how HRDC can exercise the constitutional right to demonstrate without violence and crime.

Section 38 of the Republican Constitution guarantees that every person shall have the right to assemble and demonstrate with others peacefully and unarmed.

The HRDC, which has been holding demonstrations since the announcement of the May 21 presidential election results, wants Ansah to resign to pave the way for investigations into identifying and prosecuting those who supplied Tippex that was used to alter election figures on result sheets.

The demonstrations have in some cases been marred by looting and violence.