Catholic, Anglican bishops express worry Malawi sliding into anarchy and lawlessness
Two Catholic and Anglican bishops have urged Malawians to relentlessly pray for politicians so that they engage in peace talks to avert blood bath in post-election violence.
Speaking at two different occasions, the two bishops expressed worry that Malawi is slowly sliding into anarchy and lawlessness.
Chairperson of Episcopal Conference of Malawi, arch-bishop Thomas Msusa said it sad the country is in lock down for five months now due to political impasse following the disputed May 21 election.
“The country has spent five months, fighting each other, this should not continue,” he said.
He said this on Sunday in his homily during an extraordinary mission month commemoration.
Kilometres away in Chikhwawa, Anglican bishop Alinafe Kalemba of the southern Malawi said President Peter Mutharika holds the key to peace in the country.
He urged the president to reach out to opposition leaders and engage them in peace talks to end the current political impasse.
Kalemba was speaking at Chagambatuka village in chief Makhuwira’s area in the district.
He advised Mutharika to be humble and stop attacking the opposition in order to deescalate the political tension in the country.
Churches messed up their relevance by taking political sides by aligning themselves with the opposition during the campaign period. Now they have difficulties to bring together government and opposition. For instance, immediately after release of election results, PAC declared them not credible, but they could not take their evidence to court. PAC and the Church are not neutral enough to mediate. They have lost their credibility and relevance.
Even as recently as last week, a certain Catholic Bishop of Karonga, Bishop Mtumbuka, said the Nsundwe fracas was a culmination of frustrations. The statement, in effect, approved of the fracas. That coming from a Bishop who wants to mediate, cannot produce desired results.