CCJP tells church to preach acceptance of Malawi elections case ruling

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) is meeting various church leaders to preach to their flock the need to accept the impending elections case ruling.

CCJP coordinator Boniface Chibwana said this was the only way to avert violence and bloodshed after the court ruling which the Constitutional Court is expected to hand down between January and February next year.

“People need to be prepared psychologically so that the ruling should not come to them as a shock and react negatively to it,” said Chibwana.

CCJP on Thursday met Catholic bishops on the issue.

He said if people are well prepared psychologically, there can be political tolerance whatever the outcome of the case.

Chibwana said failure to prepare them psychologically can lead to people taking the law into their own hands.

UTM president Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party president Lazarus Chakwera are challenging the presidential poll results which they claim were manipulated in favour of president Peter Mutharika, a claim denied by Mutharika and the Malawi Electoral Commission.