CDEDI’s Namiwa nabbed over unauthorised Parliament vigil

Police have this morning nabbed leader of the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), Sylvester Namiwa, for organizing a vigil at the Parliament Building in Lilongwe.

On Monday, CDEDI announced that it would hold a vigil to force Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara and Clerk Fiona Kalemba to address questions lingering on the smuggled Loan Authorisation Bill Number 22 of 2021.

Gotani Hara and Kalemba paid a deaf ear to calls from the human rights watchdog to provide answers on what had happened for non-parliament employees to smuggle the Bill into the National Assembly.

The two had up to Sunday evening to address the nation on the matter. This has riled CDEDI, which has now resolved to hold a vigil at the National Assembly, just a stone-throw away from the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) where delegates are holding the 41st Summit of the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) Heads of State and Government.

Briefing the media in Lilongwe on Monday, CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa vowed that they would go ahead with the vigil despite the Lilongwe City Council not giving them permission.

But barely two hours into the vigil, the police pounced on the human rights activist, with his followers running through different directions.

A police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity confided that Namiwa is likely to face the charge of conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Nyasa Times is yet to establish where he is being kept.