Chakwera fury over Kalindo’s arrest: ‘New low for outgoing govt’
Leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera has made a stinging attack on the Democrtaic Progressive Party (DPP0 government for the arrest of UTM youth director Bon Kalindo, describing the arrest as “new low for the outgoing Mutharika administration.
Chakwera says whether or not what the Mulanje west legislator said about Mutharika was an insult is not an issue.
“The issue is that this idea of arresting any Malawian, not to say anything of one who is a parliamentarian, for merely expressing how they feel about the illogical conduct of Mutharika’s failed government, is primitive, unacceptable and stupid,” says the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president in a statement.
Chakwera says infact, whatever unjust law is cited to empower such a ludicrous idea is primitive, unacceptable and stupid, saying once voted into power, the MCP led government would repeal it.
“In the meantime, the sad reality is that the Mutharika government has no respect for Malawians, or their lawmakers, or police officers. You may recall that it was 23 months ago that an MCP member of parliament was arrested over trumped up sedition charges related to something allegedly said on social media,” says Chakwera.
He says given how long the Mutharika government has been using the arbitrary arrests to silence and intimidate political opponents, it is clear that the powers of the president continue to be abused, saying democratic rights of people are still under assault.
“And now having turned Malawi into a lawless state in which those who speak their minds are arrested while those who steal our taxes walk free, every Malawian can see with their own eyes that Mutharika has never been fit to govern,” says the statement.
Chakwera then condemned the arrest of Kalindo and called for his immediate release.
Eastern region police spokesperson Joseph Sauka says Kalindo is expected to appear in court this afternoon.
Police last evening took Kalindo to Zomba after the law enforcers barred party supporters from holding a vigil at Area 30, the police headquarters in Lilongwe.
Police were elusive on the matter but UTM spokesperson Joseph Chidanti Malunga confirmed that Kalindo is now in Zomba awaiting appearance in court.
“He has been taken to Zomba. Our legal team have confirmed this. The police say Honourable Kalindo allegedly committed the crime in Balaka and he would be tried in Zomba,” said Malunga.
The Mulanje west legislator has since been charged with disorderly conduct at a police station and insulting the president.
Police spokesperson James Kadadzera said Kalindo, a veteran actor has been charged with disorderly conduct at a police station contrary to section 153 (1) of the police Act as well as insulting the head of state which violates Section 4 of the Protected Flag, Emblems and Names Act.
According to one of the video clips circulating in social media, Kalindo led the chants Mutharika wapenga misala [Mutharika is demented].
But Chidanti Malunga described the arrest as politically motivated aimed at silencing the ever popular Saulos Chilima and his UTM.
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Well said the permanent leader of opposition. The political prophecy about you Chakwera is that you will never win any election in Malawi.
zilimbanilanani utsogoleri wotsutsa ndi Chilima chifukwa APM is wining this election.
Which election u talking about!? 😱👀
Spot on Chakwera. Stupid is a word to discribe all those boneheads
Surely we need a strong opposition to dislodge the DPP. In this case if Chilima and Chakwera can unite and make one front, DPP will be completely trodden and forgotten.
Chakwera and Chilima should team up and run on a joint ticket in the forthcoming elections. Otherwise the opposition should forget dislodging the DPP from power if their parties go solo.
Chakwera as presidential candidate and Chilima pakaliyala kachiwiri or Chilima as presidential candidate and Chakwera motivated by the VEEP retirement package as wapakaliyala….kkkkkkk
When the leader of opposition becomes a leader,
his thinking will change. He will start thinking as leader. He, a few days ago,failed to tolerate the foolish comments of Chilima. Has he forgotten already. The party he is trying to defend- MCP is known as a party of evil then why is he pretending to be a good person?
Thats the Chakwera i know alwalyz want to gain cheap popularity on stupid issues .Thats why Kamulepo has told you forget about winning elections in Malawi.Unless you start seeing issues in Positive manner mwina zizayenda.
There are a number of fools condemning Chakwera here. The same fools blame the MCP government over similar arrests in the 70s and 80s. You blame Chakwera for not repealing the laws. Is Chakwera government? Why didn’t Bakili repeal it? Inu a dpp you behave like football hooligans. You must learn to criticise when things go wrong. Are you happy that Alamu Pumani Mwakalamba stole K145 million? If that is the way dpp terrorists think then Malawi will not develop. Good thing is that Pitala has less than 10 years to live. Ndi nkhalamba iyi and that is a fact.
Hahahaha you speak like a fool. Noone knows someone will keep living, God alone. Who knows maybe you have less than two years, or two months, or two weeks, or even two days yourself to live? Don’t predict doom as doom may be coming your way.
Just a couple of rebuttal points:
– So, who was responsible for the arrests and torture in the “70s and 80s”, if not your wamuyaya Kamuzu and MCP? Who was responsible?
– Government or the Opposition can change the laws, but only thru Parliament. This happens all the time. So, stop your nonsense talk, and dangerously censorious argument.
We, independents (read not DPPers) do not support corruption; in fact we despise it for all its evils. And we do criticize, vehemently too.
Not wise to conflate disparate issues, as the arguments fail, almost always.
Fake American accent Pastor Lazarus Chakwera displays acts of uncouthedness. In an attempt to appear as a strong EMUSIPI leader ends up talking the language of a foul-mouthed regional governor or even motor-mouth Akweni. What values did he gain from the unregistered Bible schools where he grew up?
The more one reads some of the comments supporting political arrests being conducted by the DPP, the more one concludes that there are a lot of kids posting comments on Nyasatimes. Anybody who is old enough to have seen the dictatorship on the one party states where police were used as a tool to harass, detain and murder opponents of the ruling party would not clap for such conduct in a democracy. All mature democracies have freedom of expression and opinion at their core, leaders are not meant to be shielded from insults of the citizens. If such laws existed… Read more »
You are a fool Mr BigMan. Insults are not acceptable anywhere. Do you like to be insulted yourself? Its unlawful to insult even a common useless uneducated local man like you. What happens when you insult even a TA or even village head man in your village? Lean to argue with fact and figures only not insults and fists. That’s not democracy. The reasons g in your comment shows that you could be uneducated and probably you are a Minibus caller boy.
I’m very much disappointed in Chakwera, please siyani kugwiritsa ntchino kuti reverend, simukukwanila. Eish ndale zimasinthadi anthu eti, kuchoka pa ubusa kufika pa matuvi.