CSOs change demos date to Sept 21 after DPP plots to foil protest on Sept 7

The civil society organisations (CSOs) have  shifted the day when they will hold  the  nationwide demonstrations against government  to September 21 after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has vowed to counter  the September 7 protests.

DPP regional governor (South) Charles Mchacha said the CSOs demonstrations will be blocked  on September 7 because the DPP youth cadets have organised a Blue Day in Blantyre  City on Friday September 7 2018.

The  CSOs organising the protests, under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), have since decided to shift the dates for anti-government protests from 7 September to 21 September 2018.

“This has been done in the interest of peace, unity and cooperation. Unlike the DPP, we do not believe in violence. We know that what they did in Blantyre by conniving with the Blantyre Civic office  to grant them permission to conduct what they are calling the Blue Day, was a deliberate measure to bring violence. We will not allow them to propagate their strange and violent culture in Malawi,” said HRDC national chairperson Timothy Mtamb.

Mtambo said they will not tolerate “any enemy of progress to come in with their confusions again. Let them have the 7th to themselves. The citizens will speak on the 21st of September.”

He sadded: “God is with us and we shall never fear. We worship a powerful and awesome God. We will stand for this country without fear or favour. We want a better Malawi for all.”

Mtambo said the major reason for demonstration dates back to the April 27 10-points petition which he said has been “arrogantly ignored” by the DPP administration.

“The petition was clear that after 90 days we shall make an assessment to evaluate government’s implementation of the citizens’ petition and that if we are not satisfied, we shall come back to the streets and demand accountability. As CSOs, we did the assessment and from the assessment it is clear that government has not just ignored the April 27 citizens’ petition but it has also engaged a bigger gear on accelerating impunity in this country.

“To mention but a few, blackouts are worsening, MBC is worsening, as already stated, corruption is on the increase. The theft of 3.5million litres of fuel at Escom worth K1.9 billion, failure to suspend those implicated in the K145 million corrupt case, abuse of statutory cooperation through routing of funds to finance ruling parties evidenced by the [DPP’s] blue night dinner,” said Mtambo.

Recently, quasi-religious group Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) endorsed anti-government protests organised by civil society organisations (CSOs) set for September 7 2018 but now shifted to 21 September.

PAC said after its board meeting held in Blantyre, it was agreed that PAC supports the view to hold “peaceful demonstrations” when all local remedies to influence change have been exhausted.

The governance watchdog said should the nationwide demonstrations proceed as planned , Malawians should “exercise their rights [to demonstrate] peacefully.”

“We would like to express our appreciation for the support rendered by the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the 2 prominent and big institutions have shown that they believe in a better Malawi. We expect to receive more endorsements from political parties,” said Mtambo.

He said the CSOs have not yet ruled out other interested parties to join in the peaceful demonstrations, saying s o far  they have received a lot of endorsements from many institutions and individuals, some refused to be mentioned but they have pledged to actively participate during the demos.