CSOs renew calls for Mutharika to resign as Malawi president: Plan another protests Sept 7

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), under the Human Rights Defenders Coalition banner, have planned a second set of demonstrations on 7 September as  a day of ‘major action’  in a bid to force President Peter Mutharika to step down after he failed to address issues they had raised in their 27 April ultimatum.

Addressing a news conference in Lilongwe  Wednesday, the CSOs state that, in view of the fact that Mutharika has failed to act on their demands, they have resolved to take a series of actions to force his administration to make concessions that will make Malawi a better country for us all.

“The constitution is clear that those that govern us do so on our behalf. Section 12(c) and Section 6 of the Republican Constitution fully explains this social contract. Even the ruling (DPP) in its 2014 manifesto rightly observed: ‘We in the DPP believe that if a Government does not have integrity, it has no right to govern’ (DPP Manifesto, 2014, p. 6).

“We believe that this social contract has been breached wantonly and we call upon Malawians from all walks of life to join us in coordinated peaceful protests to show our displeasure over the failure of President Mutharika to address the issues raised in the petition and the demand,”the statement reads.

The demonstrations will be held on 7 September 2018 in all the districts in Malawi.

The statement, addressed to Mutharika and copied to the Vice President, Chief Secretary to the OPC, The Speaker of Parliament, Malawi Human Right Commission, Malawi Law Society, all political parties, all religious mother bodies and all development partners, scores Mutharika 10 percent in the 10 issues they raised in the petition.

“Your Excellency, while we appreciate your government’s efforts in responding to the concerns raised in our communiqué, we strongly feel your response falls short of offering any practical solutions to the challenges and concerns observed therein.

“We have a strong impression that your response was not born out of conviction but rather to merely score a political point that we have a responsive government when in actual fact your government continues to take Malawians for granted as ably reflected in the casual approach you responded to the issues raised in the petition,” the letter reads.

The memo further highlights the prolonged abuses by the DPP government such as corruption, Escom abuses and prolonged blackouts, promoting impunity, protection of people with albinism, the K4 billion disbursement to MPs, MBC and Macra bias, public health and education delivery and nepotism, among others.

“Your attempt, Mr President, to include regions in justifying your appointments fell short of addressing the issue of nepotism which you are promoting. We now believe that you are the Chief of Nepotism as even the compositions of members of Boards of Directors of parastatals are dominated by your kinsmen who are contributing to the raging corruption in their institutions since they owe their positions to patronage. We are, therefore, not surprised to learn that the Public Reforms Initiative failed miserably because most of the public institutions are being run by your incompetent and corrupt people whose sole qualification for appointment was to belong to the Lomwe belt,” the CSO argue.

The CSOs further note that any government that has lost trust of the people the people have the power to remove that government from office.

“This is ably supported by the Constitution in Section 6 and 12. It is in our considered view that by virtue of the reasons listed in the petition the DPP government has lost the legitimacy to govern and as such Malawians have the powers to decide whether to remove it from office or not. It is in this regard that we categorically restate that a government without integrity has no legitimacy to govern.”