CSOs to resume new round of anti-Ansah demonstrations

July 8, 2019 Wongani Chiuta - Nyasa Times 24 Comments

The  Civil society organisations (CSOs) under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC)  are defiant following President Peter Mutharika  claims that they want  to turn the country into a “lawless society”,  vowing to go back to the streets to force Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah and other commissioners to resign.

Demonstrations over fraudulent elections target  Malawi Electoral Commission chair Jane Ansah

A new round of protests was scheduled to resume on Monday but organisers said they are doing postmortem of last week’s protests in the wake of violence and looting that took place.

“We will be on the streets exercising our rights peacefully,” said HRCD in a statement on Sunday.

“We will not abrogate our ultimate citizens rights to assemble and to protest because of the cynical and nefarious actions of a tiny few. We will not be cowered into accepting an incompetent (electoral commission),” they said.

On Saturday Mutharika told events to mark the country’s 55th anniversary of independence that the violence linked to the protests was “calculated to turn Malawi into a lawless state”.

“They want to create lawlessness so that they can take over this government. But they will only take this government over my dead body,” he said.

But HRDC has  rejected allegations of trying to topple the government.

Opposition leaders say the result of the May poll was rigged, and they are demanding that election organisers be sacked.

UTM Party president Saulos Chilima, who is the country’s immediate past vice-president, is backing the demonstrations and taking part  to press for the immediate resignation of Ansah for allegedly failing the nation.

Chilima, who finished third with slightly over one million votes, said his party has gathered evidence of misconduct by the head of the electoral body.

.Malawi Congress Party (MCP) which is also challenging the May 21 Tripartite Elections results in court, has supported the HRDC position.

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24 replies on “CSOs to resume new round of anti-Ansah demonstrations”

  2. Azimayi pachithunzi akuoneka ngati ndi ma prostute akumwa mowa, anzake a Mrs Chilima

  4. Anti Demo Vigilante u want govt to stop demos, no it cant its our right in the constitution bt advise APM to fire Ansah & let Police protect pple & property than running into their office yard to fire teargas onto the demostrators thats what is destroying Malawi.

  5. A Nthowa iwemi izi mwayowoya ni za nthowi iwemi cha (njira yabwino) u think u can match the disgruntled Malawians that hate APM mediocre governance? Mukunamizanatu kukayako ndithu kaya ndi a Dausi ndi a Jeffrey eeeh polani moto mumezedwa ndi nkwiyo wa a Malawi.

  7. I know sometimes truth hurts but what what our Government does is not necessarily they are undermining the rights of the citizens of Malawi. The president can’t swear like that to the poor nation who cries for his help and when their voices will be heard so is obviously now that Malawi belongs to the only one body which is governing not opposition. But what I know is no one is above the law and hoping that one day is one day no matter how long it will take but the law itself will rise and shine.

    2. We will go back to the streets. Osaopa. Malawi will be determined by us not one man who was in Chicago gangster when we fought for democracy.

  8. Nthowa, I think you have a big problem in reasoning. Do you those who are demonstrating do not know what they are doing? Just try to retaliate. You will see what the majority of Malawians want.

  10. Apa nkhani ndi yoti
    Why
    Tippex
    Ma vote osamaliza kuwerenga koma kuululutsa owina
    Ma votes amabwera omasulamasula
    Fattan printed already marked 800.000
    2017 anacedwetsa ma sankho akjao saying alibe ndalama-jane ansah pakamwa pake, lelo ma billion ongogawila akucokela kuti

  11. Doing a violent demonstration postmortem? So you have projected a certain level of destruction and you want to calculate how much is left to destroy? Cry my beloved country!
    Yesterday I was at Silver Stadium and based on how destructive people want the next demos to be govt and state security agencies should better stop these demos. Much as there is a right to demonstrate it must be accompanied by a duty not to inconvenience other people and this far the organisers have shown unbelievable levels of inept and confused leadership which has lead to the injury of innocent civilians, men in uniform and burning, destruction and looting of hard-earned properties. They have failed to instill in their followers that it is possible to have a crowd walk the streets peacefully as in Njira ya Mtanda.
    But i know you want to topple the govt komatu mukunama. Tianthu mukunamizika natoto which can’t even fill the 5,000 Nankhaka Stadium akucheperatu if compared to the millions of pro-DPP supporters and security personnel who can fill the streets in anger.
    A Chakwera/MCP be a model democratic by accepting defeats in both the tripartite elections and now removal of Jane Ansah.
    The Western countries nde mwamva kale ali mbali yathu… I like that!

      1. I don’t have to shy away from participating in these debates because of my limited knowledge of my second language, English. But at least the little English I know tells me I dont have to use shorthand on things meant for the public!
        DPP ilamulira mpaka 2024 mulira magazi chakachake nchino. You think toppling a democratically elected government is as simple as kulandana akazi? Ask the Syrians how long it has taken them to get rid of Asad.
        Ubwino wake mukuphwanya manyumba aku Thengere mwina anzanthu munazolowera tchire. LOL

    3. Kkkkkkkkkk keep on dreaming that DPP has a lot of supporters. For your information everyone knows that violence was caused by DPP cadets. Ask Dausi how he organised it and how much he paid.

  12. The mistake HRDC leaders made is to turn the demos political rather than civil rights. By allowing politicians such as Chilima, Chakwera Mia, etc to join them and especially giving them platform to speak to protesters, the HRDC leaders cannot deny that the demos are political. Politicians should do their own demos if they want.

  13. Malawi has 17.8 Million people and only 5.3 Million people voted. MCP and UTM votes are just a fraction of the population of all Malawians. The majority of us do agree with the way how MEC and those that helped in our elections that they were free and fair. This is the reason why we are quiet and watching. I want to warn you MCP and UTM that we are quiet not because we are afraid of you, but we wanted to give you chance to reason properly and take the right direction. We gave you time and I want to tell you that this time around your honeymoon is over. We are now ready to retaliate. Believe you me, you will not like our actions. If you think this is just joking, let’s go and see what will happen. We are suffering from our businesses, everything has just been stopped. Where do you think we will find our food for our children? Do we have to suffer because Chakwera and Chilima wants to be presidents. Were they not advised to join if they had to defeat the giant Peter? I tell you, we are tired of this nonsense and we will not be afraid of any, we are now ready to fight for our own rights. I warn you!!!!!

    1. We are fed up with these demos, do you realize you are disrupting businesses. Last Friday we could not meet head office reports because of the insecurity we had to leave our office early. This time we shall not sit idle. We shall meet meet with you head on.

    3. The Majority is against MEC…..add UTM + MCP votes and compare with those of DPP…………………you will see that the majority of those those who voted are not happy with the results…………………ndinu akuti inu

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