Dausi says albino vigil at State House politicised

Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi has maintained that Association of People with Albinism (Apam) is planning to hold a vigil at Kamuzu Palace on March 3 until government addresses their security concerns, was being politicised.

The vigil has been organised following the resurgence of attacks and killings of persons with albinism in the country.

So far, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera and some civil society organisations (CSOs)have endorsed the march.

But Dausi said the whole issue of person with albinism is being politically inspired.

“This has gone political. You can see that the way to solve this was not supposed to be through vigils. The MCP leader Chakwera said that he knows the solutions and that he is going to solve the problem when he gets into government. So we are telling Apam to tell Chakwera, whom they met, to offer immediate solutions. We are tempted to believe Chakwera is the one behind this political march and the political utterances by Apam,” said Dausi.

“ We cannot wait for people to continue dying because Chakwera wants to get into government; he should just offer the solutions now. That is totally insensitive and unfortunate to say there are solutions but they should wait until a certain period of time,” said Dausi as quoted in a published interview.

“We also gather Apam met UTM leader Saulos Chilima to find solutions. That is why we believe this march has gone political. I don’t know in their view if Apam knows what they are doing will help them,” he added/

Dausi said for the CSOs to back the vigil is not suprisings, saying “these are people who have been holding demonstrations since 2014. We are used to them now and they are used to be on the street too. You see, these people had no agenda to hold demonstrations for. But now they have found an agenda. However, morally speaking, the problem is that you don’t demonstrate or protest on somebody’s grave; we are talking about people’s lives here. And just consider also people who have lost their relations! I don’t know where our country is going morally but people are the best judges.”

Apam plans to hold a three-day vigil from March 6 to 8 2019 at Kamuzu Palace. The vigil is scheduled to be preceded by a solidarity march from Lilongwe Community Centre ground through Parliament Building to Kamuzu Palace where they will present a petition to the President.

Lilongwe City Council has since acknowledged receipt of the Apam notification, but acting chief executive officer Genscher M’bwabwa said they were yet to meet all stakeholders to discuss the route and other relevant details.