Demos postponed this week: HRDC says August 6 will be another ‘day of rage’ to demand Ansah resignation

July 29, 2019 Wongani Chiuta - Nyasa Times 29 Comments

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have postponed nationwide demonstrations initially planned for Tuesday, to pave the way for strategies for the mass action on August 6 when they will stage another round of protests to force Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah to resign for allegedly presiding over a flawed electoral process.

HRDC press conference: We are going ahead with protests on August 6

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) leadership announced the postponement of the demonstrations during a news conference in Lilongwe on Monday.

During the briefing, HRDC Chairperson Timothy Mtambo said besides the styled ‘Ansah Must Fall’ protests, the grouping will engage other gears to ensure she resigns.

“Will we stop the demonstrations? Clear answer: No! We are going ahead with protests,” said Mtambo.

He, however, said the protests have moved to August 6 to allow organisers work on strategising for massive demos to happen in three regions to be dubbed as ‘One million march’ where they expect one million marchers from each region.

Mtambo said people from the northern region will be expected to hold one demo in Mzuzu City, those in the central region will march in the capital Lilongwe, and southern region convergence zone will be Blantyre while Zomba will be for the eastern region.

He stressed that when they will go on the streets on August 6, they won’t come back until Ansah is fired or resign.

Apart from strategising, Mtambo also said that they decided not to hold demos this week to allow people to mourn Paramount Chief Ngolongoliwa of the Lhomwe people.

Addressing the issue of the letter Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service, Rodney Jose, sent HRDC ordering them to stop convening demonstrations in the country, Mtambo said the correspondence was addressed to wrong people.

“We’re surprised they are addressing the letter to us instead of the Commander in Chief who can beef up their capacity. Or they should have asked President Peter Mutharika to fire Jane Ansah,” he said.

HRDC leadership, nonetheless, applauded Malawi Defense Force for professionally handling the demonstrations and said we want the police “to borrow a leaf.”

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Follow us in Twitter

29 replies on “Demos postponed this week: HRDC says August 6 will be another ‘day of rage’ to demand Ansah resignation”

  1. dont worry mtambo we are going to turn in large, even nditakhala ndikugona kundizutsa ku tulo ndikhoza kupita ku ma demo

  4. A hrdc which malawians are you representing? I have always said give me a list of these people if whatever purportedly you say you are fighting for is indeed genuine. Otherwise mtambo, trapece are not genuine leaders.He, mtambo is saying hrdc is going to have a one million match, ife we are going to have a two million match against hrdc. Please amtambo be prepared and after that I am going to damp my children at mtambos office because my business has gone down because of these demos. Please I want to take a radical way of populists azungus that when somebody is not listening, finish him off like what kennedy, bosonalro in brazil faced. Do not dare to experiment your stupid acts in mw. If somebody has given you a political hypothesis to experiment it here then guys you are foolish. If you went to school we also did the same. If you say those csos against demos are stupid and foolish, then I say you are the most stupid and foolish guys than them. Otherwise, if you are strategising on 6 august, then we are also strategising to counter your demos. Wakumva wamva.

    2. A Mbwiye, munthu akatopa watopa basi. Inu mukudya nawo you are happy but most Malawians want change, they voted for change but it was stolen from them, why dont you address such issues. Since 1992 when massive demos happened have you ever seen anything like that again. Why today? You need to ask.

      Also look at the world today. Look at Hongkong, France there was the yellow vest, Greece, Sudan, Egypt, do you think these people are stupid.

      Inuyo tamangodyani amati wanva mmimba ndiyemwe amatsegula chitseko.

      If what the HRDC are doing was nothing to go by, it would die a natural death and no one would participate. If people are participating enmass, know that change in on the way like in 1992. You cannot suppres the will of the people

  8. Hrdc should stop telling us how and when they should exercise their right to protest. Hrdc must stop acting as a guarantor of the constitional. Must stop interfering with our constitional right!

  9. The current developments are a wake up call to our religious leaders not to be openly partisan. In the past, religious leaders should have volunteered to mediate the current impasse. But for the partisan way they conducted themselves during the campaign period, they are ashamed even to put themselves forward because they know they cant be trusted across the board. We are finished really!

    1. The problem is,the CATHOLICS are supporting Peter Munthalika because he is one of their members instead of fighting for justice.The muslim brotherhood can’t stand for justice either because ATUPELE MULUZI is part of this corrupt DPP Government.Things are abit tricky now because the ones who were fighting the just for us are supporting this corrupt regime

  10. mumawaopa a MDF wo ukuziwa angakukazingeni,thats why ukuwapanga applaude.but muziwe kuti MDF and Police ndi 1 organisation..are both working to provide security to the nation.come 6 august yo…u will never say that again.mark my words…..

  11. Good move. A week break is necessary and if Ansah doesnt resign or get fired, the police and pumbwas will only have themselves to blame should things get out of hand.

  12. Good move HRDC , we need 1million March for each region indeed and bring the nation to stand still then Jones must bring his guns so that after him killing some then we will go after him and grab him.

    We won’t come out of the street with this 1 million March till Jezebel Ansah resign.
    Then after Muntharika as well must fall.

  13. Why can’t the police hand over the task to MDF ?? Why can’t the police force pitala and ansah to resign peacefully ? People don’t want them !!

  15. Mr. Mtambo you are dead right on this one. The DPP led government has over the years deliberately employed boggy methods as a strategy to weaken many institutions of critical importance to the strengthening of ‘ true and strong’ democracy in the country. And the Malawi Police Force have not been spared. This ‘evil’ DPP led government has deployed its staunch die-hard cadets in such vital ministries like the HOME LAND SECURITY, some of whom have displayed astonishing levels of ignorance about what their ‘ appeasement’ ministerial appointment entails. These are the guys that have been weakening our very important institutions to pave way for ‘a mafia type of government’ Anyone remember how our august house members were cunningly bribed with the infamous MK4 billion to shoot down the proposed 50+ 1 % presidential vote amendment. The whole house of our honorable members failed to resist the temptation of fattening their bank accounts at the expense of the very constituencies that voted them into the House. That’s how the DPP led government operates. The judiciary, the ‘toothless’ Anti-Corruption Bureau, the list goes on…..so I agree the I.G’s letter of ‘DEMAND’ should have been addressed to ‘THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BEHIND THE DELIBERATE UNDER-FUNDING’ of important institutions including the institution where the I.G.is head as a strategic deployment. The protests will go unabated! Aluta continua 63% of aggrieved Malawians. 32% is too little to stop this ‘Tsunami’.

Comments are closed.