DPP says Joyce Banda did not learn forgiveness from Mandela
The Malawi President misled the world in her eulogy of Nelson Mandela that she had learnt forgiveness from the fallen statesman because she did not forgive some cabinet ministers and top government officials that worked with the late president Bingu wa Mutharika but ended up arresting them and firing many, says the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
“Soon after taking over power, she went on to dismiss and fire many innocent public servants for no crime other than the fact that they served in her predecessor’s Government with commitment. Her PP Government is now paying dearly through court orders for these illegal dismissals. This is not forgiveness as we all know it.
“Late Nelson Mandela could not have done such a thing. It was therefore completely untrue for her to say in her eulogy of Nelson Mandela that she had learnt forgiveness from the fallen statesman. We wish the world to know that she was not honest in what she said,” argues the DPP in itsstatement signed by secretary general Dr. Jean Kalilani which Nyasa Times has seen.
Kalilani attacked President Banda saying she deliberately misled the audience and the world at large concerning some events and realities at home in Malawi.
“In her speech, she alleged that there were people in Malawi who were trying to prevent her from becoming President. Like President Mandela, she said that she had forgiven them and that she is working with them. This is completely untrue, as facts on the ground can tell,” argues Kalilani.
Kalilani says despite the assurance the former president’s cabinet gave her to support her and attending her inauguration, the Malawi President chose to prosecute and persecute some of the cabinet ministers and Chief Secretary under the pretext that they had conspired to prevent her from taking over from the late Mutharika. The president told the cabinet meeting that she would not revenge anything to anybody.
“Surprisingly, despite preaching unity, forgiveness, etc., she chose eight of the former Cabinet Ministers and the former Chief Secretary to Government for prosecution and indeed persecution in court. There are openly defective charges of treason, mutiny, perjury, conspiracy to overthrow Government and so on against these innocent people. The conduct of these nine accused persons during and after the transition of power does not support the President’s allegation that these people or anyone else for that matter was preventing her from becoming President.
“What is happening in court now are mere accusations and allegations. As a rule in all democracies, all the accused are innocent until proven otherwise. President Banda is acting and talking as if these accused persons have already been found guilty and that she has forgiven them. Worse still that she is working with them. This is all untrue,” says Kalilani.
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