Final report on July 20 killings out in May
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry on July 20, 2011anti-government nationwide protests says it will present its findings to President Bingu wa Mutharika in May.
Vice Chairperson of the Commission, Apostle Timothy Khoviwa, said the team is currently analyzing the data it collected from various stakeholders.
“Malawians should expect a complete report by May, currently we are progressing very well with the analysis of the data we have collected from various people,” said Khoviwa.
- Apostle Khoviwa: Report to be finalised in May
He added: “It is not a simple task, after the data analysis exercise we will bind the report, go through it again before finally releasing it to the public.”
Apostle Khoviwa said despite some few challenges overall people who were invited for hearing had been cooperative.
“We would like to thank everyone who came forward for the hearing and for their cooperation,” he said.
Khoviwa also assured Malawians that the commission’s findings on the deadly nationwide anti-government demos will be objective and comprehensive without taking any side.
The man of God however indicated that once the commission establishes some information gaps people would still be invited for more hearing.
The commission finished its inquiries after traversing the country, particularly in the four cities and some towns where the demos took place and left 20 people killed by government security forces.
President Mutharika instituted the commission of inquiry a few weeks after the fatal demos to find out the truth as to who was responsible for the killings.
However, Malawians have queried the independence of the team while others have urged that even if the commission was to be objective in its findings, Mutharika would still influence the outcome of final report.
Initially, Mutharika told Malawians that he would include in the commission representation from international bodies such as United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and SADC but only packed the team with sympathisers of his government.
The team is led by Catholic Bishop emeritus Felix Eugenio Mkhori and other members include lawyer James Naphambo, former cop Titus Thyolamwendo, Apostle Timothy Khoviwa, Levi Mihowa and Chris Giannakis.
The cold blood killings in the nationwide anti-government demos also seized international attention with United Kingdom, which suspended general budget support to the country in response to economic mismanagement and poor governance, also setting up a commission of inquiry on the same.
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) also established its own commission of inquiry into the demos which were organised by the country’s civil society organisations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages that have rocked the southern African nation.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
