Humphrey Mvula rejects Mutharika on Jurist award: ‘The President is not saying the truth’

Politician-cum-social commentator Humphrey Mvula has refuted a statement made by President Peter Mutharika that he once tried to stop him from getting a Jurist Award.

Mutharika mentioned Mvula to reporters on Sunday on arrival from South Africa where he attended Brics Summit that Mvula and late Dr George Nga Ntafu wrote the Indian Government in 2008 to stop awarding Mutharika with a Jurist award.

“In the year  2008 I was selected as first African to receive  an  International Jurists Award by the International Council of Jurists but one  Humphrey Mvula and  [late] George Mtafu  had also written a letter  prime minister of India to not give me the award,” said Mutharika.

But Mvula said what Mutharika said is utterly false.

“It is very unfortunate that a President is able to say what is not true. I have never written a letter against him,” said Mvula.

Mvula said at the time Mutharika was getting a Jurist award he was not the Head of State and all issues were being directed to his brother, the late Bingu wa Mutharika who was the President.

Mvula has challenged Mutharika to “pull out the letter” and show the country to back his claims.

He said President Mutharika could have been making the claims “out of pressure” or that he has a vendetta against individuals such as Mvula,

President Mutharika made the remarks as he rebuked some civil society organisations (CSOs) under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) for writing the Global Fund asking it to withdraw the nomination of the Malawi leader as Champion of its Sixth Replenishment Campaign.

The CSOs argue that President Mutharika lacks the requisite moral standing to assume that role as it will require him to lead efforts in soliciting funding pledges.

They said in their letter dated July 27 2018 to two fund ‘executive director Peter Sands that Mutharika presides over an administration rocked by corruption scandals.

But Mutharika said it is “very, very sad for Malawians that we have reached thus kind of level of hatefulness on basis trying to destroy each other for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”

The Global Fund (GF) is an international financing organization, designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics by providing support to countries in the response to the three diseases.

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