Kaliati brands ‘blackmail’ demos miserable, claims Malawi political revolt has failed
Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati has said protesters of the University of Malawi (Unima) fee hike who included students and civil society organisations (CSOs) were miserable lot despite forcing President Peter Mutharika to order a K50 000 reduction in the fees from a minimum of K400 000 to K350 000 per student per year.
The protesters marched in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba before petitioning the President to act on the Unima fee hike with urgency.
Kaliati said in a statement made available to Nyasa Times that poor turn out of protestors in the nationwide demonstration show that the organisers “missed the point” and thanked Malawians for shunning the street protests.
“ The numbers were miserable because Malawians understand that any concerns need to be resolved by dialogue, and not politicising everything by going to the streets,” said Kaliati.
Kaliati, who is also government spokesperson, said the Mutharika administration is is aware that the organisers of the “miserable demonstrations” wanted to use University fees as an excuse to pursue a “desperate agenda of mobilising a national political revolt. “
She said: “This has not worked. The movement has collapsed because Malawians are reasonable.”
Said the Information Minister: “Listening to the sentiments of the organisers, their issues are scattered and they do not make sense. These are political machinations that wanted to chance a ride on the back of innocent University students. They have failed. “
Kaliati claimed Malawians have rejected “blackmail” protests.
“As Government, we would like to ask any Malawian with concerns to present a credible agenda and we will attend to it,” said Kaliati.
But Youth and Society executive director Charles Kajoloweka, protest organiser, said their issues were plausible, urgeing President Mutharika to prioritise issues that can contribute to the country’s development.
Kajoloweka said the proposed fee hike would affect development as many students from economically poor backgrounds will fail to access tertiary education.
Kaliati nonetheless went on praise singing for President Mutharika for being “a listening leader” and arriving at a compromise with the University of Malawi students over fees.
“We are proud that Malawi has a true democrat under whose leadership citizens are free to express themselves, including through demonstrations,” stated Kaliati.
Government , according to Kaliati, also commend the members of the Malawi Police Service who were in action “for demonstrating yet again that we have a professional police service that has undertaken to respect the right of the people to demonstrate.”
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Alfred Abraham, vomerezani kuti vuto ndi inu ndipo you have failed to make sense of what Kaliati has said. Ignorance at its greatest exposal authored by Alfred Abraham
Hon. Kaliati is right here. We shoud not politicise everything. The demos are just useless in Malawi if the organisers continue being used by politicians.
kaliati ndi mbuzi ya mano kunsi palibe chanzeru ndi chimodzi chomwe wayankhulapo apa chifukwa nzeru alibe
Madam kaliyati, is it not you who is linking the ant-fee hike demos to politics. You eat and talk politics. Thanks to Mr. Presdent for your reactive readership.
Demo ya fees idzikhala ya fees osati mpaka nkhani ya chimanga momwemo, 7 unknown corrupt ministers, bingu estate, nepotism mommo, federation momwemo, auto piloting momwemo, unfounded coup plots momwemo. mathanyula momwemo Is this a demo of fee hike? Trapence ndi anzako why fooling yourself? Learn to learn. Thats why not many people are following you. This Demo had many students because of the fee hike issue. Try to remove all students in your demos and count how any left ngati amakwana 20?
I like your reasoning. You are a true Malawian.
I think now that these demonstrations have become a nuisance as they are not able to yield tangible results, government should barn them. All political mass rallies should be declared illegal until presidential elections campaign window. No one should be politicking as exemplified by Atupele. Sinanga wakukanikani Pitala wofaifa uyo kumchotsa pa mpando. The problem with Malawians is kuyiwala. Without a strong Tonga man in your organisations you cannot oust a sitting president, betchi! It was because of Orton Chirwa that we won independence so quickly in 1964. It was because of Aleke that UDF won easily in 1994. And… Read more »
But Kaliati has a point. Demonstrations have failed. And I hope these are the last ones we shall ever hear about. Demos require good planning to be a success. This is where Malawi whether you like it or not will miss people like Kasambara, Aleke or Gwanda Chakwamba. They were too good at planning these things.
Enanu mumangodziwa kukuwa ngati nkhandwe after the freedom is won.
Hehehehe koma Kaliati ndiye wamasula anthu amaliwongowa. Apapa ndiye wafikapo moti I wont be surprised to read here comments that will be insulting you. Paja akasowa choyankhula chifukwa chopanda mzeru amangotukwana basi. Hehehehe ministry iyi ndiye umayitha. Hhehehe waiting for the insulting comments here.
Well done Mr. President…shame to Chakwera and Kabwira
What else do you expect from such a dull person?. Take it or leave it Malawi, Kaliati is dull. She has never been to anybody’s university so she may not understand the whole thing altogether.