Malawi CSOs wants Minister Chiumia to be fired

Civil society organizations in Malawi are asking government to fire from cabinet Home Affairs Minister Grace Chiumia for the behavior it feels not befitting a cabinet minister.

Chiumia has on many occasions disappointed many people in the country over her public utterances and decisions she makes.

She was recently in the limelight for a wrong reason, over reports that she ordered the police to arrest employees of the National Registration Bureau who held a meeting to discuss their financial woes.

Fourteen employees were arrested as a result. They are currently on bail.

In a statement released Tuesday, Forum for National Development says leaving Chiumia unpunished will cost democratic principles a great deal.

“As a minister she should not have stooped so low to eavesdrop on the lawful assembly on the young people who just wanted to discuss issues that affected their livelihood,” reads part of the statement signed by Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, board member, Fryson Chodzi , national coordinator, and Bright Kampaundi chairperson for the organization.

The organization wonders how the whole cabinet minister can forget that Malawi is in multiparty democracy where freedoms of association, speech and assembly were enshrined in the Constitution.

However, Chiumia said she did not instruct the police to arrest anyone but she only informed the police of the meeting to avoid damage to government property.

Spokesperson for the ruling Democratic Progressive party Francis Kasaila told local media that Chiumia might have made the direction as a cabinet minister and not as DPP member.