Malawi ex-president Muluzi calls for talks with HRDC to pacify violent protests
Former president Bakili Muluzi has stepped in to end the current wave of protests and violence by calling for a meeting with the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) as the leadership of the grouping has confirmed and accepted.
A letter from the office of the former president dated July 22, 2019 and duly signed by Muluzi, is calling the HRDC chairperson Timothy Mtambo and his HRDC team on Tuesday, July 23, 2019.
“Given the current volatile situation in the country, your call for the resignation of the chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission over the disputed electoral process and your subsequent call for mass demonstrations, as a former Head of State of this country, I am equally concerned about the current situation,” reads the letter in part seen by Nyasa Times.
The letter says the former president feels obliged and duty bound to find a civil solution to curtail the prevailing situation by initiating dialogue and conversation.
The letter, however, has not said the venue for the meeting.
HRDC has since called off the scheduled peaceful demonstrations on Tuesday.
The grouping’s vice chairperson Gift Trapence has confirmed the cancellation of the protests as the civil society activists would be heading for the meeting with Muluzi, who governed Malawi from 1994 to 2004 under UDF administration then handpicked Bingu wa Mutharika as his successor.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has also been calling for dialogue with the opposition to end the current political impasse following the disputed May 21 elections.
However, the two major opposition parties; the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM have rejected the dialogue offer before the ruling on the poll case.
it is difficult to believe him,i dont think the guy is credible he might have something at stake you know political engineer nde mukati dyo ……kapena mudikila another 5yrs..kkk
How one would bear to believe in the impartiality of a mediator who was the architect of the “Mikuyu Pact”, is beyond my comprehension. I rest my case.
You cannot win an election through mob justice,what you have done in 2019 as UTM,MCP shall come to haunt you come 2024.Carry on with the mess
Muluxi has his own arterial motive in all this, he does not want to be prosecuted for MK1.7Billion which will happen when regime changes . So the status quo benefits him
Was Mk1.7billion case ever prosecuted? Or it was swept under the rug after his son kissed APMs Ass
Muluzi and his son Atupele are too close to DPP for Muluzi (senior) to be the mediator and he is being shielded from his theft of government funds by DPP GVT
Muluzi can’t seat at the helm of peace as he is the cause of all this destructions. He has proved himself many times to be pro- DPP and he is also full of himself that’s why he took his personal decision to appoint Muntharika without following proper procedures and party structures. He even sold his party UDF to DPP to free him of his Mk1.7Billion case in Court on the expense of his followers. As this was not enough, he pushed his son Atupele to marry with the hyena ( DPP) which just used him and left him finished .… Read more »
Ngat simukudziwa ma demo ife a Dpp takozeka kut ma demo ali wose tidzikhala nawo panopa mwawonjeza otsutsa tingoswana basi.no police,no sojar paseu tikakumaneko tokhatokha
A Muluzi mabanja anu awiri anakukanikani, azimayi awiri kuti mukambitsane nawo kulephera, ndiye issues to do ndi dziko mungazithe??? Tazingo namizilani ma disc anuwo kuti asakumangeni milandu yanu yakuba ija, inu nomwe mwakhala mukudya pa gome la DPP ndi nthumbidwa yanu ija Atupere ndiye pano muyanjanitse ndani? Kazidyani kachete chete. Foolish old man!
In my view, things are not adding up. First , we need to analyse and understand what is the root cause of the problem and who are the affected parties? From that perspective, I find the meeting between HRDC and Muluzi fruitless because whatever they can agree on will have no a go ahead from MCP and UTM which can decide to do otherwise.