Malawi observes World Democracy Day in silence

Malawi observed the World Democracy Day on Sunday in total silence as majority of people even never realized the day exists at a time when the country’s democracy is at crossroads.

Fierce government critic and leading rights activist Timothy Mtambo and his Human Rights Defenders Coalition  (HRDC) might have forgotten the day exists.

However, writing on his face book wall says there is a symbiotic link between elections which he said is access to power and governance which he describes as exercise of power.

“It’s difficult for an authoritarian election to produce a democratic governance system. And we don’t need to wait for another five years to fix our issues,” says Mtambo.

In an interview, a political scientist at Chancellor College Happy Kayuni said the country has gained a lot in terms of democracy.

“We have the governance institutions such as the Malawi Human Rights Commission, the office of the Ombudsman. We have made some progress,” he said.

He however said the Malawi politics is not progressing as expected and attributed this to tribalism, regionalism, nepotism as well as well the running of political parties by families.

“Another issue is that the ruling party tends to politicize some state institutions. The DPP has politicized the police, this is why the police fails to do its job,” said Kayuni.

He also said the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) image is soiled with rigging and vote manipulation reports, saying this cannot entrench the hard word but fragile democracy.

Sharing is caring!