Mtambo warns against using Covid-19 lockdown to stifle Malawians’ right to vote

Citizens For Transformation (CFT) leader and sworn critic of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Timothy Mtambo, has warned that his grouping will challenge any move by President Peter Mutharika to use the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak as a scapegoat to stifle Malawians’ right to choose a new President in 150 days in accordance with the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) judgment of February 3,  2020.

The warning is in response to some rumours purporting to suggest that government is intending to impose a nationalwide  lockdown  for 21 –days  as a measure to prevent further spread of the virus pandemic  in the country.

Mtambo, who was addressing his first news conference  since the announcement of the formation of the CFT-People Power Movement, alleged that there is a desperate attempt by Mutharika to put the country on a lockdown to justify the delay of the fresh presidential election slated for July 2.

He, however, stressed that the movement is determined to rescue Malawi from “executive arrogance, impunity and socioeconomic stagnation mostly associated with the current accidental and despotic DPP leadership”  and advocate for a meaningful, inclusive, political and economic transformation in Malawi.

“We are all at pains to see how the unduly elected caretaker President Peter Mutharika is working tirelessly in politicizing the Covid-19 response by either using it as a transfer pump of resources to unintended political and selfish gains or as a scapegoat to evade accountability on his continued failure to obey Court orders by the ConCourt ruling and decision of the people’s elected representatives – Parliament,” said Mtambo.

The firebrand human rights fighter wondered why the DPP-led administration is allocating a lot of money to politically-connected organisations such as the Beautify Malawi Trust (BEAM) of First Lady Gertrude Mutharika to spearhead the Covid-19 response.

He further said it is weird and hypocrisy of the highest order for President Mutharika to accept one leg of the Constitutional Court that technically extended his being a Caretaker President [of course, mindful of our Laws of which clearly state that there shall be no vacuum in the Office of President] while rejecting the other aspects of the same Court ruling relating to the incompetence of MEC Commissioners.

“The CFT-Pepole Power Movement is driven by our collective resolve and desire to contribute to the emancipation and rescuing of this country from the existing and any future predatory regimes that have and will stifle our economic, political and social progress,” said Mtambo.

But Mtambo hinted that the movement will protest any results from a presidential election process that is mired in irregularities from registration to the polling.