Mutharika brands Malawi CSOs as ‘criminal society organisations’: DPP manifesto promises special courts for corruption cases

President Peter Mutharika did not spate the civil society organisations (CSOs) his subtle attacks when he launched the 2019 elections manifesto at Kamuzu Institute for Sports in Lilongwe.

Mutharika, who is presidential candidate for the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections, branded the CSOs as “criminal society organisations.”

He said the CSOs have been up against his administration but failed to topple him, saying DPP remains “unshakable, unbreakable, and unstoppable.”

Mutharika said Malawians should vote for DPP because of its track record.

“We are the government that has done more development in five years than any other government in the history of this country,” he said.

President Mutharika said the DPP] are not coming to experiment with the lives of Malawians.

“We have been tried and tested,” he said.

“In 2014, we found a broken economy, but we have fixed it. The Malawi of today is better than the Malawi of 2014… I want to assure Malawians that we will do more this time than we did in the past five years.”

Mutharika continued: “We are now ready. The battle has started. This year’s campaign is more important than those of the past years. We are going to choose whether we want development or politics. To choose between those promising and those already doing it.”

In the 2019 DPP manifesto, the party promises to put in place stiffer and custodial sentences for convicts of corruption and economic crimes, including a minimum of 15 years jail.

The manifesto adds that special courts will be introduced to speed up handling of corruption cases.

Minister of Civic Education and Culture, Everton Chimulirenji, expressed appreciation for being selected Mutharika’s running-mate so that after May 21 if elected, he would be the country’s second-in-command.

“I am happy that people have supported me. I have been holding a number of rallies. Malawians support you, Your Excellency. You are definitely winning the elections,” Chimulirenji said.

DPP secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey went guns blazing with foul mouthing Malawi Congress Party president Lazarus Chakwera and his alliance partner, the country’s former president Joyce Banda of People’s Party.

She did not spare in the verbal combat the country’s estranged Vice-President Saulos Chilima, who is challenging his boss in the presidential race on the ticket of UTM Party.

The DPP was formed in 2005 when the late President Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika ditched the United Democratic Front (UDF) for the DPP. Ironically the late Mutharika announced of his resigning from the UDF at the Kamuzu Institute for Sports where the incumbent president has launched his party’s manifesto and campaign period.

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