Mutharika loyalists vow to act against ‘anarchy’
Malawi President Bingu Wa Mutharika spokesman Hetherwick Ntaba and Minister of Information and Civic Education, Patricia Kaliati, have said a resign-by-May 14 ultimatum to the Head of State would be rejected.
The Public Affairs Committee, a group of religious leaders and activists, has threatened “civil disobedience” if Mutharika will not step down within 60 days or call for a referendum on his leadership within three months.
But Mutharika’s chief spokesman Ntaba said the President “will continue to govern the country” up until his constitutional mandate expires in May 2014.
Ntaba said after 2014 elections, Mutharika will pack up his belongings and head for Ndata farm to enjoy his retirement.
He said the state will fight against any form of “civil disobedience.”
Kaliati, on the other hand, has warned that the government will not “stay idle while people drag this country into chaos and anarchy”.
“We have an elected government in this country. Inciting people to rise against government is against principles of democracy,” she told journalists in Lilongwe.
Ruling DPP Campaign Director, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, described PAC recommendations as “childish” and that they were not representing the electorate.
PAC in their resolutions at the end of the two-day meeting in Blantyre stated that in the event that the demand for President’s resignation is not met and a referendum is not called, they will summon “Malawians from all walks of life to go for civil disobedience.”
Meanwhile, Malawi’s police national spokesperson Davie Chingwalu said the security forces have “intensified police visibility and patrols.”
Mutharika’s second term in office has seen growing discontent with his rule with political tensions erupted into rioting in July, when police shot 19 people dead.
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