Mutharika strives to maintain power: Shake-up in Malawi police

March 19, 2020 Osman Faiti - Nyasa Times 60 Comments

President Peter Mutharika has taken several drastic measures including the recent shake-up up in the Police  in what political analysts describe as  a strategy aimed at putting certain officers in strategic positions as he strives to maintain power.

Mutharika: Show of power

As he is about to name his new Cabinet – expected to be bloated from the lean team of 20 –  appointing the country’s  new defence force commander, defying the court and parliamentary recommendations to scrap the discredited Malawi Electoral Commission and withholding his assent to legislation to reform electoral laws before the next poll – there has also been transfers of senior cops.

A political scientist Mustafa Hussein of University of Malawi’s Chancellor College has said Mutharika is in a show of power, saying he is “flexing his muscles to show that he is still in charge and that he is President of the country.”

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera  has said the transfers ordered by acting Inspector General of Police Duncan Mwapasa which  affects Officers-In-Charge; Station Officers  and others in departments such as the confidential registry are a normal routine.

“Management has seen it important that these officers be transferred to other places because this will also help them in their process of expanding their career since they will be working with various officers,” he said.

But Professor Happy Kayuni, head of the political science and administration department at the University of Malawi, finds it strange coincidence that the changes are  happening at the same time,  particularly sinister that Mutharika fired the Malawi Defence Force commander General Vincent Nundwe and replaced him with former air force General Peter Namathanga.

He said that under Nudwe — who was appointed only nine months ago — the army had played a pivotal role in calming the protests that followed the elections last May when demonstrators hit the streets complaining that the election had been stolen.

Kayuni said the police had been unable to maintain peace on the streets and had sided with “hooligans” of the ruling party who attacked demonstrators. The army had stepped in and by behaving impartially had restored calm, he said.

He pointed out that the military had also protected the judges who had been presiding over the court cases which flowed from the elections.

“Mutharika is trying to reverse the democratic gains made in Malawi over the past few months,” he said, alluding also to Mutharika’s other decisions — to reject the decision that he should fire the electoral commission and also the proposed electoral law reforms.

“He’s taking a very dangerous course. People are already frustrated by the delays after the court ruling that elections must be held within 150 days. Now people are likely to be even more frustrated.”

Fresh presidential elections were called last month after a court ruled that the polls were marred by irregularities.

The nullification of the election followed complaints by opposition leaders Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Saulos Chilima of the UTM Party that the polls were rigged. MCP and UTM together with other five parties have forged a grand coalition.

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60 replies on “Mutharika strives to maintain power: Shake-up in Malawi police”

  1. Why are we still arguing about politics, fellow Malawians it’s time to talk about corona virus,it is a deadly disease, let’s propose to the government, what can be done with this epidemic virus before it’s too late

  3. Sometimes i wonder when will constutions of Malawi will work on APM, because it seems all laws in Malawi are for opposition and HRDC, but anything APM does it seems he breaks the law but if we think deeply we gonna discover that the DPP party has also a right, the HRDC is doing i think its for only opposition parties

  4. The majority of Malawians are fed up with the dictatorial style of leadership and the arrogance displayed by APM. The majority of his supporters refuse to acknowledge his incompetence because they are beneficiaries of his corruption.
    Things will not end well for DPP!

  7. Do you mean that peter knows the laws than any other Judge in Malawi Court? I see the reason why he is now clashing each point made by the Constcourt. You mean Malawi Supreme Court Judges fear Southern Lawyers After all these are just lawyers looking for interpretation which they know it already that the elections were Massively Rigged by peter arther.

    1. Malawi judges are inferior to APM who was educated and taught Law in the USA. You just need to look at Concourt judgement to see this. Courts always avoid making rulings that depend on political processes because it is an arena they cannot control. Concourt judgement was flawed because as you have seen, parliament failed to get 2/3 majority to change the constitution as per that ruling. Having failed, Parliament foolishly and illegally changed an Act which means there is now a conflict between the Constitution and the Act. Not only is there precedence from elections run since 1994 -2019, the Supreme court (1999) already interpreted ‘majority’ in our constitution.
      Thus, those Concourt judges have been exposed as incompetent, corrupt and idiotic charlatans

  8. He said enough is enough, honey moon is over for everybody who fights DPP. Mr Kayuni there is nothing good about DPP that can come from your stinking mouth. Idiot

  9. Just another almost 90 years old useless way past his sell by date African leader forcing himself on a nation that has rejected his nuisance.

  10. Let him shake the cabinet, the army, the DPP regional governors and the police by all means. What he cannot shake, though, is Malawians. They are determined to boot him out regardless.

  11. What is he doing about Corona virus? Kulibetu zopita zipatala za kunja. Mwina ku Joni kapena. Koma Ena onse anzeru akutseka ma border. Inu mungodziwa kugwedeza security forces. Mutiphetsa ndithu.

  12. When you sit phwii for 5 years until when you are facing an inevitabke boot From the state house then you wake up and start doing things meant to be done long time ago. Too late just start negotiating for a smooth exit sir.

      1. As a business man who imports, I can tell you these guys worked hard to deal with inflation and forex cover.

  13. The comforting and strange thing about people’s wind of change is its audacity to defy the odds. You have seen what happened to Sudan’s Omar Bashir, a soldier himself by profession and with the unwavering support of a powerful army behind him. The Sudanese army shot and killed several hundreds of protesters and yet Omar Bashir’s government crumbled in the end. The situational environment is so completely different in Malawi that I don’t believe our foot soldiers will obey the incoming Army General Namathanga to shoot the protesting civilians in the quest to save the political life of the Malawian ‘Omar Bashir’ who announced that, as Commander-in-chief’ he was now giving orders to the army and police to use ultimate force to save his ‘tenancy’ at the state houses. Later, over US$39 million cash stashed in suitcases was discovered at President Omar Bashir’s state residence. This is one of the reasons our presidents are prepared to shed blood because they have a lot at stake when they lose power. Remember the hundreds of boxes stashed with millions of money in cash of different currencies discovered at the ‘Kamuzu Palace’ subsequent to the death of APM’s elder brother? A lot is at stake when ruthless souls are in these positions of power. In the end only God can stop these sick ‘souls’ in their track. The God that Malawians believe in and worship will definitely intervene again, no matter what ‘tricks’ may be conjectured as a last resort, to cling to power!!! “O LORD GOD BLESS OUR LAND OF MALAWI, KEEP IT A LAND OF PEACE” is our daily ‘anthem’ prayer to the RIGHTEUOUS JUDGE OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE.

    1. PLEASE, Sudan’s all Bashir was a dictator who ruled for decades. It’s foolish and misguided to make such baseless comparison.

      2. Partisan pricks like you are what’s killing this country. Monga simukuona mmene zinthu zilili? Shame on you and your excuse of a brain

  14. He was not here when our fathers and brothers fought for a multiparty democracy and was imposed on us by his late brother and now he wants to use security organs to suppress dissent. He is a DICTATOR but the courts will soon remove him from that position. Remember he did not win in 2014 if the meaning of the majority as given by the concourt is anything to go by. If we can go back in time to a time when somebody won by the majority then it will be Bingu/Joyce team and guess what? Madam Ntila will rule us again until the new elections are held.

      1. The new constitution was written after the fight for multiparty democracy had been won,,,Whether you like it or not he was not here in Malawi when people fought for multiparty democracy. He is a beneficiary of other peoples heroic work,,,

      4. Understand that one can be “part of something” they dont know or understand fully. And what evidence do you have that he played an active role munthu amathawa kukabisala ku America

  16. It is written that the Mutharikas will not rule for two terms. Whatever trick he plays will not work. He will be booted out by any means very soon. Mark my word.

    1. You said the same about Kamuzu then put Muluzi in power. What happened. He was the worst president.

  20. Mr tippex old man, your time is up. We had another NTCHONA like yourself who was shown the exit door. Nkhalamba yopanda nzeru.

  22. This is making Muthalika sleepless. How can a person who is in 80s still cling to power like that. He really heading danger zone, He is crucifying himself adzaona chidameta mpala nkhalanga. My worry is why does he not make sensible decisions other than that making stupid decisions. No man this person is really in trouble and that he is attracting jail. He will not make 20% this time around a Malawi akwiya ambwiche.

    1. Is it APM clinging to power or someone else? Remember behind a successful (or unsuccessful) man there is…………mmm somebody

  24. The 5 concourt judges are as fishy as chief magistrate chitsakamire. Good at opening a can of worms but not closing it.

    1. Those concourt judges will be humiliated as people are realising that their ruling was flawed because it (the ruling) is dependent on making laws – a political process which (they) the judges can’t control. When a court makes a ruling that is supposed to be fulfilled through making laws, it is an indication that the judges are incompetent and corrupt. For example, the opposition failed to change the constitution because they couldn’t master a 2/3 majority.

  25. Chimene amandiwaza adad he acts lawfully. Kupanga appeal lawful, kukana kusayina ma bill lawful, kusintha mkulu wa zasilikali lawful. Yemwe alimbana ndi omwe mbuye wadalitsa alephela. Apm is very cool and cool headed people rarely make mistakes

    2. “Pagwetsa galu ndiye kuti patelela” Translated that ‘any place where a dog slips and falls must be a slippery place’. Any other dog will try to avoid passing by or going in the direction of that slippery place. This ‘mwambi’ proverb is a warning to take lessons from the mistakes of others that got them into trouble. Omar Bashir of Sudan, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi, Mobutu Seseseko of Zaire, Idi Amin of Uganda, the list goes on and on, all learned the hard way that PEOPLE’S POWER IS UNSTOPPABLE, not forgetting the Ngwazi Dr H.K.Banda misled by the legendary and veteran politician (name withheld). Thank God the Ngwazi peacefully gave in to people’s demands. Let’s wait and see what will happen to ‘stubborn political dogs’ who refuse to learn from what has happened to their earlier counterparts!!

      1. Comparisons with no basis. Omar Bashiri was not elected. As was Idi Amin. Their countries had NO democracy. Kamuzu was a dictator too. Mumangomva za m’maluwa. Do not compare Peter Mutharika with these people. He is a cool headed democrat.

    3. Kamuzu mumamukakamidza kuti azilamulabe ali ndi zaka 95 uja bwa?. Inu a chipani cha ng’ona. Sono 80 years ndi kachani?

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