‘Pa ground sipali bwino’ demos on: Kalindo warns disturbers

Politician Bon Kalindo has said all requisites for the Blantyre Street parade on Friday, November 19, 2021—to protest socio-economic woes besetting the country—have been met, and that Malawians should take to the streets enmasse without any iota of fear.

“We just came out of a meeting with the Blantyre City Council (BCC), and I can confirm all has been set,” Kalindo, popularly known as Winiko in entertainment circles, said, sounding upbeat.

But he was quick to warn all that had intentions to perpetrate violence during the demonstrations.

He said: “Those that will come with the aim of perpetrating violence or disturb the parade in any way will not be condoned. We will not be a party to their acts, and we will disown them.”

On Thursday, a grouping calling itself Civil society Network on Accountability and Transparency spoke against the demonstrations saying Kalindo lacked credibility to blame the government for its failure to manage the social-economic problems the country is facing on grounds that he has been part of government himself.

The grouping said considering the damage that past demonstrations have had on the economy, it is only wise to have dialogue between government officials and those planning demonstrations.

Chairperson of the grouping, Kinnear Mlowoka, said it was important also to note that the current economic mess Malawi is in is a global catastrophe hence not making sense for the government to be blamed on things it cannot control.

The grouping’s remarks come high on the heels of impending anti-government demonstrations that will also be held in Mzuzu led by a group called Social Revolution Movement besides those that Kalindo will be leading in Blantyre.

There was also tension in Limbe on Thursday as some section of minibus touts is divided over the planned anti-government protests.

The disputes between the camps forced business to come to a standstill, although police officers managed the situation.

Visibly armed police officers mounted checkpoints from Hardware to the Kapenga area to ensure that traffic operated as normal.

Leader of the section that is against the protests, Jomo Osman, quashed Kalindo saying the former UTM youth director was only trying to be politically correct.

“It is because he has not been rewarded politically that he is doing this. If he was, he wouldn’t have been planning these demonstrations. He is a waste of time,” Osman said.

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