Stop intimidation, Atupele rips Mutharika tyranny
He was referring to an incident where two lawyers, Wapona Kita and Lusungu Gondwe of Ralph & Arnolds Law Firm who were recently summoned by ACB on allegations that they corruptly obtained bail for fellow lawyer, Ralph Kasambara, a critic of President Bingu wa Mutharika
Speaking in Nkhotakota at a political rally of United Democratic Front (UDF), the Machinga North East Legislator said: “I want to appeal to the ACB, please stop intimidating lawyers in this country. Let them to do their job without fear.”
He expressed disappointment that some lawyers are allowing themselves to be used to intimidate and harass fellow practitioners.
“That era ended when we demolished one party system in this country. Accused persons have the right to legal representation and the laws of this country provides for that freedom unless we are in a dictatorship,” he said.
Dictatorship
Atupele said he was saddened that “as a country we must be talking of a fighting to defend democracy because this fight was already fought and won in 1994.”
He said: “As a country our main focus would have been on bringing food on the table only and other issues and certainly not democracy.
“But we have been forced back to the fight because the leadership of this country does not believe in democracy and all the freedoms.”
Atupele pointed out that “freedom of speech is under threat, press freedom is under threat and the judiciary is not functioning.”
Lost trust
The parliamentarian said any power to govern is driven from trust of the people as enshrined in the Constitution. He however said the current Mutharika administration has lost people’s trust to rule because of its undemocratic tendencies.
“Malawi belongs to all of us and not a small unit of people and thus those that are governing us should appreciate that they are doing so on trust,” he said.
“This trust is fast waning because the leadership does not want to of listen to alternative views,” said the presidential hopeful.
“The leadership has created enemies with all sectors of life except for those that have accepted to be part of the conspiracy to take Malawi back to autocratic rule,” he said.
Hail donors
While President Mutharika said on Sunday donors ‘can pack and go’ if they aren’t satisfied with his economic and political policies, Atupele said Malawians “appreciate the good work” donors do in Malawi.
“It does not help that the only solutions we are hearing is an attempt to blame our innocent donors, NGOS, the church and opposition leaders,” Atupele said.
“I would like to state here that this view is not shared by the majority of Malawians.”
He added: “Whilst I want to acknowledge the excellent support the Chinese Government is giving to Malawi, I would also like to acknowledge and appreciate the support our traditional corporating partners such as the British Government, the European Union, German Government and others.”
He said the country needs to mend its fences with our bilateral coorperating partners so that Malawi is back on track.
