Malawi unrest is a timely warning - Citizens Forum

Malawi unrest is a timely warning - Citizens Forum
By Kombe Chimpinde
Tue 26 July 2011, 13:59 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda and other political party leaders should take the upheavals in Malawi as a timely warning, according to the Citizens Forum.

Forum executive secretary Simon Kabanda said Malawi and Zambia shared many characteristics and President Banda and his government could not afford to be indifferent to the disturbances obtaining there. Riots last week broke out in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe where opposition groups are protesting against President Bingu Wa Mutharika’s government.

The demonstrations were called to protest against rising fuel prices, a shortage of foreign exchange reserves, alleged bad governance and poor record of human rights among others.

“Malawians are known to be peaceful and tolerant to their leaders on many national issues and for them to come out and riot against the government, it tells us that the government in Malawi has collapsed,” said Kabanda in an interview on Sunday.

Kabanda said leaders in the country should draw lessons from the problems in Malawi.

“Zambia and Malawi share a lot. What has happened in Malawi can happen even here if government continues to be intolerant to the advice coming from ordinary Zambians and the civil society,” Kabanda said. “From the time President Banda was vice-president, he has exhibited high levels of intolerance. For instance, President Banda had promised Zambians during the 2008 presidential by-election campaigns that he would not assent to the bill that sought to increase allowances and emoluments for constitutional office bearers, but when he was voted into office he assented to it. Constitutional office bearers are now getting huge allowances at the expense of the majority poverty-stricken Zambians.”
Kabanda said President Banda’s intolerance was also exhibited by his decision to remove the abuse of office offence from the Anti-Corruption Commission Act amidst loud appeals from Zambians for him not to do so.

“Again when the NCC National Constitution Conference was getting out of hand, when people even started bringing in special allowances for sitting in it, we (civil society) appealed to Banda to dissolve NCC. He did not listen until the product of the sitting was rejected by Parliament,” Kabanda said.

He said if President Banda listened to the appeals of Zambians and the civil society, the nation would not be crying over the wastage of over K200 billion on a flawed constitution review process.

“The other was when President Banda refused to take back late president Frederick Chiluba to the High Court following his acquittal from the lower court on charges of corruption,” he said.

Kabanda said the lack of respect for the wishes of the electorate was a serious source of agitation in many African nations.

“This government should not pay a deaf ear to the interests and wishes the people,” Kabanda said.

“Just recently LAZ issued a statement on ZNBC’s biased coverage of news and government has continued justifying. The civil society has urged President Banda to direct his ministers to stop abusing state resources for political party campaigns ahead of elections, but he has not listened.”

Kabanda likened the riots in Malawi to Zambia’s food riots in 1986, which he said were fuelled by the government’s intolerance to people’s views.

“This government has violated human rights. It killed people in Mongu, Mazabuka and Mansa during riots. It has used the police to kill divergent views. That is wrong.”

The countrywide riots in Malawi have left about 18 people dead and over 40 injured, many shot by police.