Maravi

Mutharika laboured for Africa, says KK

Mutharika laboured for Africa, says KK
By Mwala Kalaluka, Bright Mukwasa in Lusaka and Christopher Mit
Thu 12 Apr. 2012, 13:28 CAT

DR Kenneth Kaunda says the late Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika should be remembered for his industrious development efforts he made for the continent. Meanwhile, Malawi Human Rights Commission chairperson John Kapito says President Joyce Banda can only bring back the rule of law and good governance to that country through a holistic change process.

And President Banda has dropped Malawi's Secretary to the Treasury Radson Mwadiwa in the ongoing executive changes since she assumed office last Saturday. Speaking after signing the book of condolences at the Malawian High Commission in Lusaka yesterday, Dr Kaunda made fond remarks about Mutharika who died after a cardiac arrest last Thursday.

"In many ways he Mutharika laboured for this continent. Let all his successes be the remembrance in this period," Dr Kaunda said.

"…We are praying that all the mourning in Malawi will go peacefully and he will be put to rest all in peace and that the new President Joyce Banda will continue to have peace and the Lord's peace will continue."

Dr Kaunda arrived at the Malawian High Commission in the company of his daughter, Chaswe Silwizya, around 12:00 hours and met his son Tilyenji, the president of UNIP, who was also there to sign the book of condolences.
Malawian High Commissioner David Bandawe thanked Dr Kaunda for his moral support during that country's difficult moment.

And commenting on the governance steps undertaken by President Banda since she took over the reins of power following president Mutharika's death, Kapito, in an interview from Malawi yesterday, said recent changes made to the leadership structure were critical.

"Because politically and economically, I think we had gone down so drastically and for us to address the challenges, I think that had made us go down both economically and politically, I think we need to look at the issues holistically," he said.

[What I don't *think* but _know_ brought down Malawi, was the suspension of budget support, 40% of the state budget, as retaliation for extending a loan to the government of Zimbabwe, and for ignoring World Bank advice against extending the fertilizer support programme and showing it to be a raging success, making the World Bank look like schmucks. Like ordinary criminals, they can't stand (intellectual) competition, and go out of their way to punish success if it doesn't come from the programmes they prescribed. Read: EU petitioned to suspend aid to Malawi over bankrolling Mugabe, and How Malawi went from a nation of famine to a nation of feast - MrK]

"We need to bring in the aspects of rule of law, human rights and good governance on the table and that when we begin addressing them we don't address them individually. So that we can make sure that any changes that we do are within a framework and without a framework of change we might miss the right target that we are trying to achieve."

Kapito said while they had noted the changes made at the country's leadership levels, President Banda should go further than that.

"Maybe those were the crucial areas that required immediate change but we are saying that if we are going to see a progressive change, it's not about changing people but it's about changing systems," Kapito said.

"So if we simply address issues of changing people and the systems remain the same, what we might do is removing one person and replacing with another person with similar behaviours, similar attitudes and similar direction and focus. That is what we should avoid to do."

Kapito called on the donor community to flex their muscle a little bit and begin to release resources that were withheld because of Malawi's approach to issues of human rights and good governance.

"Once those resources are put in the system, then we can begin to see some bigger movements in terms of economic growth and also making sure that the lives of the ordinary people are back on course," he said.

Kapito said a system where draconian laws were formulated to suit a clique of people should no longer be tolerated.

"Some of these laws were intended to take up power from the people and put that power in the hands of the leaders. That changed the direction in which we participate in a democratic environment," Kapito said.

"The other challenge was that participation in both civil and political issues in Malawi was becoming a challenge where the police were really running up and down making sure that they charge you or you don't participate in any peaceful demonstration."

Kapito said the police under recently fired Inspector General Peter Mukhito were not responsive enough to issues of change although they had gone through a lot of reforms.

"We discovered that they were trigger-happy. Like the 20th July demonstrations, we lost about 20 people," he said.

"There were a lot of abuses in police cells and prison cells. All this, I think, made Malawi a talking point in terms of human rights and good governance."

Kapito, however, gave credit to late president Mutharika for improving the country's food security.

And media sources told The Post yesterday that Mwadiwa had been replaced by Joseph Mwanazeka as Secretary to the Treasury.

Meanwhile, President Banda says cordial relations between Zambia and Malawi are critical to the two nations.

During a press briefing at her Lilongwe residence on Tuesday that was also carried live on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, President Banda said she spoke to President Michael Sata on Monday and that they both agreed that cordial relations between the two countries were important.

"President Sata offered his condolences to the bereaved family and the people of Malawi and we both committed ourselves to the strong cordial diplomatic relations between our two governments. I want to say that it is important for us to improve and strengthen the relations between our two countries. You know how (relations with) Zambia is critical to Malawi," President Banda said.

She said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called her to offer her heartfelt condolences to the people of Malawi on the loss of their president.
President Banda said Clinton was happy that the constitutional order was followed after the death of president Mutharika.

She said Clinton assured her of the US government's support to the people of Malawi.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, JOYCE BANDA, KENNETH KAUNDA

posted by MrK @ 3:11 PM