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LILONGWE (Malawi Democrat) –Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has been accused of destroying the country’s democratic tenets and the rule of law through his dictatorial style of leadership, the Namibia-based Forum for the Future of Africa said in a statement.
“Malawi, the second poorest country in the world, is descending back to dictatorship and autocracy. Barely 19 years after democracy was taking root, a new leadership has come to mess up everything the population of Malawi had struggled to put together in 1993,” The Nation quotes the statement titled: ‘Malawi’s democratic pillars are being destroyed’ signed by Saunders Jumah, the forum’s founding trustee.
The forum cites the recent expulsion of British High Commissioner Mr Fergus Cochrane-Dyet as one of such destructive decisions
The NGO also pleaded with the British government and other development partners not to punish Malawians by cutting financial aid because of some “destructive decisions made by few individuals.”
According to The Nation, the statement says Mutharika, who during his first term of office was touted as the “engineer” of the economy, is now leading a country that is struggling with numerous problems, such as low wages for civil servants, fuel and forex shortages and erratic supply of electricity and water.
“What we are worried and concerned about is the unilateral decisions to change the Constitution of Malawi by enacting his [Mutharika] own laws that back his personal vendettas such as the Police Act, the Injunctions Law, the media act [amendment to Section 46 of the Penal Code that empowers the Minister of Information to ban local publications] and other unnecessary laws.”
But Minister of Information and Civic Education Symon Vuwa Kaunda, who is also government spokesperson, said it is surprising that several international institutions would want to paint a negative picture about governance in Malawi when the situation on the ground is different.
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