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Prophet Samuel of Light of Life International Church (LOLIC) has questioned President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s silence on continued attacks target People with Albinism in the country.
Prophet Samuel said this in an open letter addressed to President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika and other government agencies including opposition political parties.
“Your Excellency, in 2014 you were sworn in as the president of the Republic of Malawi and you made an oath as the Commander in Chief of the Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Police Service and all Intelligence and home affairs. You committed to protect the citizens of Malawi as the Commander In Chief, where is your authority as the Commander In Chief when persons with albinism are being killed every day? Where is your authority as the Commander In Chief?
“If you wait for the forthcoming elections, what if all persons with albinism will be killed before we vote? Where are our rights as citizens, if our Commander In Chief is not protecting us and protecting the right to life of persons with albinism who are equal citizens, protected by the constitution of Malawi? They have the right to life and protection; where is our protection?” queried Samuel.
Below is the letter;
A CONCERN TO THE STATE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI, HIS EXCELLENCY PROFESSOR ARTHUR PETER MUTHARIKA, THE MALAWI DEFENCE FORCE, THE MALAWI POLICE SERVICE, HONORABLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, THE GOVERNMENT OF MALAWI, OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES AND LEADERS, TRADITIONAL LEADERS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGO’S) AND ALL CITIZENS OF MALAWI
1. TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI; HIS EXCELLENCY PROFESSOR ARTHUR PETER MUTHARIKA
Your Excellency, in 2014 you were sworn in as the president of the Republic of Malawi and you made an oath as the Commander in Chief of the Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Police Service and all Intelligence and home affairs. You committed to protect the citizens of Malawi as the Commander In Chief, where is your authority as the Commander In Chief when persons with albinism are being killed every day? Where is your authority as the Commander In Chief? If you wait for the forthcoming elections, what if all persons with albinism will be killed before we vote? Where are our rights as citizens, if our Commander In Chief is not protecting us and protecting the right to life of persons with albinism who are equal citizens, protected by the constitution of Malawi? They have the right to life and protection; where is our protection?
2. TO THE MALAWI DEFENCE FORCE
Throughout the years, the government has trained and keeps on training and recruiting soldiers who are deployed to other nations for peace keeping missions. Where is your protection to the citizens of Malawi who are persons with albinism? News of their killings and abductions is everywhere and you are hearing it every day. As protectors who are trained to protect us, where are you in this time when persons with albinism are being killed? Should we say there is no protection in Malawi? When we have the Malawi Army in place, where are your peace keeping skills here in Malawi? As the Malawi Army where is your protection for persons with albinism?
3. TO THE MALAWI POLICE SERVICE
Every year you recruit police officers so that they may instill peace, order and provide security in the country. To the Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service, where is the protection of the citizens which you swore on oath to uphold? When persons with albinism are being killed, where are you? Where is the Malawi Police Service? Where are you and why are people being killed every day? Should we say they are not citizens because they are persons with albinism? What if something rises and begins to kill us one by one, are we going to be protected? Are we going to be safe? We have questions and we need answers as citizens of Malawi.
4. TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MALAWI
We are guided by the constitution and the constitution tells us that we have the right to life, freedom of expression and the right to protection among others. As government, you have built schools, prisons, hospitals, stadiums, constructed roads and in Zomba we have an institution for the rehabilitation of mentally challenged people. As citizens, we pay tax everyday all year through. Being the government which has all infrastructures, why can you not build a place where persons with albinism can be taken to for safety considering the current state of their security? Why can you not build a temporary safe place for them? You have built hospitals for the sick, places for the mentally disturbed, for offenders of the law, why not for persons with albinism who are being killed every day? Where is the right to life here in Malawi for persons with albinism?
5. TO OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES AND LEADERS
What are you doing to protect the lives of persons with albinism as political parties? As presidents of your respective political parties, what are you doing about the merciless killings of persons with albinism? If you tell us that you are going to protect them when we vote for you, we will not vote for you until you act now because they are being killed now. Show us what you are promising by protecting the lives of persons with albinism before we vote for you. We want action now not just the hope of tomorrow.
6. TO HONORABLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
You are a Member of Parliament (MP) for a constituency, people voted for you including persons with albinism. They are dying not just in Malawi, but they are dying in your constituency to begin with. You as an MP what have you done to protect the lives of persons with albinism in your constituency? Do you not know that there are persons with albinism in your constituency? As an MP, what measures are you putting in place and how are you protecting persons with albinism who are being killed in your own constituency? What are you doing as a Member of Parliament, as the one directing the constituency?
7. TO TRADITIONAL LEADERS
Paramount Chiefs, Traditional Authorities, Sub Traditional Authorities, Group Village Heads and Chiefs; persons with albinism who are being killed are not those who are staying in other villages, they are staying in your own village. You as a respected Traditional Leader, what are you doing to protect the lives of persons with albinism? If anyone in the village commits a crime, they are brought forth and charged, what about protecting the lives of persons with albinism in your area?
8. TO NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGO’S)
You have established many NGO’s for HIV and AIDS, cancer, sanitation and established orphanages, what about persons with albinism who are being killed every day? Why can’t you protect them by your NGO’s? You receive funds to operate in this country, how about investing the funds in protecting the lives of persons with albinism? Who is protecting them?
9. TO THE CITIZENS OF MALAWI
Persons with albinism who are being killed are your neighbors. You know your neighbor is a person with albinism, why can’t you protect your fellow citizen? Why can’t you protect them as a responsible citizen of Malawi? The government will not protect them on its own, because the government is the citizenry. If you are not a responsible citizen, who cares for his fellow citizen, how then can we say we are a nation when we are not guarding one another? To every citizen of Malawi, why is it that when you see a person with albinism you do not protect them and they are being killed by you instead? Why do you not protect them?
10. TO THE CHURCH, RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Persons with albinism are members of our respective congregations and they need protection from us as Churches and Mosques. As the church, often times we rise to condemn the government and corruption among other issues, what if we can rise in unison now, not to condemn the killings of person with albinism only, but also to protect them as members of our churches. They do not only need us to condemn the killings, but they need protection as well. As religious institutions, what are we doing?
We all have work to do and let it be heard in every place in Jesus Christ’s name.
God bless you all.
Prophet F.T. Samuel
Light of Life International Church (LOLIC)
