Cama lines up another demo

Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has called on consumers in the country to participate in the activities the body has lined up including protests in order to force government to address issues raised in its petition of January 17.

Cama organised demonstrations in January this year asking the government to, among other issues, stop the floatation of the kwacha, reduce foreign and local travel by the executive arm of the government and trim the cabinet.

It also asked President Joyce Banda to declare her assets and trim her motorcade.

Cama Executive Director John Kapito said holding the demonstration is one of the many activities the grouping has lined up to force government to address issues raised in the petition.

“Our plea to consumers is to make sure that they participate when called upon for specific activities. Public participation is key in achieving some of the many issues that we had in the petition as we noted with the civil servants strike.

“It took all of them to speak with one voice and demand what was due to them and our appeal to consumers is to stop complaining silently and join us when called upon to do so. Our issues can only be meaningful if the challenges are shared,” he said.

He said Cama alone cannot manage to do the activities without consumers’ support.

“We request that if consumers are really feeling the economic hardships then they should be able to join the very many activities when called upon to do so,” he said.

Cama and some representatives of the government had a meeting on the January 17 petition and government indicated that some of the issues in the petition were already addressed.

The government, however, indicated that stopping floatation of the kwacha was not possible.

Cama has not given any specific date for the protest.