Africa-Press – Malawi. Government spokesperson and Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako, has assured the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) that the government will, with a dose of obliged duty to respond, address concerns the coalition has highlighted in its press release issued on Friday.
In its statement titled ‘Unmasking Tonse Alliance government’s DNA of undemocratic tendencies – a call’, HRDC reminds the Tonse Alliance government that Malawians voted out the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration because it thrived on corruption, nepotism, cronyism and blatant abuse of law, among many atrocities.
The coalition says with a full dose of goodwill from Malawians, the Tonse Alliance—standing on a platform of a promise to revolutionise the country’s rotten governance system soiled by corruption that resulted in underdevelopment and impoverishment of citizens for over five decades, was given a five-year mandate to govern.
“Malawians were upbeat to usher in a new dawn of administration that had pledged to carry out government business differently. Voters were, for the first time, promised servant leadership, a bright future and a dream of a better Malawi likened to that of the biblical Canaan that was synonymous with flowing milk and honey.
“Citizens had all the faith that the Tonse Alliance government would be a departure from the DPP DNA that saw rising corruption, executive arrogance, nepotism and cronyism taking centre stage,” reads the statement, which Gift Trapence has co-signed with other leaders.
The coalition observed that soon after assuming power, the Tonse Alliance administration enjoyed massive goodwill from people across all sectors. But HRDC faults the current administration for failing to walk the talk and giving a blind eye to critical affairs of the state that leads to suffering of the citizenry.
“Over the past year, Malawians have experienced diminishing incomes courtesy of rising costs of essential goods and services, spiking unemployment rates, increase in the price of fuel as well as electricity tariffs and the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy.
“Regardless of the fact that Malawians have raised their voices on the level of their desperation as evidenced by a popular coined term such as ‘pa ground sipali bwino’ [translating to that the economy is in shambles and people are suffering as a result] it is disheartening that the current administration has been devoid of a clear and solid economic roadmap to rescue citizens from the serious hardships they are facing,” says the coalition.
The coalition further observes that fraud and corruption, nepotism and cronyism, slowness and indecisiveness, return of bad laws and arbitrary arrests have continued to thrive under the Tonse Alliance regime. HRDC warned the government against taking Malawians for granted.
“The government needs to know that Malawians are frustrated and their trust is waning because of the economic hardships they are going through without clear and tangible solutions in sight. The government must come up with a clear-cut plan on how it is going to address the economic hardships, high levels of unemployment and underdevelopment that is in the country,” emphasizes the coalition.
“We are calling upon the government to give a response within thirty days on how they plan to address the critical issues highlighted in this statement, especially on how it plans to deal with the economic hardships Malawians are facing. Failure to do so will leave HRDC with no choice but to organise nationwide Pa Ground Sipali Bwino demonstrations.
“Lastly, we are calling upon Malawians to be vigilant in defending their hard worn freedom and democracy by guarding against any undemocratic tendencies of the Tonse Alliance government,” it concluded.
Kazako, acknowledged receipt of the press release in an interview on Saturday that the government will address their concerns “with a dose of obliged duty to respond”.
“We will be responding within the 30 days they have requested. Meanwhile, we are preoccupied with planning of the next AIP [Affordable Input Programme], we are also busy prequalifying contractors for different infrastructure we have lined up.
“We are also busy looking and negotiating for better markets for farm produce. The hunting for more Covid-19 vaccines to save Malawian lives is also one of the issues that we are currently occupied with,” said Kazako.
