Satan using Bingu-NGOs

Human rights activists have claimed President Bingu wa Mutharika is being used by Satan to plunge Malawi into unprecedented misery.

The assertion follows President Bingu wa Mutharika’s admission last week that the current crises affecting the country is the work of the Devil.

But Minister of Information and Civic Education Patricia Kaliati on Sunday said the activists should not bring “last year’s wars” into 2012.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Undule Mwakasungula and executive director for the Centre for Development of the People (Cedep), Gift Trapence, have said in a statement dated December 31, 2011 that time has come for Mutharika to reject the power of the Devil for the situation to change for the better in 2012.

Reads a statement signed by the two civil society leaders: “If the problems the country is facing are being caused by Satan, then we believe Satan is using the President because the problems centre on poor economic and political governance led by him as President.

“As organisations who believe in the above power of the Almighty God, we strongly ask President Mutharika to reject the Satan he is condemning.”

The statement observes that the nation is going through the worst crisis in history as characterised by shortage of basic necessities and skyrocketing prices of commodities. The statement also calls for the removal of the quota system of selecting students into public universities to bring unity.

“Malawians refuse that one tribe should be considered more important than the rest. As we stated before, the President and some senior Cabinet ministers have been in the forefront advocating tribalism, nepotism and ethnicism.

“Malawians clearly recall on how some government officials have ridiculed other tribes. Malawians get reminded how they have to look at each other on the basis of where one comes from,” reads the statement its part.

But Kaliati on Sunday said 2012 should be a year for fostering unity.

Said Kaliati: “Why should government be given timeframe? What if where we buy fuel there is no fuel? It is not fair to say that because there are other factors [responsible for the economic problems] that cannot be determined.”

She argued there is no nepotism in government but that it is the NGOs themselves that are nepotistic.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn), in its summary of 2011 and a way forward for 2012, has advised government to engage in genuine dialogue with all stakeholders and take urgent action towards resolving the current challenges.

Mejn executive director Dalitso Kubalasa said it is encouraging that government is taking steps towards reversing some unpopular legislation.

Said Kubalasa:“Going forward into 2012, government needs to urgently do all it needs to, normalise and strengthen bilateral relations with all Malawi’s neighbours and other bilateral and multilateral strategic partners.

“This should include expediently dealing with all reported diplomatic spats once and for all so that we focus all our energies on the good economics touching the core of citizens’ livelihoods.” —Additional reporting by George Singini