APM calls for honest federation debate
Malawi President Peter Mutharika has called for “honest and lawful debate” on whether the country should adopt a federal system of government.
Commenting for the first time on the matter at a press briefing yesterday in Blantyre, Mutharika declined to give his views, saying doing so would stifle the debate.
He said: “I will not give my views at the moment. This is not a new issue. During the 2006 constitutional review conference, it came up and I presented a paper where I discussed the issue in detail.
“If you are looking for my views, check with the Law Commission, they have that paper.”
He said this in response to a question during a press briefing at Sanjika Palace on his recent trip to the United States of America where he attended the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which he described as successful.
“It is a legitimate thing that people must be free to debate issues as long as they are doing it honestly and within the confines of the law,” he said.
During the briefing, Mutharika hinted that the next director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), after Supreme Court judge Rezine Mzikamanda, will be someone with a finance background.
“With the kind of job that the ACB does of tracing criminal syndicates to do with stolen money, it is necessary to find someone with expertise in finance,” he said.
Mutharika returned home on Wednesday last week.
It is important to take note that government mishandled the process. The first response from government was to label calls for federalism are regionalist and based on bad faith. And to deal with these ‘regionalistic’ calls for federation government sent Vuwa Kaunda to bribe the chiefs of the north… Mr President, I think its your government that has to be watched closely on how you manage the process going forward. Now we need a time line. For how long are we debating, how will we debate and finally we will also need know the exact dates of the referendum.
This federalism debate will punish the proponents at the end of the day. Remember what Kamuzu told Aleka the prison you are proposing to punish political opponents you will end up being one of the first inhabitants. It came to pass. This is my prophecy. Northerners be careful on what you are doing.
Bravo, HE APM for this. Some pple thought they would use this issue to fight govt, its like getting yourself ready to fight someone, and only to be warmly welcome, and you get confused.