In their campaign before the June 23 2020 court-sanctioned fresh presidential elections, President Lazarus Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance pledged to clear the rubble if voted into power. Clearing the rubble entailed a paradigm shift. And what that meant was breaking with the past on issues other leaders had spectacularly failed to curb. They include political violence, corruption, hunger, fuel crises and forex challenges, to name but a few.
But in this article I dwell on political violence which has taken centre-stage and rearing its ugly face in unprecedented levels. Specifically, I argue that although political violence has not spared any administration, with the worst experienced during the Bingu wa Mutharika administration when 21 protestors were killed in cold blood by trigger-happy police officers, in his 2019 and 2020 campaign, Chakwera covenanted with Malawians to put an end to all that if voted into power. He was therefore elected on trust that he would fulfill his promises.
The Young Democrats was the youth wing of the United Democratic Front (UDF) notorious for unleashing violence on political opponents, human rights activists and media practitioners. Among their many hideous acts, in 2004, they set ablaze Mary Clara Makungwa’s vehicle. Makungwa was vice-president of the National Democratic Alliance. They also heavily assaulted Kizito Ngwembe, a member of Parliament for the then opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP). UDF and the police denied claims either of their involvement or complicity in the terror. No one was arrested.
Enter Bingu wa Mutharika in 2004—2011. Bingu had given the police powers to ‘shoot to kill’. And so on July 20 2011, police shot dead 21 protestors during demonstrations over worsening fuel shortages, rising prices of commodities and unemployment. Eighteen of these were slain in Mzuzu while others were shot in Lilongwe and Blantyre.
Joyce Banda 2012—2014. During this period, one incident of political violence is recorded at Goliyati in Thyolo. A police officer was axed to death and a protestor was shot dead in clashes with stone-throwing opposition activists after police fired teargas to disperse a hostile crowd. The violence erupted shortly after an election rally let by JB. The president vehemently condemned the acts of violence which she described as politically motivated.
Peter Mutharika 2014—2020. In 2016, thugs swamped MCP president Lazarus Chakwera’s rally at Chibavi Ground in Mzuzu forcing him to sprint for his dear life. On January 16, 2019 Bon Kalindo, a member of Parliament was violently assaulted allegedly by members of the DPP youth wing—the Cadets—at the DC’s office in Mulanje. Four days later an MCP supporter Edward Govati was savagely attacked in Blantyre, also reportedly by DPP cadets. The same day, two UTM supporters were assaulted while on their way to a rally in Mangochi. A vehicle belonging to a UTM official Agness NyaLonje was set ablaze at a lodge she stayed for the night before the rally. On May 29, 2020 thugs believed to be DPP cadets attacked UTM president and State vice president Saulos Chilima’s convoy. In the same month, human rights activist Billy Mayaya was beaten to pulp by suspected DPP cadets in Blantyre. While Mutharika condemned the acts of violence, DPP spokesperson Nicholous Dausi distanced DPP from attacks. No one was arrested.
MCP 2020—2024. In March 2024, thugs believed to be sponsored by MCP wreaked havoc and damaged DPP vehicles as the party was preparing for a Blue parade near Mbowe Filling Station in Lilongwe. MCP denied involvement in the fracas while the police only promised to investigate the incident. In May, people also believed to be MCP thugs attacked Aford officials who were preparing to hold a rally in Mponela Trading Centre. On November 13 and 25 2024, hoodlums brandishing pangas and other items foiled opposition demonstrators at the Lilongwe Community Ground in full view of police officers.
All the above acts were in one way or another sponsored. At the very least, if the party in government denied involvement, the police were supposed to arrest the perpetrators. This never happened. Failure by the police to ruthlessly deal with political violence has bred a spiral of violence. Granted DPP lacks the moral high ground to cry wolf on political violence because the party has committed some of the worst such crimes.
But during campaign for the presidency, Chakwera promised Malawians to break with such a dark past. This was one of the many issues on which Malawians elected him to lead the country. He just has to do so.
