Forum for in aid of the disadvantaged

Underprivileged groups in the country have for a long time suffered infringement of their freedoms. But thanks to the establishment of the Forum for Peace and Justice (FPJ), a religious grouping aimed at helping human rights victims access justice quicker. James Chimpweya caught up with the executive director of the group Sheikh Ali Makalani who is also Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) Mangochi secretary.

Underprivileged groups in the country have for a long time suffered infringement of their freedoms. But thanks to the establishment of the Forum for Peace and Justice (FPJ), a religious grouping aimed at helping human rights victims access justice quicker. James Chimpweya caught up with the executive director of the group Sheikh Ali Makalani who is also Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) Mangochi secretary.

Tell me about the forum.

Forum for Peace and Justice is a charitable organisation that aims to ensure that people living in Malawi have information and advice about their social, economic, political rights and access to justice. We particularly focus on helping poor and vulnerable groups such as women, people with disabilities, those living with HIV and Aids. It also welcomes applications from all people regardless of gender, race, age or disability. It offers free, confidential, impartial and independent information and advice.

When was it established and what have you done so far?

This was established last year and our area of operation is Mangochi and beyond. We, among other things, have engaged in dialogue with Muslim women who have been dancing at political rallies to try and resolve the squabbles that arose with their faithful in protest of the dancing to map the way forward. You know this has been a hot issue among Muslims, but things have cooled down now. Apart from this problem we have also managed to bring sanity on land dispute issues in the district. We are sensitising communities on one of the hottest issues rocking the district; domestic violence.

What are your core values?

We practice patriotism, transparency, accountability, collectivism and pro-activeness commitment. We also accept and process applications in a free, confidential, impartial and independent manner.

What are your aims and objectives?

We aim to promote human rights with the context and spirit of human rights, assisting needy Malawians to obtain justice, offer legal assistance in court cases or in prisons. We also promote social justice among Malawians by establishing legal resource centres in rural areas where we conduct civic education, trainings and sponsor paralegal trainings to Malawians to assist communities understand legal issues. The forum also promotes reconciliation and mediation among aggrieved parties in society. We also bring together various sectors of the society to achieve peaceful settlement of differences.

Some groups are used politically. How different are you?

First of all we are non partisan and that is why we engaged the parties that had been using Muslim women dancing at their rallies. If we had political connections, it could have been difficult to diffuse that tension. In our constitution, there is nothing aligning ourselves to any political party. We can advise the government of the day, but not dancing to its tune.