HRDC speaks on governance, told to open dialogue
Political analysts have asked Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) to appreciate the difference between political institutions and government and urged the group to
open dialogue with relevant parties for clarity.
The commentators were reacting to HRDC’s statement issued yesterday questioning who is in charge at Capital Hill between the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) of President Lazarus Chakwera and the nine-political party Tonse Alliance which campaigned for the court-sanctioned June 23 2020 Fresh Presidential Election.
In the statement, HRDC chairperson Gift Trapence and coordinator Luke Tembo also claim that the silence between the President and Vice-President Saulos Chilima, who is also UTM Party leader, was suspicious;
hence, its demand for the alliance partners to give Malawians a clear position.
“This silence is making HRDC and Malawians wonder whether the Tonse Alliance is still intact or it is now only MCP that is governing,” reads the statement.
But in an interview yesterday, University of Malawi Chancellor College political analyst Mustafa Hussein said HRDC should consider the differences between political institutions and a government.
He said in terms of government, there is the President, Vice-President and Cabinet in place as well as other arms, notably the Judiciary and the Legislature.
Hussein said: “It is not surprising that MCP is dominating. But perhaps what HRDC should be saying is that the relationship between parties is not clear.”
He said there were indications that key partners in the Tonse Alliance, MCP and UTM Party, do not have a cordial relationship after they featured rival candidates in the Karonga Central by-election last year when the two parties are forming one government.
On his part, political commentator Humphreys Mvula wondered why HRDC did not choose to engage MCP and UTM in a dialogue to find out why they are silent.
“But they should have chosen to mediate before bringing the issue in public,” he said.
In the statement, Trapence also asked the President to act on the K6.2 billion Covid-19 response funds.
HRDC, which led a series of demonstrations between June 2019 and February 2020 ,protesting the May 21 2019 Presidential Election results, has recently been faulting the Tonse Alliance administration.
In December, the grouping gave government a mixed rating and urged it to implement election campaign promises that made Malawians usher them into office.
Ironically, Chakwera and Chilima, then petitioners in the presidential election case which saw the Constitutional Court nullifying the 2019 election and ordering a fresh election within 150 days, took part in some of the street protests which at times turned ugly.
