Midnight 6: APM faulted on arrest commemoration

Political and socio-economic commentators yesterday condemned as insensitive and a waste of State resources the commemoration of the second anniversary of Malawi President Peter Mutharika’s arrest on treason charges in March 2013.

Mutharika, who was arrested in 2013 alongside several other former Cabinet ministers for his role in an alleged attempt to usurp power from former vice-president Joyce Banda following the death of president Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012,  joined Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cadres and youths commemorating the day in Lilongwe.

Among other things, Mutharika and other Cabinet ministers who were arrested by the Banda administration, but whose cases were dropped by the public prosecutor  following DPP’s election victory in May last year, visited Lumbadzi Police Station and Maula Prison, which once housed the group during detention.

A State House press statement prior to the commemoration said the President’s involvement in the commemoration activities was aimed at underlining his philosophy and the commitment of his administration that no one in Malawi will be arrested on political grounds.

However, in various interviews, experts condemned the move yesterday.

A political commentator at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Dr Boniface Dulani, described the commemoration as political hero-worshipping that stretches and distorts petty issues to a national scale.

Dulani said: “The commemoration is proof that, in Malawi, we are very good at valuing mediocrity. It is a slap in the face of real political heroes who gave up their lives for our freedom in Malawi.”

He expressed sadness that DPP zealots managed to convince Mutharika to be at the centre of the questionable but elaborate commemoration events during which government resources were wasted.

He added: “Well-read as the President is, he should have told off the officials who proposed that the purely-party celebrations take place in such an amplified manner.”

Dulani cautioned that narrow-minded hero-worshippers must not be given room to peddle their goal of creating dictators, even from democratic-minded leaders.

But Justice Link executive director and human rights activist Justin Dzonzi told Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) that the event was significant to DPP because it was an expression of freedom of expression within the party, according to a monitored radio interview.

Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI) executive director Rafiq Hajat described the commemoration as unfortunate because the use of government resources during the event showed that there is a thin line dividing the government and governing party.

“It is very disappointing and inconsistent for the President, who is a professor of law and who can interpret the Malawi Constitution much better than most of us, to have been part of the elaborate celebrations,” Hajat said, adding that government resources were used for a party event.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Timothy Mtambo said he was saddened by what he called a loss of direction by national leaders who are persuaded to be hero-worshipped and, thereby, lose their democratic mettle.

On his part, People’s Party (PP) spokesperson Ken Msonda charged that the commemoration was partly staged to try and twist history.

“The President was not arrested as a freedom fighter, but on serious treason charges,” he said.

Malawi Law Society (MLS) secretary Khumbo Soko said as a matter of law, any case can be resurrected, especially where evidence could have been discontinued without conviction.