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‘Bingu must blame himself for mass protests’ – PAC
by Nyasa Times
The bad economic and political situation that faces the country affect both common Malawians and politicians alike, therefore president Bingu wa Mutharika and his government must not construe the Wednesday’s mass protest as politically motivated as it is people-driven because the citizenry is disgruntled with the current heavy-handed administration, he Public Affairs Committee (PAC) have said.
“The current regime has to blame itself for failure to listen to the alternative views of the people. While Malawians entrusted the regime with power to govern, they have the right to withdraw if the trust is being abused. This could be in the form of asking the leadership to resign or to call for an early general election,” reads in part the statement signed by Pac’s chairperson Reverend Mac Donald Kadawati made available to Nyasa Times.
Kadawati; Bingu to blame
Kadawati calls upon all Malawians to implement a peaceful demonstration on Wednesday, 20th July, 2011.
“It would be contradictory for PAC to condemn a mass demonstration given that within its mandate the organization is expected to uphold and promote human rights, and a peaceful demonstration is a matter of people’s right.”
But Pac says would like to express its views on the forthcoming national protest.
“As most Malawians remain enthusiastic to implement a national demonstration, we would like to observe that the widely debated national demonstration is a collective effort by various institutions who believe in good governance and wish to see a reverse in dictatorial trends that have gained currency in the present regime ,” reads the statement.
Kadawati further says that various stakeholders have raised concern over the deteriorating developments in our political terrain.
He says: “Several attempts to engage the higher authorities have failed to produce tangible results. Constructive criticisms from the public have faced arrogance and personality attacks without focusing on real issues. This is contrary to the people’s expectation if one looks back when Malawians were fighting for democracy and rule of law,”
The statement stresses that while Malawians have been described as timid , Pac believes that their patience is slowly thinning out as they continue to witness a deliberate disregard to the calls to the regime to uphold the rule of law in this country.
“A part from negative political developments faced by this country , various forms of taxes on basic commodities which are a source of living for common Malawians contradict the very notion of tackling poverty ,” further reads the statement.
PAC says it believes that an economy that takes away from the poor to sustain the few rich is a bad economy no matter how GDP may improve.
“It is being observed that the government continue to interpret the much debated demonstration as being championed by the opposition parties.
As a key institution in governance , PAC says: “Our view is that the present regime continue to lose trust from the public and the trust is no longer sustainable as required by our Republican Constitution.”
“Should people indeed demonstrate, the blame should not shift to other stakeholders, for the regime itself has failed to maintain a sustained trust,” notes Kadawati.
PAC is also calling upon the Malawi Police to provide security to all civilians during the demonstrations irrespective of their affiliation.
“We also ask the Army to be vigilant; because as a people’s army, the Malawi Defence Force have a unique role to protect every Malawian citizen irrespective of their political affiliation, social standing or status in society.”
Malawians are geared to take up to the streets on Wednesday, July 20th to put up a mass protest against President Mutharika’s regime against poor governance, bad economic policies and gross human rights abuses among many others.–(Reporting by Peter Makossah, Nyasa Times)
