Mathews Malata
22 July 2011
Malawi leader Bingu Wa Mutharika has called out to civil society and opposition political party leaders to join forces and discuss ways of ending the economic and governance challenges the country is facing.
The president’s call comes a day after thousands of Malawians took to the streets to demonstrate against Mutharika’s government “retrogressive policies”.
“I ask all opposition and civil society leaders to come forward and propose solutions that will address your concerns than going to the streets and damage people’s property” said Mutharika in a special national monitored on state TV.
Meanwhile, human rights activist, Billy Banda who was so influential in the July 20 demonstration has challenged the president to initiate a meaningful dialogue:”The president has a key to meaningful dialogue. We hope he will respond to our concerns presented to government officials by 17th August”, aaid Banda.
In his address, the president expressed his disappointment that protest organisers had chosen not to participate and listen to the lecture he organised to map the way forward.”I invited them all to come up with suggestions but they chose to proceed with the demonstrations, do we have fuel and foreign exchange after the demonstrations? I don’t think so” reasoned Mutharika.
‘I ran for my dear life’
Despite the fact that the demonstrations were meant just for one day, on Thursday many people still went on rampage burning tyres, shops stealing property, blocking strategic roads among others.
Business remained at halt in the country’s three cities except Zomba which is in the eastern part of the country.
“I just saw a man throwing a burning tyre in the streets and commotion began, then I had to run for my dear life” said a bus conductor in Blantyre city.
“This is costing us heavily, my business is too small and I eat based on the proceeds for the day, but now I can’t go to town to do business because I hear police are forcing people to temporally close the shops,” said another woman found at his house in Machinjiri- one of the suburbs close to Blantyre city.
Reports show that a lot of property was also damaged in Mzuzu ad Lilongwe city. However as of Thursday evening the police had managed to bring the situation to order.
Loss of Lives
Meanwhile, it is thought that eighteen people have lost their lives during the demonstrations and over 200 people have been arrested across the cities for looting and rioting. The police have also warned people against rioting as this may lead to further loss of lives and property damage.
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