NGO resurrects federalism calls

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Binna Shawa

The Forum for the Advancement of Federalism and Rural Development (FAFRD) has resurrected calls for Malawi to adopt federalism.

The renewed calls comes months after the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) weakened the federalists with a report which claimed that about 60 percent of Malawians are not interested in their move.

Speaking in an interview with Malawi24, president for the forum Binna Shawa maintained that they were never shaken with a “cooked” report published by PAC because what they know is that most Malawians are tired of the corrupt unitary government and they are now opting for federalism.

Shawa said PAC is “full of hypocrites who are not standing for poor Malawians but their own berries” thus their forum will advocate for federalism until it is adopted in the country.

Binna Shawa
Shawa; We will push on.

“We believe that the truth will be told through a convention on the issue and not PAC report. Malawians are likely tired with this corrupt system and they want to try something new thus we are very ready to push for this thing till it’s adopted,” said Shawa.

However, this publication’s findings show that people in the rural areas are not aware of the issue because of lack of information.

In random interviews our reporter conducted across some remote areas in the northern region, many people said they do not know about the issue and needed more information.

Commenting on the observation, Shawa revealed that they have already put in place some measures which will allow them to conduct awareness campaigns across Malawi so that those who are not well-informed on the matter must know.

“We understand but we have already planned of conducting some awareness campaigns on the matter which will likely begin soon. This is not Shawa’s move but something which will benefit most Malawians thus we cannot get fed up in advocating it,” he added.

When asked to clarify claims that the forum is being sponsored by former ruling People’s Party, Shawa distanced his team from any political party saying that they raise funds within their forum and through some well-wishers.

He however emphasized that any political party which has realized the benefit of their move is free to contribute with anything.

“We are not working or influenced by any political party with. The money we use is from our contributions and nothing else. That is only political propaganda,” he said.

The calls for federalism emerged after people from the northern part of Malawi realized that government is not sharing the national cake equally as most of the development activities are reported to be happening in other regions.