Malawi’s democracy under threat from internal turmoil – Govt

Government says the country’s democracy is under threat from people who seek to gain from chaos, internal turmoil and conflict.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Bright Mask made the remarks Thursday when he launched the Justice and Accountability Survey Report.

He said Malawi’s democracy, at 25 years, is still nascent, and therefore, still fragile.

“It remains under threat from those that find constitutional democracy to be an impediment to the attainment of evil schemes. It remains under threat from those who prefer to take the law into their own hands,” Msaka said.

He then advised people in the country to remain vigilant and resolute in defending democracy from the threats.

“We must never allow the gains thus far achieved to be eroded in any manner whatsoever: whether covert or overt. Our constitutional democracy is the one thing we must defend with all that we have,” he said.

The minister added that President Peter Mutharika believes that any deviation from the constitutional framework is the surest way to national anarchy and that is why the Malawi leader supports the operation and functioning of independent governance institutions such as the judiciary, the National Assembly and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

He noted that there are also civil society organisations championing various causes ranging from democracy, governance to human rights.

“Government has thus created and provided platforms for both state and non-state actors to participate freely in governance processes in Malawi. It is envisaged that the robustness of these pillars of democracy, and the totality of their efforts, will go towards consolidating our democracy and ensuring that Malawi remains firmly and irreversibly on the road of democracy,” Msaka said.

The Survey Report on Justice and Democratic Accountability shows that Malawi has scored significantly well in the key democracy indicator areas of human rights; rule of law; formal and informal justice; judicial processes; public participation; elections; public safety and internal security; integrity and accountability; and capacity of democratic governance institutions.

During the survey which was conducted with the financial and technical support from the European Union, 4803 people were interviewed across the country.

Government hopes the finding will be used when implementing different programmes.