President Peter Mutharika has appealed to organizers of the post-election demonstrations to stop, saying the protests have dented the picture of the country and scared away investors.
Mutharika has since warned Human Rights Defenders Coalition leaders Timothy Mtambo, Gift Trapence and also Reverend MacDonald Sembereka and opposition Malawi Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera and United Transformation Movement leader Saulos Chilima to put the interests of the country above their “selfish” political gains.
HRDC has been leading in the organization of the demonstrations. Chakwera and Chilima have been participating in some of the demonstrations.
They were not available for comment. But Mtambo is on record having said that the demonstrations would continue until Ansah resigns.
Speaking Thursday at a news conference with Malawi media at the United Nations General Assembly, Mutharika said some investors were scared of coming to invest in Malawi because of the current situation which is characterized by violent demonstrations.
“I should appeal to those people who are engaged in this kind of nonsense that is going on in Malawi to stop. If they think that they are destroying Malawi and are hurting me by doing demonstrations, they are making a mistake. They are hurting their own country country,” said Mutharika.
He added: “Malawi has got a very negative perception globally about peace in Malawi and whether investors would want to come to a country where people are destroying their own country through meaningless and useless demonstrations. So this is my message to all those people Mtambo, Gift Trapence, Sembereka, Chakwera and Chilima to stop.”
Mutharika said that the image the four have created globally is “the most negative since Malawi was created and one of the most negative in Africa at the moment.”
“We are really at the bottom because of the destruction that they are doing in Malawi. I think it is very important that they should stop this nonsense and think for once about Malawi and not their own selfish political ends,” said Mutharika.
Mutharika further said: “I want them to hear this that what they are doing is not in the interest of the country and that it should stop.”
Commenting on this year’s UNGA, Mutharika said the session was successful and that Malawi would benefit from the participation as some investors showed interest to come.
One of the investors is New York business tycoon Thomas Barry, President and Chief Executive Officer for Zephyr Management who has shown interest to invest in community technical colleges.
The country has witnessed demonstrations after the May 21 tripartite elections organized by Human Rights Defenders Coalition and the opposition disputing the presidential results. The organizers have been asking for the resignation of Malawi Electoral Commission Chairperson Justice Jane Ansah claiming that she mismanaged the elections.
The opposition brought the matter to court and the case is still ingoing.
Mutharika, who arrived in New York on September 19, 2019 to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, left the US on Friday September 27, 2019 for Malawi.
He is expected in Malawi this Saturday afternoon.
By Deogratias Mmana, Malawi News Agency, New York, USA
All what you can say is about demos not the way elections were riggid,shame on you tippex president.