Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members at University of Malawi (UNIMA) have accused President Lazarus Chakwera of taking Malawi back to the archaic days of dictatorship.
The DPP wing has said this in a statement signed by Cobbener Sungani who is UNIMA DPP wing president.
Sungani said the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Government intends to ruin the fruits of democracy that Malawians determinedly fought for.
Sungani noted that the MCP Government has amended the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Act, amendments which he said are aimed at prohibiting underpaid civil servants from voicing their concerns.
“It is a guarantee of our Constitution for employees to withdraw labour where their right to fair labour practices is threatened. The spirit of unionism and the right to fair labour practices in particular the right to strike is a tool which protects the vulnerable employees from likely oppression and abuse by the employers who control the means of production. It is a scary thought to imagine the catastrophic results such a law would have had on our teachers when they fought for risk allowances,” said Sungani.
The UNIMA DPP wing leader also bashed the Chakwera administration for appointing two Judges as diplomats.
According to Sungani, the MCP’s actions are interfering with judicial independence hence contradicts the very essence of the rule of law.
“It is quite clear that the primitive style of leadership that the MCP administration tries to employ is taking us nowhere other than to the archaic days of dictatorship using their repressive state apparatus.
“We are of the view that the tactics of the Chakwera administration are not accidental or otherwise mere errors in judgment. They are calculated and deliberate attempts to undermine the spirit of the Constitution and the democracy the Constitution embodies and to turn Malawi into a pseudo-democratic state,” said Sungani.
The UNIMA DPP Wing leader has since urged Malawians to join hands in reminding the government that nobody is above the law and that Malawian laws should not, at all cost, be used as a punitive tool to oppress the citizenry.
