Human rights advocate Gift Trapence has come under fire from opposition parties and several quarters for being insincere and hypocritical in attacking the Tonse administration on the final day of the year when, in the background, he is benefitting financially through multi-billion-kwacha contracts.
Trapence who is national chairperson of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) is signatory to a statement issued by the organisation in which it is taking stock of how the Tonse government has fared in 2023 across a number of social and economic issues.
Instead of courting excitement among those who persistently speak ill of the Chakwera-led administration, the statement has mobilized anti-Trapence thoughts with several Malawians accusing him of trying to remain relevant at a time no one needs to hear from him.
We can reveal that, just weeks ago, a company Trapence owns got paid a whopping K6 billion by government for the Malawi Rural Electrification Project (MAREP) Phase 9. It is one of the projects that is benefiting several Malawi be connected to electricity yet Trapence barely addresses that because his company benefits from MAREP.
This development is what has irked the opposition who view the HRDC chairperson as a double-faced activist who wants to gain from both worlds of the country’s political landscape.
“He has been eating billions by the same government he is attacking. I find his posture very wanting. He must choose one thing either to dine with his paymasters or otherwise. We can’t be clapping for him now when we know he is not sincere at heart. That is total hypocrisy,” said a senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official in a phone interview.
Another senior politician from the United Democratic Front (UDF) blamed Trapence for lacking political manners.
“Every Malawian knows that he together with his fellows fought hard to get Tonse Alliance into power. And we also know that he is getting huge rewards as a token of appreciation. My advice to him is to shut up and eat in peace. No one expects him to sound wiser by biting the hand that is feeding him,” said the UDF politician.
Besides the voices from political parties, word on the street is also not so favourable to Trapence. Malawians do not believe what they term as a poorly crafted statement that lacks facts.
“The way he is mixing up issues is not convincing at all. He is fear mongering by painting a bleak picture for 2024 when Malawians now see a ray of hope following the attainment of the extended credit facility from International Monetary Fund,” said Rosemary Kachikho, a resident of Manja Township.
The IMF’s nod has brought with it a host of other financial packages amounting to over $900 billion from World Bank, Iceland, Norway, Israel and Japan among other international partners.
Trapence or any official from HRDC were not available for comment as we went to press.
Ministry of Energy officials did also not want to speak on whether Trapence has indeed been paid the K6 billion as mentioned for the MAREP 9 project.
