The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has strongly condemned the acts of violence that have engulfed the country, signalling a destabilizing factor in the forthcoming Malawi electoral equation.
According to the statement signed by PAC chairperson Msgr Patrick Thawale, with the recent development, there is overwhelming evidence that this spate of violence will reach alarming and unprecedented levels in the 2025 electoral process.
” If it is true that the DPP flags were being uprooted and replaced with the MCP ones, such an act must be condemned in strongest terms. It is a pedestrian approach to political practices in a democratic dispensation. Mutual respect between the opposition and the ruling parties ought to be exercised at all times in pursuit of Malawi’s politics. The examples cited above are all strongly condemned,” he explained.
Thawale continued to say that, such cowardly attacks on property should not have space in a democratic Malawi.
“The pattern of violence so far observed in past few years may culminate into a vicious circle that will be impossible to tame in the shortest period,” he added.
He then urged Political parties to avoid the no-go zone approach as far as freedom of assembly is concerned.
PAC is urging all political players to restrain themselves from retaliation to allow the enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.
“In this regard, the enforcement agencies should be swift to deal with these developments to avoid pilling up uncompleted investigations and prosecutions,” Thawale explained.
PAC has also condemned the violent acts at Lilongwe City Mall this year, where Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members gathered for a blue parade, during by-elections in the recent past, sad scenes of violence were witnessed and also the Blantyre incident where the President’s motorcade was stopped, and in the recent Chikwawa Presidential tour.
