the fesmedia Africa blog
Tuesday 10 of May 2011
Malawi: Exercising sovereignty; President Mutharika style! by Janet Otieno
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika finally did what ‘sovereign’ nations are on record for doing to ‘rogue’ ambassadors. He declared British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet persona non grata and asked him to leave the country immediately. And Mr Cochrane-Dyet’s offence was; a leaked cable to his bosses, which allegedly claimed the good Malawian leader was a combative president who was increasingly becoming autocratic and intolerant of criticism!
So is Mutharika becoming autocratic?
He is on record for calling upon his supporters to beat up his critics and some of who went into hiding after receiving alleged death threats. In February, Malawi’s Inspector-General of Police Peter Mukhito summoned associate Professor of Political Science Blessings Chisinga, over an example he gave in class. Dr Chinsinga had allegedly said crises like Malawi’s current fuel and forex shortages could lead to uprisings like those that toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt.
Lecturers reacted to the police summons by abandoning classes, demanding an apology and assurances of academic freedom from the police boss and the stalemate was still on, affecting learning. They were accusing President Mutharika’s administration of denying them the academic freedom by planting spies in classrooms.
Rights abuses
Apart from some countries like Germany and US cutting aid to Malawi over human rights abuses and lack of observation of rule of law, other donors have constantly warned the southern African nation over the same. All these calls to avoid autocratic tendencies have been ignored, thanks to ‘we are a sovereign state’ rhetoric.
Malawi Parliament amended Section 46 of the Penal Code to allow minister of Information to ban any publication that he deemed not in the public interest. And such publications are those that paint the leader negatively.
President Mutharika, a former AU chairperson, does not stop there. In March this year; he stunned Malawians when he set a price ranging from $13,000 to $30,000 for those who wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration in the country.
Malawians are currently battling with a legion of issues like fuel scarcity, unreliable electricity and water supply, delayed salaries for government workers, lack of forex and poor tobacco prices. Their attempts to demonstrate over these matters have been met by resurgent opposition from the government which uses the police to scare them off the streets and throws some resilient ones in the coolers.
Fiscal aid policy
I hope Mutharika is reading the retaliatory reaction by the UK of sending away Malawian envoy Hetherwick Ntaba keenly. Of course, some of his compatriots are pleading for leniency, but it is a bit too late.
For a long time, Britain has been Malawi’s answer to its perennial budget deficit- it is the largest donor to the country.
Perhaps, Mutharika will run to his new-found rich friend – Hu Jintao when in need. Talk of throwing an old rug while one is still window-shopping for a new carpet.
Malawians are watching to see whether changing donors like pieces of undergarments would be a manageable fiscal aid policy. Financial analysts, however, have pointed out that trading the West for the East cannot work for the southern African landlocked nation.
So you see, it is up to one to judge whether the UK’s envoy was right in his leaked cable that Mr Mutharika was increasingly becoming autocratic and whether the move to send him packing was a necessary step for Malawi.
-May 2, 2011 by Janet Otieno
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Source: www.africareview.com/Blogs/Exercising +sovereignty++the+Mutharika+style/-/979192/1154818/-/view/asBlogPost/-/uu3rui/-/index.html (accessed on 10.05.11)
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
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