(MISA/IFEX) – On 20 June 2002, police in Malawi’s largest city Blantyre stopped a series of public debates organised by the Lilongwe Press Club to discuss the proposed amendment to the Malawi Constitution regarding the limits on the president’s term in office. The debates were supposed to be held in the three regional centres of […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 20 June 2002, police in Malawi’s largest city Blantyre stopped a series of public debates organised by the Lilongwe Press Club to discuss the proposed amendment to the Malawi Constitution regarding the limits on the president’s term in office.
The debates were supposed to be held in the three regional centres of Blantyre (South – 20 June), Lilongwe (Central – 21 June) and Mzuzu (North – 23 June) under the theme: “The merits and demerits of changing Section 83(3) of the Malawi Constitution”.
Lilongwe Press Club publicist Don Kulapani said in an interview with MISA’s Malawi chapter (Namisa) that 30 heavily armed paramilitary police accompanied by armoured vehicles sealed the Blantyre venue, barely an hour before the debate, and turned away anyone who went to the venue.
Kulapani stated that Club Secretary General Peter Kumwenda was called to the Lilongwe Hotel Manager’s office, where he encountered two policewomen. Kulapani said the policewomen told Kumwenda that the Lilongwe debate had been cancelled because it was a “threat to security” and that the issue would be discussed in Parliament and not at public debates.
Kulapani said that when the two sides failed to agree, the policewomen took Kumwenda to their regional office where he met police commissioner Lot Dzonzi and a Central Region commissioner. According to Kulapani, the two police officers recited the reasons given earlier by the policewomen.
On 21 June, a contingent of ten heavily armed paramilitary police, stood sentry at the gates of the hotel to enforce the ban. Just one day before the Mzuzu debate, Northern Region Police Commissioner Milward Chikwamba called Kulapani to tell him about a ban on the debate. Kulapani said Chikwamba accused the club of being used by donors to destabilise Malawi. The debates were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
BACKGROUND:
On 28 May, Malawi President Bakili Muluzi ordered the army and the police to deal with anyone involved in organising or participating in any demonstrations for or against the constitutional amendment.
A week later, the High Court in Blantyre granted an injunction to religious groups, civil society and concerned citizens against the presidential ban. However, at a press conference, President Muluzi dismissed the injunction as “irresponsible and highly insensitive.”
The court has since reversed its decision, following an application by the attorney general and minister of justice. The ban still stands.