Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continues bringing confusion in the country.
No wonder recently a renowned political commentator Raymond Likambale discribed DPP as a failed party and that come 2025, the party will not amase votes unless the party stop its wars internally.
Barely days after DPP had caused troubles at the Accountant General office to force Government pay the graduity for Thandi Hendrina Chinyama’s father, the same law makers had vigils in Zomba where people there led by Grace Kwerepeta wanted Government to distribute relief maize to their area and not Thondwe.
Grace Kwerepeta blocking the track from the packing area.
In the first place, Kwerepeta has no such right to block the vehicle because her constituency already got its share of maize.
This type of mafia behavior is not allowed and Grace Kwerepeta is not above the law.
The issue regarding the relief maize is in the hands of the Department of disaster (Dodma).
Last year the DPP law makers camped at the SFFRM offices in Thyolo where they intimidated Government officials for no reasons at all demanding Agricultural Input Program fertilizer.
On 4 January, 2024, a 23 year young lady held vigils at Capital Hill demanding the pension of her late father.
On the same night following the reports , Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba visited the girl at the Accountant General’s office assuring her that Government will sort out her father’s gratuity.
However, despite the assurances Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) law makers decided to politicise the whole thing.
DPP director of women Mary Navicha and Levi Luwemba, went allover intimidating the Government to force the Government to release the finances. Let Navicha and his friends know that Government is a system. Everything operates systematically.
DPP’s Navitcha and other joining the sit in protest
Even when DPP was in power people had to wait to receive their benefits. Government owes pensioners billion of money because the basket is just too small to pay out every one at once.
DPP should know that the same basket has to buy drugs for our Hospitals, pay our security agencies Malawi Police and Army.
Government has paid Hendrina not because of pressure from DPP but these benefits were already finalised.
OPC spokesperson Robert Kalindiza in an interview said he met the family members at the accountant general’s office, where it was established that she came at a time the benefits were already due for payment.
He said the payment of these benefits does ot mean succumbing to pressure, but that President Lazarus Chakwera is also concerned with the delays, as this is supposed to be paid within a year in normal circumstances.
I was touched to the bones when I watched a short video clip in which Reverend Dr Kanyenda gave a moving sermon. He preached against the spirit of doing things slowly in public offices especially towards remuneration of death gratuity to family members. The pastor lamented that women from distant places were ignored on death benefit claims of their decreased bread winners which was inflicting a lot of pain.
Malawi is still living in the past when you look at the way some people conduct themselves especially in public offices and you even wonder as to what reforms this country is making and implementing. Even the song about Malawi 2063 is another wasted composition
The Main Challenge
It is saddening News to learn that A 23-year-old woman from Mwanza, Hendrina Kamenya, is holding a vigil at the Accountant General’s office in Lilongwe in a bid to force authorities to give them death benefits pay, following the death of her father, who was a prison officer. What has the accountant general been doing for all these three years honestly? I mean this is another kind of torture perhaps more than any other physical torture one would go through.
It is very disappointing that Hendrina says the delay has negatively affected her, as she was withdrawn from the Malawi University of Business and Applied Science (MUBAS) and is likely to lose another place at DMI University due to a lack of tuition fees. I would even recommend that responsible officers in the delay of death gratuity should be fired from their job because obviously no university would wait for tuition fees for three years. You can see, whoever is responsible for this action is actually killing the future of the young lady who would have contributed to the development of this country one year from now but she has been kept at the same point for three years now.
She says, alongside her firstborn brother Dismas, they have, for the past three years, exhausted all means and resources moving up and down offices, only to be given false hopes. This is the most frustrating experience to go through and perhaps the question would be why do people work in government? Families to be tortured line this? This is embarrassing to government as a whole as well.
Hendrina Kamenya with other citizens who came to give her support
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Thandi must be joined in her solo protest against human rights abuse because I would call this serious abuse of human rights. The right to education has been denied and delayed as well. There’s psychological torture to the family as they go through these hard times without any income to support themselves in basic needs. Their lives are equally in danger and government is responsible for this human rights abuse.
Sadly, the latest developing story on Thandi is that as several stakeholders are engaging on the possibility of holding peaceful demonstrations at Capital Hill to force Government pay all outstanding gratuity, it has emerged that a courageous Thandi, who has ignited the sleeping anger following her decision to hold a vigil at Accountant General’s office has been whisked away by unknown people.
Hon Navicha who went to Capital Hill to join Thandi in a night vigil was shocked when she was told by Security Personnel at Capital Hill that some unknown people came and drove Thandi away.
Malawi has gone back to the old dark days of intimidation, kidnapping and killing innocent people for expressing themselves in what is not right. That’s why even if this is not a political issue it is political in the sense that politicians who are in power have a hand into all this dirty work. That is why Malawians must be reminded to take this government to task.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has issued a strongly worded statement accusing the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) of being hypocrites and practicing selective activism . The Party has asked HRDc to stay away from the DPP advising it to rediscover itself and begin to hold President Chakwera accountable for untold misery on Malawians who voted them into power.
The DPP has claimed that the HRDC has no single iota of credibility because the organization has proven to be an extension of Tonse Alliance and any statement coming from it is only a smokescreen to blindfold Malawians that they still exist, when in true sense, it is dead and buried.
The party has encouraged Malawians to question HRDC’s effectiveness in scrutinizing the Tonse Alliance government and its role in unbiased and objective advocacy assuring it that DPP is rising, DPP is winning the 2025 elections with or without HRDC hypocrisy and selective activism.
Namalomba
In a statement dated 5th January, 2024 signed by Shadric Namalomba, Presidential and party Spokesperson, the DPP says HRDC is afraid to bite the hand that has been feeding them and they let go all the maladministration taking place from Chakwera’s state house down to the local councils. The DPP says the HRDC has lost its teeth because its agenda was simply to remove it out from office in 2020 observing that if it were during its administration, HRDC would have mobilized nationwide protests against the 44 percent devaluation and the massive price increases which are severely affecting the cost of living.
The party observed that soon after the 2020 elections, HRDC organized celebrations and threw parties in places, its top leaders were co-opted into senior government positions with one Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo being appointed a cabinet minister.
It says other HRDC officials were appointed to diplomatic missions abroad with others rewarded positions and procurement contracts in government and parastatals claiming that this was a deliberate move by President Chakwera’s administration to weaken HRDC so that it cannot effectively criticize Tonse’s serious blunders, promises and lies.
“No wonder, nowadays, the HRDC is struggling to caution the corruption taking place in the Chakwera’s administration,” reads the statement in part.
The DPP says HRDC is struggling to organize demonstrations against the hundreds of mercenaries that have politically been recruited and appointed into several government offices at Capital Hill and that it is failing to caution President Chakwera against political patronage in parastatals where MCP sympathizers have been deployed in various state-owned companies.
The People’s favourite, MCP Director of Strategy Hon Dr Ken Reeves Zikhale Ng’oma once again is back on the development rallies as he will be the Guest of Honour at a rally scheduled in Phalombe this Saturday 06/01/24.
Zikhale, famously known as Nyamazikulu, who is also the Minister of Homeland Security will be joined by other MCP dignitaries in Southern Region for a development rally to recognise the great work that the Chakwera administration is doing in the country
The development rally is scheduled to take place at Migowi Trading Centre from 1:30pm.
According to information this publication has obtained some of Malawi’s top entertainers will grace the rally namely Musicians Phungu Joseph Mkasa, Gibo Pearson, Joe Gwaladi and the Chisamba dancing queens from Lilongwe.
The MCP gurus who will speak include Hon Kondi Msungama, Hon Peter Dimba, Hon Baby Khamisa, Hon Brown Mpinganjira with Hon Zikhale as the Guest of Honour.
