By Rick Dzida
The presidency is a public institution, not a private estate. The state
of Malawi does not belong to a cabal of handlers, spinners, or party
loyalists. Yet, we are once again forced to witness a toxic, recurring
cycle of secrecy, misinformation, and deliberate obfuscation regarding
the whereabouts and status of State President Peter Mutharika.
When state broadcasters and private media networks shuffle between
printing stories of the President sneaking out of the country and
issuing hasty, unreserved retractions, it signals a dangerous breakdown
in basic transparency.
The citizens of this republic are not children to be kept in the dark,
nor are they subjects to be fed crumbs of managed information.
It is against this background that we demand absolute, uncompromising
clarity. Knowing where the Head of State is, what he is doing, and
whether he is fully fit to govern is a matter of paramount public
interest—not an optional luxury granted at the whim of the State
House.
In fact, hiding the President or shielding his movements from public
scrutiny is a direct violation of the law. Under the laws of Malawi,
public officials are under an unyielding obligation to remain
transparent. Malawians have a legal right to know the status of their
leader, backed by clear constitutional frameworks. Let us delve into
them deeper.
Section 37 of the Constitution of Malawi guarantees every citizen the
right of access to all information held by the State or its organs,
provided that information is required for the exercise of their rights.
The state cannot treat the movements or health status of a public
official—who is sustained by the public purse—as a classified
national secret.
The Access to Information (ATI) Act is the statutory framework that
operationalizes Section 37. It explicitly commands public bodies to
disclose information of high public importance. The physical location
and operational readiness of the Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi
Defence Force is the highest level of public interest information
imaginable.
Section 12 of the Malawi Constitution states that all political
authority is exercised solely to serve the interests of the people of
Malawi. It declares that the authority of the government derives from
the people and is founded upon their trust. Withholding information,
creating communication vacuums, and misleading the populace utterly
destroys that sacred constitutional trust.
A President is a public servant. When the state machine chooses to treat
the President’s location as private business, it opens the door to
dangerous speculation, anxiety, and a loss of public confidence. A
nation cannot be governed from the shadows.
We therefore reject the weaponisation of state machinery to threaten
citizens or analysts who ask simple, necessary questions about their
leader. We refuse to accept a culture where official communications are
reduced to damage control, retractions, and vague press statements.
We also vehemently demand that the Office of the President and Cabinet
(OPC) establish clear, consistent, and honest channels of communication.
Stop the evasiveness. Stop the aggressive pushback against legitimate
public inquiry.
In conclusion, the citizens of Malawi have the legal right to know, the
constitutional power to ask, and the moral duty to demand that President
Peter Mutharika’s whereabouts and status remain fully open to public
scrutiny. Clear the fog of secrecy now!
