The Maravi Post

SPECIAL COMMENT

IF you are Patricia Kaliati, Malawi’s Information Minister, you are likely to dismiss out of hand the view that some ingredients that make a country a failed state exist in the  country.

And if you are as a loquacious as Kaliati, you may also try to divert attention from the real issues affecting the country and attack those who are trying to bring attention to the problems affecting millions of Malawians.

If you are like Malawi’s former foreign minister Etta Banda – she was in office when Malawi burned bridges with main bilateral aid donor Britain - you would see Malawi, as she told parliament last week, as experiencing mere challenges and insist that the country has a functional government and not in any way, shape or form, close to a failed state.

And if you think like Kaliati and Banda, you wouldn’t read too much into the latest development about Ralph Kasambara being jailed after handing over to police individuals believed were out to hurt him.

Because Kasambara is a prominent critic of Pres Bingu wa Mutharika, you would rubbish Kasambara's claims that the men his security team apprehended confessed that they had been sent by the state to petro bomb his officers. Without shame, you would find absolutely nothing wrong with quickly cutting the suspects loose and turning the tables against Kasambara and accusing him of torturing the suspects.

You would also believe that arresting Kasambara again only a few hours after walking out of one of Malawi’s prisons once described by a high court judge as death chambers was a part of a process of ensuring that justice was done.

Yes, it’s always dangerous to rush to judgment. Yes, we must remain objective and reserve judgment until an impartial authority has rendered its decision.

But on balance, what should the public think when crime suspects are let go and those who apprehend them are locked up instead? What should the public think when Kasambara is granted bail but authorities don’t give a damn and elect to ignore the court order.
 
On Wednesday, Kasambara was however released after spending two nights in jail.

“Good news!” Billy Mayaya, a rights activist, screamed in an email message to MaraPost. He told all who had rallied behind Kasambara: “Thanks for the solidarity in demanding his release.”

But the party was cut short as his lawyer Wapona Kita said “we were relaxing at Ralph’s home” when over 20 police officers descended on Kasambara’s residence and they whisked him back to prison.

Police procedures for Kasambara’s release hadn’t been followed, that’s what police said, according to Kita. A police officer, whose identity can’t be revealed because he isn’t authorised to speak to the media, told MaraPost the officers at Kasambara’s residence were looking for chopsticks which they claim Kasambara and his security team had used to force the suspects to say they'd been sent by the government to petrol bomb his offices.

Rewind 2011: Do we know if police apprehended anyone in last year’s petrol bombings of the properties of activists Rafiq Hajat and Rev. MacDonald Sembereka? What about those who harassed journalists for asking the country’s president tough questions? Any action on that front?

Fast forward February 2012: Kaliati, Banda do these developments not bother you?

Clearly, people have enough reasons to be very afraid of the direction their government has taken. Malawi neither needs the lawlessness of Somalia nor the experience of Syria where it’s estimated that more 6, 000 people have been killed by the government's crackdown on anti-regime activists to admit that things aren’t working.

But still there’s bound to be a nutcase ready to say the slaughter of 19 people in Malawi during last year’s protests can’t be compared to Syria where thousands have died. One innocent life is too precious to be wasted, you moron!

So, listen up Banda, Kaliati and fellow administration officials. Today, Malawi is worse off than it was three years ago when Mutharika won reelection. Of course we don’t expect you to know this. So indulge us, please. No matter how you slice it, Kasambara is being persecuted. His persecution is another stark reminder of the fact that the political space that's supposed to allow people to express opinions without reprisals continues to shrink at an alarming rate in Malawi, thanks to the country’s remarkable leadership.

Patrick Mwanza,

Editor
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment