Covid-19 measures ‘temporarily suspended’ as Malawi leader attends funeral for ruling MCP diehard Mai Dinala

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Hundreds of people have attended funeral ceremony for the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) member Roseby Dinala at Chitawira in Blantyre, defeating COVID-19 measures of strictly 50 people attending such a ceremony.

Women clad in UTM, MCP regalia and CCAP women’s guild have gathered in large numbers at the funeral,  with many of them without face masks.

Wearing face masks has been made mandatory by the Chakwera administration and acting to the contrary attract a fine of K10 000 or serving a 90-days jail term in default.

The Public Health (Corona Virus and Covid-19) Prevention, Containment and Management Rules, 2020, gazetted on Friday last week and came to force on Saturday 8th August, 2020 also limits number of people attending a funeral to 50.

Ironically, President Lazarus Chakwera, who obviously championed the new subsidiary legislation, is also in attendance together with other top officials of the government to pay last respect to the MCP diehard.

Dinala, who died three days after celebrating her 82^nd birthday on Saturday, was a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard since Malawi got its independence in 1964.

She declared that she would serve the party as an honour to Kamuzu Banda until her death.

She was Lali Lubani’s niece, one of the first ministers during the Kamuzu Banda regime.

Meanwhile, MDF are erecting tents at Soche SDA Church ground where the funeral service will be held in the presence of President Lazarus Chakwera.

This is a litmus test for the Chakwera administration in walking the talk as regards to the enforcement of restrictions on gatherings.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).