Malawi CSOs protest against President Mutharika’s Rodney Jose appointment as IG for having hand on Chasowa death

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Some of the country’s Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have questioned President Peter Mutharika’ wisdom of appointing Rodney Jose as Acting Inspector General of Police (IG) arguing that the later has human right violation record.

This follows former IG Lexten Kachama’s firing on Monday that Jose replaced him who was deputy Inspector General for operations.

A statement released by the Office of the President and Cabinet indicates that Jose takes over in an acting capacity with immediate effect.

Duncan Mwapasa is Deputy Inspector General [Operations] while John Nyondo comes in as Deputy Inspector General for Administration.

Jose is yet to go through Parliament for his approval as Police Chief.

But in a press statement released on Wednesday , the CSOs accused President Mutharika of siding with human rights violators including Jose whom they say had a hand on the death of the former Polytechnic student Robert Chasowa inn 2012.

Here is a full Press Statement made available to the Maravi Post;

CONDEMNING PRESIDENT MUTHARIKA’S APPOINTMENT OF RODNEY JOSE AS ACTING INSPECTOR GENERAL OF MALAWI POLICE.

We, the undersigned, continue to plainly question the moral and professional integrity and commitment of the present administration under President Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to addressing a myriad of problems rocking the country. His recent appointment of the murder suspect, Rodney Jose, as Malawi Police Acting Inspector General has left us vindicated.

The 2012 Robert Chasowa Commission of Enquiry Report findings are replete with very shocking details that perfectly implicate Rodney Jose one key suspect on the brutal death of University of Malawi Polytechnic student, Robert Chasowa.

As such, we seriously want his appointment suspended immediately before it even goes to Parliament for approval. Going by how parliamentarians betrayed Malawians in the manner they have handled the Electoral Reforms Bill and the recent K4 billion scam, we can no longer trust them.

These 2 recent examples show that the current crop of Members of Parliament do not have the interests of Malawians at heart and are therefore unpredictable when it comes to representing Malawians on issues of national importance like these.

Again, evidence out there shows that there are a lot of allegations that Jose is partisan. We in Civil Society raised similar concerns in 2012 when Mr. Jose was appointed deputy IG but President Mutharika ignored us as he has always done on various issues of national importance.

Much as we believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty by the competent court of law, we hold that high government offices must be occupied by people of integrity and moral standing, especially at a time like this when vices like impunity, corruption and abuse of power have been institutionalized. It must be made clear that we are not questioning the powers of the president to appoint but we are questioning how he is exercising these powers.

We therefore, appeal to all Malawians of good will not to allow him to be our Acting IG.
As civil society organizations who strongly believe in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, we also would like to take this opportunity to appeal to Mutharika to suspend all the appointments he has made since they are not gender balanced.

At a time when we are advocating for 50:50 representation, we find it very disappointing and hypocritical to have no face of a woman in all the appointments Mutharika has made. Really? This is even against the fact that the President himself is a champion of He-for-She campaign which aims to see women elevated.

To us, this is a clear indication that Mutharika and his administration are not serious about women empowerment in this country. This administration continues to violate the gender equality act which is clear about appointing not less than 40% and not more than 60% of either sex in public service.

APM cabinet is a clear example of a government which is not serious on women
empowerment. We want to register our ineffable displeasure in all this.

Lastly, we would like to seriously put it on record that if these issues will not addressed as
recommended in this statement, we will add all of them to the agenda for the planned
nationwide demonstrations slated for this coming April 27.

We are tired of this sheer maladministration under Mutharika and his DPP.

Signed by:
Timothy Mtambo Gift Trapence Charles Kajoloweka
Chairperson HRDF Vice-Chairperson HRDF YAS Executive Director
Endorsed by:
Human Rights Defenders Forum (HRDF)
Northern Region Human Rights Defenders Forum (NRHRDF)
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR)
Centre for Development of People (Cedep)
Youth and Society (YAS)
Citizens Forum for the Defense of Good Governance
Civil Society Network Transparency and Accountability
Child Rights Information and Documentation (CRIDOC)
Knowledge of the Laws of the Land (KNOLL)
Outreach Scout Foundation (OSF)
Phunzirani Development Organisation
Walita of RRA
Patrick Mwale of COIDA
Trevor Nyasulu of FARO
Ndagha Sikanda HRD
Gibson Chisale of PACE
Rumphi Residents Association
Happy Mhango – Northern Region Human Rights Defenders Forum Chair (HRDF)
Kinnear Mlowoka – Human Rights Defender
Rev. Macdonald Sembereka – Human Rights Activist
Thokozani Mapemba – Human Rights Defender
Makhumbo Mukanavimbundi Munthali – Concerned Citizen

Maravi Post Reporter

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