Bon Kalindo, also known as Team Bon Kalindo the DC, has once again stirred social media, following his controversial Facebook post concerning the passing of Mary Chilima’s husband. The post, which expressed Kalindo’s condolences, has drawn sharp criticism from senior government officials, particularly within the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
In his post, Kalindo shared that after expressing sympathy over the loss, he received a threatening message from a high-ranking government official. The official seemed displeased with Kalindo’s comments, which the activist described as unnecessary intimidation.
Kalindo wrote, “After I posted about Mary Chilima’s loss, someone in a senior government position reached out to me privately, making threats and saying all sorts of things about my post. I’m left wondering, why is it that people aligned with the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) get so agitated whenever Chilima’s death is mentioned? What are they afraid of?”
He further hinted at underlying concerns within certain political factions, referencing the accident involving a plane that former Vice President Saulos Chilima was aboard. Kalindo sarcastically remarked on the minor collision, questioning why it has stirred so much anxiety among some political figures.
Kalindo also hinted that more revelations might be forthcoming, stating, “A lot was said in my inbox, and I might expose it for people to judge for themselves.” In a pointed comment, he took a jab at an individual in his inbox, mocking their appearance and issuing a stern warning: “Let them know that if this continues, Bon Kalindo will expose everything.”
Despite the threats, Kalindo reaffirmed his stance, making it clear that he is not intimidated. He emphasized that his page remains independent and will not be used to promote any political agenda for financial gain. “This page is fearless. This page will not partake in any scheme to misuse government funds because it’s a matter of principle,” Kalindo declared.
Kalindo’s latest statements have reignited debate, with many of his followers eagerly awaiting what could be more revelations in his ongoing critique of the political establishment. The activist remains an outspoken figure, and his recent comments have once again placed him at the center of attention, as he continues to challenge the political elite.
MANGOCHI-(MaraviPost)-The Human Rights Ambassadors (HRAs)on Thursday, June 16, 2022 joined tens of thousands of Malawians in Mangochi holding demonstrations against President Lazarus Chakwera and his Vice Saulosi Chilima for failing to fulfill campaign promises and high cost of living.
Mangochi says no to Chakweraleadership
Just as last week in Mulanje, many people turned up for the demonstrations speaking for itself that things are not good in Malawi and Malawians are answering a question on whether or not the country can go into a Referendum as it was on 14th June, 2014.
Apart for Malawi to hold a Referendum, the HRA is also asking Malawians to speak out by expressing their views on whether or not they are happy with Chakwera –Chilima governance system which has made many Malawians to remain in Egypt than to go to the promised- land, Canaan.
Delivering the petition to the Mangochi District Commissioner, leader of the HRAs demonstrators, Kingsley Mpaso has given Chakwera seven days to resign with a warning that failure to resign, will force Malawians to hold a vigil at Capital Hill in Lilongwe.
Mpaso said Malawians heard it by themselves from Chakwera’s mouth that if he fails to deliver in two years after being voted into power, he will resign saying the President has to live to his words now.
“It’s not a secret at all , he promised to resign if he fails to run government in 2 years, no need to remind him, he should resign now, as per his words,’’ said Mpaso.
State house is yet to respond on the demands.
Chakwera Tonse government is unable to fix the ailing economy since two years in power.
Troubled looking Petitioner 1 Saulos Chilima coming out of Court
Under withering cross-examination petitioner 1, Saulosi Chilima on Friday invalidated and abandoned the narrative that the correction fluid tippex was used to rig elections.
Attorney General also asked Chilima if the result sheets altered by tippex affected the results. Chilima confirmed that results were not affected by the alterations and the results were true reflections of the National votes, but he is only concerned with procedures.
Malawi Elections: rigged, tampered with tipex
The attorney General then grilled Chilima if there can be any difference between documents corrected by tippex and those by a pen cancel out. Chilima said there is no difference.
Attorney General also asked Chilima if the result sheets altered by tippex affected the results. Chilima confirmed that results were not affected by the alterations and the results were true reflections of the National votes, but he is only concerned with procedures.
The cross examination has revealed that although Chilima has used tippex narrative as evidence of vote rigging, he doesn’t have any evidence in court to prove the same.
According to reports the frustrated UTM and MCP Lawyers have applied in the Constitutional Court to have President Peter Mutharika and MEC chairperson Justice Jane Ansah summoned to court for the on-going high-profile presidential election results case.
If this ridiculous request was ever granted the Judges will need to be marched in the public square naked for prolonging this meritless power grab by sole losers of a fair Election.
Jane Ansah followed the law and declared the right winner of these Elections Period.
CONSOLIDATING OUR GAINS FOR RAPID TRANSFORMATION STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT PROFESSOR ARTHUR PETER MUTHATHARIKA
A somewhat perturbed Mutharika sat in Parliament the other day and alleged that Malawian opposition parties had sought the services of the dreaded Al-Shabaab in a plot to assassinate him and remove him from the presidency. From “President” Peter Mutharika’s speech and demeanour as he tried to comment on the protests and civil unrest temperatures rising in Lilongwe, it is clear that looming large and formidable on his mind is the prospect of having to lead a nation which refuses to give him a clear and legitimate governing mandate.
protesters destroy shops in Lilongwe
On 20 June that lack of mandate was underlined a huge turnout of protesters in Malawi’s four largest cities, Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba. They were then followed by a decision by the High Court of Malawi a day later, overruling Mutharika’s objections to have a petition presented by opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM party to go to a full hearing on whether the May 21 elections that declared Mutharika the winner were fraudulent and should therefore be nullified.
These are interesting times to be in Malawi. If the podium statements of the main political players are anything to go by, then there is no doubt that the elections on 21 May were seriously corrupted by severe fraud and cheating. The conduct of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) at the tally center did not help matters. After about 75 per cent of the vote had been counted, Peter Mutharika was said to be leading MCP’s Lazarus Chakwera by a small margin. After a long wait and much speculation as to what the final result of the election would be, the Electoral Commission decided inexplicably to simply add exactly 500,000 votes to each of the three leading presidential candidates, a move that resulted in Mutharika being declared the winner amid much protest from his competitors and their supporters.
On the very same day that the court was to give its ruling on the preliminary objections raised by lawyers on behalf of Peter Mutharika and MEC, Peter Mutharika was scheduled to officially open the seating of the newly constituted national assembly and give his State of the Nation Address. This he did, but to only half of the house, as about half of the members of parliament walked out on him, refusing to recognize and legitimize his presidency.
Meanwhile, with parliament in disarray and various pockets of protesting and rioting was still going on in various parts of the country, the constitutional court did deliver its ruling and overruled the preliminary objections, ordering that the full trial regarding the election results should be heard by the constitutional court from 26 June.
Now, there are many issues that arise from the foregoing matters. I however, would like to focus on two of them for now.
Firstly, it amazes me to no end that the quest for fees seems to be the overriding factor among many lawyers that have availed themselves to provide counsel to some parties in these solemn matters of national concern. While I appreciate that every individual is entitled and has a right to counsel and legal redress, I feel betrayed by some members of the legal profession in offering themselves in a matter where all parties agree that fraud and cheating took place in the elections. Perhaps this is the old ethical challenge of legal practice that still eludes a fair solution: the notion that a lawyer should possess a moral campus and perhaps reject causes and clients that seem immoral. Indeed it is a matter of befuddlement to observe that it was a justice of the Supreme Court, sitting as the chair of the Malawi Electoral Commission, who somehow decided that elections that were marred by the widespread use of the correcting fluid “Tipp-ex” should be acceptable in the first place.
And then other senior members of the Malawian Bar have come out in defence of a winner declared under such circumstances. I would have thought that it would be the interests of Malawi as a nation and the right of the citizens to have a free and fair elections that all lawyers would put first as officers of the court. It seems to me that, perhaps predictably as I think about it, that has become a secondary point, sacrificed on the altar of appeasement and a search for political favours.
The second issue is just as important. It is about the parties that are fierce rivals but now have to work together in the interest of the majority of the concerned voters. In the fight for the truth to really be revealed about what went wrong with the election, Peter Mutharika’s win is being contested by MCP and UTM parties. Their petitions were ordered to be heard as one by the high court, forcing the two parties to work together in the quest for the justice that the majority of Malawian voters are looking for.
On the other hand, Malawians have been using their constitutional right to demonstrate against what is obviously a below average performance by the Electoral Commission in the last elections. These Malawians belong to different parties. What unites them is the desire to show responsible authorities that they have not given their approval of the elections. Again, on this front, they are being led by the major political parties, MCP and UTM.
Malawian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been calling on all concerned Malawians feeling disgruntled to come out onto the streets to demonstrate together for maximum impact. According to the CSOs, doing so doesn’t mean their respective political parties are in political alliance. They just have the same goals of rescuing Malawi from thieves and seeking justice. They are taking pains to underline the fact that UTM and MCP cannot afford to be outshining each at this crucial time as doing so will only divide them and let those that stole the election get away with it.
Chakwera and Mia at the court
The Civil Society observations come after it emerged that the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is positioning its candidate, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, as the principle litigant and reducing his counterpart, UTM president Saulosi Chilima, to an auxiliary comrade in this battle for justice. From numerous fronts, both by legitimate supporters and party cadets, a campaign has been underway designed to customize a belief into the Malawian electorate that the MCP won the polls and that this fight for justice is aimed at restoring that ‘victory’ unto them.
How they think by doing so they will not destabilize the purported working relationship with their UTM counterparts in this fight for justice is what any sound mind would be willing to learn. Hence the civil society appeal that a partnership in circumstances such as this one needs to be bolstered with steady cohesion that projects undoubted mutual sacrifice and fairly distributed expectations of possible gain. Contrary to that crucial requirement and expectation, the MCP has embarked on what would be described as un-welcome project of impressing that it is them who won and got robbed of victory through the fraud which they are commonly tackling with the UTM. This is entirely unhealthy pursuit fuelled by an amount of greed that betrays the prospects of national interest.
Thus, with the main opposition at once seemingly together and not really together, concerned Malawians can only count on themselves. Hence the protests, which ironically, have seen support from the very political parties as well.
It is also a matter of concern that Malawians obviously cannot count on the lawyers as officers of the court, either. Not when their own attorney general cites non-existent rules in court with the aim of cheating the system to ensure that a president alleged to have stolen an election victory stays in power. The CSOs probably have it right. Malawians need to stand up and fight for themselves.
Perhaps it is necessary then to remind those participating in these unprecedented events in Malawi’s history that this matter is a very solemn one and the stakes are higher than they have ever been for Malawi. Those privileged to take part, be they judges, lawyers, petitioners and respondents have the most sacred duty to serve Malawi as country and put it on a just path that will ensure that coming generations of Malawians are well served.
Z Allan Ntata
I can only hope that they all will put personal interests aside and deal with the matters in a manner that ensures justice- the just that the Malawi electoral commissions failed to deliver through the elections should not be denied Malawian twofold because of the personal egos of competing politicians or the greedy agendas of lawyers.
As the journey to 2019 tripartite elections draws close,United Transformation Movement (UTM) party says the rural masses will vote for them.
Speaking during the meeting at Tembwe, Patricia Shanil Muluzi said Dr Saulosi Chilima is the only person who will give Malawians solution’s to all the problems they are facing.
The former First lady Muluzi also visited people of Mchinji South West constituency where they also had a meeting at Tembwe trading center ground.
While speaking at a rally at Mphanga primary school ground Mchinji central constituency ,the party’s Secretary General (SG) Patricia Kaliati said they are working hand in hand with with people from theme rural areas as people in these areas have trust in them.
SG Kaliati said people in these areas need development which will come from UTM.
“It is high time people in these areas suffered from different tortures from others party’s and our party has come to rescue them from all these tortures,” said Kaliati.
She further said people they will not allow tobacco buyers to be farmers the way it is now.
“We will not allow tobacco buyers to be farmers and farmers will be allowed to sell their products at good prices unlike this time where buyers also cultivate and buy their products at higher prices,” said hon Kaliati.
She therefore advised people of Mchinji central constituency to vote for UTM councilors and members of parliament.
Before visiting the area hon Kaliati together with the party’s national director of women.
Chakwera’s thinking is strange indeed for a man aspiring for the presidency! The solution to the failures in Malawi’s various institutions is to simply open up the leadership of those institutions to foreigners?
On the offensive and seeking to make a statement that can make waves in similar manner to Peter Mutharika’s “ton of bricks” and Saulosi Chilima’s “mwambi wa lero”, MCP leader Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, PhD. enunciated an astonishing if controversial statement. Speaking on the issue of the government’s failure to fight corruption, Dr. Chakwera suggested that the job of ACB director should be open to any qualified individuals including non-Malawians.
The statement as headlined in the media suggested that the MCP leader was so frustrated with ACB incapability and so keen on seeing some progress in the corruption fight that he believes having a non-Malawian leading that organization could be the answer. Malawian heads of that organization, surmised Chakwera, have essentially all proved to be too prone to bow to executive interference. A foreigner, a non-Malawian would be more independent, and corruption would be eliminated. That, folks, seems to be the gospel according Dr. Lazarus Chakwera PhD.
Dr. Chakwera’s logic is obviously flawed.
MCP Leader Lazarus Chakwera
The root cause of ACB ineffectiveness is not the fact that it is led by Malawians, but the fact that the rotten Malawian governance framework makes it possible for our so-called ruling parties and especially the executive to interfere with the independence of institutions and government departments that need to be independent for our democracy to function properly. The dangerous progression of Chakwera’s logic would see us thinking that the Malawi Police Service, MACRA, and even MRA should all be headed by foreigners as a solution to executive interference.
Chakwera’s thinking is strange indeed for a man aspiring for the presidency! The solution to the failures in Malawi’s various institutions is to simply open up the leadership of those institutions to foreigners? What does this say about the greatest failure of all in this country- that of the presidency, the very position Chakwera himself is eagerly aspiring for?
The evidence, gleaned from the issue that president Peter Mutharika prioritized to address on his return from UNGA, is that against all common sense, in a demonstration of a regrettable disconnect from what really matters to the people, Our President is more concerned about Malawians demonstrating about their grievances than addressing the problems that are causing those demonstrations.
To Peter Mutharika, no one should protest or even raise a whimper when his administration seems determined to misgovern and keep misgoverning Malawi until the country is buried six feet deep, as a result of the unchecked corruption, blatant nepotism and poverty of leadership.
As many others have said elsewhere, perhaps it would have been better if the country was running on autopilot because on autopilot, technology takes over while unmanned as Malawi is, gravity brings everything down.
Ours is a case where the pilot has abandoned the cockpit 30,000meters above sea level, to make merry in the business class while seeking more affluent party space – without engaging the plane on autopilot – leaving us all in grave danger.
The result is a president ignorant of happenings in his own country, in his own administration and worse, even in his own cabinet. How can he follow developments having relinquished control of the cockpit, where all the control apps and informatics are?
This is why no amount of window-dressing is succeeding to camouflage Mutharika’s failures, his unfitness for purpose, and his party’s addiction to greed.
Could Dr Chakwera PhD. be the solution to this tragedy then? Should we go back to being ruled by foreigners. Is it perhaps time to forfeit our so-called independence and return to colonial days?
The question I often get after many of my ominous diagnoses such as this one is, ‘Z. Allan, sure you can talk and you’re right, but so what? What’s next?’
For answers, let us look to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), and its preoccupation with regime change.
NIB’s nightmare, knowing as it does the wide-ranging discontent that Mutharika has bred, is regime change. Now, assuming NIB is right, then we all ought to help NIB’s machinations become real by giving this matter some serious thought.
Let’s face it. Without regime change, we are licensing the DPP to continue with its bad governance programme until 2099 (as one misguided DPP podium boot-licker put it). If we allow this to happen, then we are indeed the daftest species plying the earth.
The question is no longer whether those protesting mediocrity really want regime change, no. This is a foregone conclusion.
The question at hand is: once we get rid of Mutharika today, who should come next? To whom can we look for help and hope? Indeed it is when one looks at those aspiring for the presidency, or the parties interested in displacing the DPP, that the headache begins.
I wish I could, here and now, declare: “Ladies and Gentlemen, let us look to the Leader of Opposition, Dr Lazarus Chakwera and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP)”.
But how can I? That statement about opening important institutional jobs to foreigners is a last straw on a pile of many suspicious moves and leadership failures on his part that I would caution all serious Malawians to be very afraid of this man.
I wish I could, right now, declare: “Ladies and Countrymen, our hope lies in ‘Dr’ Joyce Banda (honorary PhD).”
Sadly, this is equally unfeasible.
Let me put it this way. No one can run a political party like a Church, just as a Church cannot be run like a party. Politics and religious issues – where people follow blindly – are different. The Peoples Party (PP) is a virtual non-starter. Even from planet Mars you can surmise that in spite of all Joyce Banda’s noisemaking n the eastern region, that party is virtually dead.
As for Atupele Muluzi, forget him. Ever since he pirated Siku Motors’ motto: ‘Here today, There tomorrow’, only the people directly benefitting from his see-saw politics take him seriously. Now there is even a rumor of him being appointed as second Vice President to Peter Mutharika. Talk about selling one’s birthright for a mess of pottage!
So here we are: devoid of leadership in the incumbent, and those on the touchline can hardly get it up.
What about the Vice President, Dr Saulosi Chilima?
He has finally demonstrated that he loves Malawi enough to denounce the sinking Titanic that is taking us all down and has been bold enough to jump ship. Yet for all the claims of new politics, we are yet to witness his private sector experience, education and comparative youth at play. Does he have what it takes to reign in the ex DPP crowd and truly take over the captaincy of his own ship and steer it in the right direction? In spite of compelling ideas and seemingly powerful manifesto possibilities and governance promises, it will be difficult for him to convince us that he is for new politics when there is a continued perception that his movement is spearheaded by the very people that created the greedy and corrupt DPP.
To hit the nail on the head: does he have the guts to make the tough decisions regarding his own people or like the Leader of Opposition, he is happy as long as he gets a little fame and a little popularity, and feels some illusion of the power that comes with being a leader of a movement or a party?
The bottom line is: without a viable alternative, Malawians can only suffer and wilt with despair knowing that as things stand, there is no super substitute on the bench. If we do have a super sub, he needs to really stand out.
I weep for Malawi. For hope, however, we cannot, like Chakwera, proclaim that we should bring in foreigners. The solutions for Malawi are well known. They must begin at transforming this country’s rotten governance framework and the practice of new politics. The power to do that lies within us all.
Malawians. Not foreigners.
Z Allan Ntata
Allan Ntata’s Column can be read every Sunday on the Maravi Post
not too long ago I pointed out that the cleansing of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would require more than just the grafting of the gifted Saulosi Chilima to its leadership potion. The events that transpired this past week, especially the DPP parade that invaded the streets on Friday afternoon apparently demonstrating against CSO protests that had been planned for the following day, underlined the point. What the DPP really needs in a major overhaul. A grafting operation directed at its heart and soul. This is the cleansing that Malawians must demand of the DPP if they are to trust it again, and a task that Vice president Saulosi Chilima must accept to ruthlessly take on board if Malawians are to truly put their faith in him. (more…)
There are no jobs readily available in Malawi for former vice presidents.
This probably explains why it is rather difficult to track down what our former vice presidents are doing now. I am sure that their “right honourables” – Justin Malewezi and Cassim Chilumpha are all finding some personally fulfilling and even quite rewarding vocations to occupy their time away from the political spotlight. However, it seems to me that along with the departure of their day in the true mainstream of political influence went also their general relevance in the careers that shaped them before they took to the political podium. (more…)
If you have ever taken the time to consider the development infrastructure of our country like I often do, you have probably wondered why after 50 years of independence, 50 years of politicians promising that the country will develop and people’s lives will improve, we seem to be moving backwards.
The reason is actually quite simple. Our political leaders have been unwilling to implement the necessary solutions. (more…)
Those that argue that Vice President Saulosi Chilima is a coward may probably have a point.
Here is a guy who, for all practical purposes, has been used like a condom by the DPP and now lies truly dumped by the wayside spent and unwanted, but seems to be incapable or unwilling to probably do anything about it.
It is difficult to believe that Saulosi does not know what is cooking in the DPP. All indicators point to the fact that the DPP always considered his marriage with Peter Mutharika to be simply one of convenience and not based on Peter’s or the DPP’s true love for the youth.
It was never one for the long term. A separation seemed to have happened somewhere along the way soon after the election, and now, three years on, the marriage is clearly headed for a bitter divorce. (more…)
