/ 17 February 2003

Malawi bars demos against Muluzi’s third term bid

Malawi’s government has barred demonstrations planned for Monday in protest against President Bakili Muluzi’s bid to stand for a third term in office, Justice Minister Henry Phoya said.

Phoya said he had obtained a High Court order stopping the rallies, which the Forum for the Defence of the Constitution (FDD) had organised to take place across the country, saying that ”external forces threatened chaos”.

Muluzi has in the past banned protests against his bid to amend Malawi’s constitution to allow him to stand for a third term in office when his present term expires in 2004.

Phoya said police intelligence reports showed that ”some external forces had planned to hijack the demos and cause a breakdown of law and order”.

”Police cannot sit and watch while law and order is being broken. If the march was allowed, innocent people could have lost their property,” he said.

Daniel Gunya, a cleric who chairs the FDC, a political group formed last year, told AFP they were seeking legal advice to challenge the court order.

The FDC has already held a peaceful demonstration against Muluzi this year after it successfully challenged the president’s ban on anti-third term protests.

Earlier this month around 1 000 polytechnic students clashed with supporters of Muluzi’s ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) who had been marching through Blantyre in support of his unpopular move to extend his mandate. The students torched a regional office of the UDF after its supporters smashed windows in the college library during their march.

The FDC, which is spearheaded by democracy and rights groups as well as religious bodies, want Muluzi to declare openly that he will retire at the end of his second term.

Muluzi has rejected such calls, accusing international donor organisations of bankrolling the opposition and religious groups to fuel protests against the controversial measure.

Last year he said Malawians should be poor with ”our heads up and not with our heads down” and that donors should not dictate policies to them.

Donors, who fund up to 80% of the country’s development budget, have warned Muluzi to think twice about amending the constitution to legalise his third term bid.

The tabling of the constitutional amendment bill, which has twice failed to be passed by parliament, has increased political tension in the impoverished southern African country.

The result has been widespread political violence and intimidation. – Sapa-AFP