Thanks Botswana's M'megi Online Publication for Pumping Sense Into Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika

M'medi is feeling for Malawians. This, more than anything else, is clear in the Online publication's editorial today.

Over to you, M'megi: What are you saying?


Editorial
'megi Online, Botswana

Wake up wa Mutharika!
Mr President you are leading a very worried nation. For a while now the good people of Malawi have been complaining about the way you are running government and your apparent lack of respect for them. These are the people who voted for you, not once, but twice.

They had hoped that you would remain good to your campaign promises and reinforce the very African tenets of Ubuntu - human rights and democracy. When any national leader suppresses these he is essentially taking away the people's right to life. From reports coming out of Malawi, it is clear that you have lost sight of why you became president. We are hearing that you do not take kindly to constructive criticism. You have also become indignant and disrespectful of your people and recently you said you do not understand them. You believe the international community appreciates your 'good works' better than Malawians. No leader can afford to question the intelligence of his people. You are not president of the international community but of Malawi. Your people cannot just take to hating you, as you appear to imagine. Certainly the wisdom of one man cannot be greater than that of millions of his countrymen and women.

All that the people of Malawi are asking for is for you Mr President to be open to criticism. They want you to listen when they talk about issues of governance, democracy and human rights. They want you to introspect. This is what the international community also wants you to do. It is not too late to make amends and bring Malawi out of the stagnant economic abyss that it finds itself in.

Mr president there is no doubt that your government is violating human rights. As a newspaper we are also worried by your apparent disdain for the press. The media, it cannot be gainsaid, provides much needed checks and balances. It is clear, however, from your government's refusal to repeal the notorious Section 46 of your country's constitution, which empowers a minister to ban a local publication, that your government is bent on stifling press freedom.

Mr president it is most outrageous of you to say that demonstrations are a privilege and that you want demonstrators to pay between K2.5 million to K5 million (P108,300-P542,000) to stage a demonstration. From what is happening in the Arab world, you know what happens to leaders who repress the human soul. Finally we call on you Mr president to respect the rule of law. The wanton disregard for court orders by your regime is proof that you have derailed in a big way. It is time for you to introspect and go back to the people of Malawi with a view to making amends. Our brothers and sisters in Malawi and SADC cannot afford to have a failed state and it is upon you to ensure that they will not.

Today's thought

"The seed of revolution is repression."

-Woodrow Wilson



Here ends the Editorial from our Good Friends in Botswana. Now, Zachimalawi asks, is Malawi's President, Bingu wa Mutharika, 'sleeping' to now 'wake up...'?
Africa says so.