Alleged MCP cadres threaten Kalindo

Two Malawi Congress Party (MCP) youths have warned former UTM Party director of youth Bon Kalindo against holding protests in Lilongwe against the rising cost of living, saying he will face unspecified action.

But Kalindo, who held the first of a series of his three planned demonstrations in Blantyre last Friday and plans to hold similar demonstrations in Lilongwe this Friday, said in an interview yesterday that he will not be intimidated by the threats as he is only exercising his constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully.

He said: “We have seen those threats, we have read them and we have watched them in a video clip. We have reported to police for reference because we don’t know who may die. It may be them or it may be us. But this does not mean we are intimidated.”

Both MCP spokesperson the Reverend Maurice Munthali and director of youth Richard Chimwendo Banda, in separate interviews yesterday, said the party has not tasked any of its Youth League members to frustrate the protests.

Our sources in the MCP Youth League have identified the two youths behind the threats as Sajeni Wilibesi and Macloyd Chilunjika. The sources said the two are members of a newly formed MCP-affiliated group called Real Tambala Stars which has members across the country’s three regions.

During a rally addressed by some senior MCP officials, including Chimwendo Banda and Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Mia at Dowa Community Ground on Sunday, some of the youth dressed in the party’s regalia warned Kalindo against holding the demonstrations in the Central Region, saying he will be dealt with.

A video clip that has gone viral on social media shows a young man in MCP colours loading ammunition into a gun and telling Kalindo not to dare proceed with the demonstrations or risk being killed.

There is also another video clip showing another man apparently countering the MCP threat by also loading a gun in support of Kalindo.

But Kalindo has distanced himself from some of his purported followers who are issuing video clips challenging the alleged MCP youths.

In an interview, Munthali insisted that no MCP youth is responsible for the threats.

He said: “To this end, Malawi Congress Party disassociates itself from any such grouping making claims to frustrate any planned demonstrations or any unlawful activity.

“Further to that, as MCP, we strongly condemn the violent acts that we witnessed in Blantyre last Friday.”

Munthali said the party expected police to diligently and professionally execute their duties in dealing with the threats.

On his part, Chimwendo Banda, who is also Minister of Homeland Security and attended the party’s rally in Dowa, said those that made the threats were not part of the MCP Youth League.

“Malawi is a constitutional democracy where people have the right to exercise their freedoms as long as they do so within the confines of the law. No member of the MCP Youth League has the right to interfere with lawful actions of other citizens,” he said.

Chimwendo Banda said any person within the party’s youth structures who decides to engage in violence will meet the full wrath of the law through relevant security agencies.

When put to him that the youth have been identified and linked to an MCP grouping, Chimwendo Banda said the party will investigate.

And speaking in Parliament yesterday, the minister said police have launched a manhunt for some suspected youths who have been issuing threats to Malawians on social media.

Chimwendo Banda said he has instructed police to arrest all youths whose video clips are awash on social media brandishing guns and knives as well as threatening to cause harm to others.

He said the conduct by the unruly youths has the potential to degenerate into a civil war if left unchecked.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera acknowledged Kalindo’s complaints.

In a written response, University of Malawi political analyst Ernest Thindwa said perpetrators of such threats should be confronted by the law irrespective of their political affiliation if such a culture has to be banished from the country’s political sphere.

He said: “The ruling party or parties because of their privileged position and the wider influence they wield, have particularly extra responsibility to ensure that such acts are not part of our political norms for they are a threat to our widely desirable and shared democratic rule.”

Meanwhile, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) has condemned both the threats and violent scenes that erupted during the anti-government protests in Blantyre last Friday.

In a statement signed by Cdedi executive director Sylvester Namiwa, the centre said having party loyalists threatening government critics does not reflect the change the nine-political party Tonse Alliance promised Malawians when it ousted the Democratic Progressive Party administration.

In its reaction, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition has commended government for springing into action, saying no one is above the law.

The demonstrations are aimed at forcing President Lazarus Chakwera to address various challenges Malawians are facing.

Kalindo is expected to hold similar anti-government protests in Mzuzu on December 3 2021.