Govt attacks CCAP cleric

Malawi Government has reacted angrily to the testimony former moderator of the CCAP Livingstonia Synod, the Reverend Maxwell Mezuwa Banda, gave to the commission of inquiry into the July 20 demonstrations.

In a statement released on Friday, presidential spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba described Mezuwa Banda as “a failed religious leader”.

Mezuwa Banda told the inquiry in Mzuzu on Wednesday that government should stop killing its own citizens if it is to maintain the people’s trust. He said there was need to respect the right to life.

But Ntaba said Mezuwa Banda was preaching opposition political views instead of giving the commission of inquiry evidence.

Ntaba claimed government is aware Mezuwa Banda has secretly been drafted into Vice-President Joyce Banda’s People’s Party (PP) rank and file which, he claimed, was reflecting poorly on the moral integrity as a church leader.

He said some civil society leaders and organisers of the July 20 anti-government protests have already testified that the demonstrations were peaceful, but that they were hijacked by thieves, rioters and looters.

“We would have expected the reverend to counsel us on the moral decay that has created such evil characters out of such a peaceful demonstration,” says Ntaba. “He is, therefore, a failed religious leader.”

PP deputy publicity secretary John Chikalimba on Sunday denied that Mezuwa Banda was a member of the party’s national executive committee (NEC).

“The Reverend Mezuwa Banda is a distinguished retired moderator of Livingstonia Synod and as PP we have never met him, so he cannot be a member of our NEC,” said Chikalimba.