Human rights and governance activist Undule Mwakasungula has warned that the civil society organisations (CSOs) space in Malawi has been hijacked by mercenary activists and groups compromised by partisan politics.
Speaking at a press briefing in Mzuzu yesterday, he described the situation as unfortunate as it has the potential to sway CSOs off their mandate of speaking and championing the cause of the voiceless.
Mwakasungula also faulted President Lazarus Chakwera for assenting to the controversial N o n – G o v e r n m e n t a l O r g a n i s a t i o n s ( N G O ) Amendment) Bill without addressing the “problematic sections that will shrink the civic space”.
He said: “CSOs have compromised a lot because we have been partisan. You cannot bite when you are partisan. It’s difficult.CSOs need to be independent and impartial in holding government to account.”
Mwakasungula also observed that the civil society space is now mostly occupied by groups and individuals who do not understand activism and advocacy.
He said: “We had strong movements in the past. One of them is HRDC [Human Rights Defenders Coalition], which helped shape governance and human rights issues in Malawi.
“But now we have this space filled by people who do not understand what they want to achieve at the end of the day. That is why you find everyone saying I am a concerned citizen. I am presenting a petition and we will do demonstrations. But after presenting a petition nothing happens.”
In a separate inter view yesterday, HRDC chairperson Gift Trapence said Malawi has had some mercenary CSOs created to fight against CSOs seen to be critical of government.
“Such mercenary groups are always used by politicians to advance their personal agenda,” he said.
However, Youth and Society executive director Charles Kajoloweka said the civil society is still intact.
He said: “The fact that few activists have left the civic space does not pronounce the death of the civil society.
“We still remain solid and strong. But we have rejected political invitation by political interest groups to act in their interest. We know what activism is and we know what civil society is. So, we will never respond to political invitations.”
Kajoloweka admitted that there are political interest groups masquerading as CSOs, but was quick to say that they also have a democratic right to express their views through various media.
O n t h e NGO B i l l , Mwakasungula said the President needed to send it back to Parliament so that all problematic sections that will shrink the civic space are addressed.
On his part, Kajoloweka said the President could have used his obligation as outlined in Section 73 of the Constitution to send the Bill back to Parliament.
But in an interview, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo said the Bill, which is now law, went through proper consultations and all proposals from the NGOs were factored in.
“The major issue under contention is that of transparency on funding. But authorities need to know where the NGOs get their funding. In a democracy, we need that transparency,” he said.
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