Real justice leads to peace
It is a well-known fact that Malawians have faced a lot of injustices because they are poor. This is done at the expense of few rich people with power.
During the DPP-led government people are no longer the same before the law which seem to favour the rich and the powerful. Court cases are driven out to oblivion just because money has changed hands behind the scenes while cases by the poor people are quickly tried and sentence given.
Petty thieves, whose offences cannot collapse the Malawi economy, receive jail terms as high as five years. It is the people with power, who are always busy converting public resources into personal fortunes, who have contributed to the collapse of the Malawi economy and yet they are walking scot-free watching the country on a non-stop downward spiral to worst poverty levels. Due to lack of justice, only the poor feel the pangs of poverty. This is why there is no genuine peace in Malawi.
A Latin American socio-political commentator, called Emillio Zapata, was once quoted as saying: “If there is justice for the people, let there be no peace for the government.” This statement appeals to Malawians and their government as well. This is what people of this country have to think as they wait for the landmark ruling of the presidential election case tomorrow.
So far, so many organisations, including churches, have been appealing for peace after the ruling. Indeed, peace is necessary in the country but without justice, peace might be difficult to hold. People should be mindful that the Malawi majority has been facing a lot of injustices from government.
In fact, the genesis of the election case is that most people believe that their vote was stolen by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) in favour of President Peter Mutharika while they had voted for someone else, hence the alleged fraudulent presidential elections.
Therefore, despite the appeal for peace, the bottom line is that the situation will be determined by which way the ruling goes.
Since Mutharika came into power, people have been denied justice in various ways. People are very poor, and nothing seems to work; corruption, bribery and stealing of public resources have taken root.
Imagine, in this country it was unheard of that a judge can be bribed.
But in the Mutharika government, anything goes. There is a case in court now that some people were attempting to bribe the Constitutional Court judges handling the presidential election case. From the quotation of the size of bribe, one is forced to think that this cannot be personal money, but taxpayers’ money. In the process, Malawians are being deprived of progress.
So far, foreign investors have failed to come and do business in Malawi because of the underlined problems. One wonders why the President and his government are not willing to learn from more successful African countries such as Rwanda and Tanzania, instead of rushing to Africa summits in other continents.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda once stated that African leaders do not want to take responsibility of problems in their countries. Instead, they wait to be called to Europe where they expect to get solutions, instead of getting the solutions from fellow Africans who faced similar problems. He also mentioned that some leaders just go there for a mere photo shoot to register their presence at the summit and go back home empty-handed.
The above is true. The solutions for Malawi are here at home. Stop injustices and Malawi will progress.
