Violence, pandemonium becoming the order of the day

Judge Mbadwa: Counsel for the petitioner, Mr Timoteo Cloud of Coalition of Human Rights Abusers should address the court on their application that the State is responsible for the current violence and pandemonium news (VPN) that has spread throughout the country like bushfire and that has seen rival villagers hacking each other, people mercilessly being killed on witchcraft claims and students torching school blocks as they vent out their anger on school authorities. Counsel, present your case.

Counsel Musiyeni M’bale: My Lord, the country has degenerated into a state of lawlessness and the situation is worsening. My Lord, we have seen how people have become a law unto themselves and how the police no longer maintain law and order.

It is no longer a country where love flows like it did before. Hatred is being entrenched and that is a worrying factor, my lord.

Students no longer fear teachers and parents; hence they have become so untouchable that they can torch school infrastructure without any iota of responsibility. The students want to learn on their own terms.

Police units have become endangered species, too, as they are being burnt or ransacked left, right and centre while men in uniform choose to carry their once revered uniforms in plastic bags as they go to and from work in some areas.

People are being killed in cold blood while the perpetrators walk scot-free. Village heads are conniving with criminals to pounce on unsuspecting people they are not in cahoots with.

Neighbours are becoming sworn enemies; hence, following the commandment of loving your neighbour as you love yourself is no longer applicable for the majority of people . We have heard how villagers in Nkhata hacked each other and how the Neno murders have resurfaced.

Religions are more intolerant nowadays than they were a couple of years ago.  Hate speech has become the order of the day as people of different faiths can no longer coexist as a result, we have witnessed creations of  religious fiefdoms and no one is being taken to task for encouraging  separatist ideology.

My lord, when we were conducting demonstrations for the removal of John Answer as chairperson of the Nyasaland Electoral Commission, every violent incident was attributed to our cause, but we haven’t been conducting demonstrations for ages now, where are the people getting the inspiration to be lawless?

My lord, we believe as political scientists would have it, that lawlessness is symptomatic of a failed state. Now, we believe those who have the muscle to bring order have been sleeping on the job or are administering wrong drugs for the current ailment.

It is our submission that State authorities have been complicit in making the country ungovernable by not doing the needful.

My lord, let those people who have power to maintain law and order or to bring sanity be charged with abetting lawlessness in the country. I rest my case.

Mbadwa: This application would have made sense had counsel for Timoteo Cloud mentioned the names of the authorities who are responsible for causing mayhem in the country because they did not take action. Nonetheless, I agree that those who were supposed to act to tame the lawlessness ought to be indicted, but who are these people?