HRDC to conduct Anti-Government Demonstrations in December

The forgotten Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has announced that they will conduct nationwide Anti-Government Demonstrations in December should the government fail to address the current fuel, electricity, high costs of commodities.

Malawi has been hit by fuel and electricity crisis for a time and according to the HRDC, Hellen Buluma who is alleged to have acquired the position of acting Chief Executive Officer illegally is the one behind the mess and has urged the state President, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to fire her from the position.

During the press briefing held in Lilongwe on Tuesday presided by the Chairperson of HRDC Gift Trapenze, said Chakwera has the mandate to fire the underperforming individuals from his system.

“The president has not shown any signs of empath to his citizens. He and his public officials continue to live as if everything is just normal. They have detached themselves from reality and they have let Malawians to suffer.

“For about two months now, the country has been shortages of fuel, filling stations are dry, food prices have shot above the roof, and there is hardly any forex on the market to enable any business to operate. People can longer travel to an availability of fuel, if they do, they have to pay excessively high fares. In public hospitals, ambulance have no fuel to ferry the sick to health facilities which had led to preventable deaths. Due to frequent blackouts, hospitals cannot conduct surgical procedures as there is no fuel to run the generators. People are dying in public hospitals due to government failure to address the fuel and electricity problems, ” said HRDC.

The Coalition added that there is no commitment seen in the Tonse Government to solve the electricity and fuel problems.

“This administration promised to install 1000 megawatts of electricity but there is no single step in that direction far.Businesses are choking to death. Whenever fuel is available, the huge cost has pushed the prices of all-important commodities to unprecedented levels.
“Unfortunately, the same Malawians that sacrificed their time and resources to usher in the current administration are now paying a heavy price. Consumers now have to dig deeper into their pockets to put food on their tables and travel to business, school or work,” she added.

Meanwhile, HRDC has given the Tonse Alliance 28 days to fix the problems failing which, nationwide Demonstrations will be on the card.

“In 2019-20, HRDC led Malawians to defend their democracy and the very future of the country. It was nothing personal against the past regime. Malawians elected you Mr President not because of your name but because of your words and promises to improve lives by doing things differently and better than the previous regime. Malawians employed you as a driver but they not impressed with your performance.

“Just like the previous regime, this Presidency is re-active to issues and has no strategies to resolve the challenges facing this country,” added Vice Chairperson, Micheal Kayiyatsa.