THINGS ABOUT TO TURN NASTY - THREATS TO HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Press Statement issued by:

THE CIVIL SOCIETY GRAND COALITION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

C/O P.0 BOX 30316, LILONGWE

                                                                                       28^th February, 2011

NEWS RELEASE ON THREATS TO LEADERS OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS ADVANCING THE GOVERNANCE AGENDA IN MALAWI

The High Level Civil Society Umbrella Bodies would like to inform the general Public that civil society leaders are receiving open and secret threats for their open criticisms of some of the governance problems in Malawi.

Prominently, there is a threat from the Head of State when he met with civil society leaders where he admonished that if the Civil Society organisations will dare to demonstrate, he will meet them in the streets.

Following the very meeting which the State President had with the civil Society organisations at the state house in Lilongwe, the Leadership of the DPP youth have been monitored on the National Television (MBC-TV) threatening that they will be tempted to deal with civil society leaders if we will continue with our  peaceful actions.

Very recently, leaders of civil society organisations have received threats to deal with the civil society leaders.

Our eminent civil society leader and board member of the HRCC was rounded up by the Malawi Police while accessing internet services in the cafe where he was subjected to undignified treatment before being taken to office of the Southern Region Commissioner of police for interrogations.

The Chairperson of the HRCC Mr. Undule Mwakasungula is currently under heavy threats following anonymous telephone calls asking him, his officers and members of his family as to the location of his office and his home for undisclosed reasons.

Other civil society leaders heading the various civil society networks have also received some strange calls from some cabinet ministers who ordinarily have no direct business with the respective civil society organisations in question.

The threats have come in many forms. Some are death threats, others are messages that simply indicate they are being followed or traced and others are indicating that they will dealt with in a variety of ways.

As Civil Society Umbrella Bodies , we would like to inform the general public that we have currently embarked on a programme to raise international alerts of the state of affairs in Malawi.

Consequently we would like to indicate that should any victimisation happen to our leaders in any form, the Civil Society will not hesitate to put the blame on the state and its machinery.

The Civil Society Organisations would like to put on record that the various lobby and advocacy efforts are in no way undermining the government or agitating for an uprising as is the case in the North African States. The Civil Society in Malawi is mindful that the current leadership will constitutionally finish his term of office in 2014 and our watch dog role is actually designed to provide checks and balances necessary to enable him properly run the affairs of the state. This we did when he was running a minority government and we continue to do now as he is running a majority government. Our advocacy entails providing checks and balances where the Government and political machinery is bent at misguiding the State President as they have done with all our previous presidents.

Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC)

Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN)

NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO GCN)

National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives (NONM)

Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE)

Council for NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA)

Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU)

Civil and Political Space Platform

Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN)