Politician held for threat over election results
BLANTYRE: An opposition politician in Malawi has been arrested for inciting violence after threatening that there will be war in the country if they do not get their way in a court case contesting the outcome of the nation’s election results that were released last year.
Senior political sources in the country allege that Jessie Kabwila, a high-ranking member of the opposition UTM, threatened judges hearing the election case that there would be war in the country if their judgment was not in favour of the opposition.
Kabwila allegedly issued the threats last week during a demonstration organised by opposition political parties and a civil society group, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC).
Kabwila, who is a senior member of UTM, a political party of former vice-president Saulos Chilima, is also alleged to have said that the opposition would not accept any judgment other than the one that favoured them.
The executive assistant to President Peter Mutharika and director of communication, Bright Molande, confirmed the arrest. “Nobody is above the law. We urge all Malawians to respect the courts and judges,” Molande said.
The judges in the country’s Constitutional Court are presiding over a case in which Chilima and another opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera, of the Malawi Congress Party, are contesting the re-election of Mutharika as president. They are seeking nullification of the election which took place in May last year, claiming it was rigged. The hearing of the case was concluded in December and the judges are expected to deliver their ruling within 45 days.
Chakwera and Chilima filed their petition in June last year. Since then, Malawi has been gripped by a series of violent demonstrations organised by the opposition and HRDC to press for the resignation of the chairperson for the Malawi Electoral Commission, Supreme Court Judge Justice Jane Ansah. The opposition and HRDC accuse Judge Ansah of mismanaging the election, a claim she denies.
However, local civil society organisations, including the HRDC, under the Malawi Electoral Support Network and all international election observer missions, certified the election as free, fair and well managed.
Last week, the opposition stopped the EU Election Observer Mission from presenting its final report. The opposition claimed the report would compromise the case. The EU said the report was a technical document.
The mission said it would present the report in February, by which time the court’s judgment is expected to be out. In a preliminary report, the EU mission described the election as “transparent, well-managed and competitive”.