Cedep asks Malawi govt spokesman Dausi to apologise over racist remarks against Osisa boss
Malawi government spokesman Nicholas Dausi has come under intense fire for a racist remark he made to an official of renowned South Africa-based social political organisation Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa).
Osisa official Nevelin Gabriel had presented a corruption report which showed that Malawi still remains one of the countries with highest corruption.
This did not go down well with Dausi , who said Gabriel perceived corruption in Malawi as high because he is white and Malawians are black.
Dausi, who is also Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, charged: “ Osisa should withdraw this report, as it has insulted the Malawi Government and its citizens. I think [these are] racist and apartheid findings [The report] is derogatory to the the office of the President.”
However, this has not gone down well with Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) which has asked Dausi to apologise after Osisa became increasingly concerned with the minister’s remark.
CEDEP Executive Director Gift Trapence said it strange that instead of responding to the issues in a civil and sober manner, Dausi attacked the person heading OSISA on the basis that he is white .
“This is very shocking and barbaric to say the least. Such comments do not have their place in a modern democratic dispensation. Infact, we wish to point out that different professional institution for instance World Bank and IMF have provided technical advice and pointed out some social ills ever since times immemorial to Malawi but nobody has attacked them on the basis that they are headed by white individuals,” said Trapence in a statement made available to Nyasa Times
Trapence added that they have for times without number condemned the selective approach employed by the DPP government in tackling the corruption like recently, “our country moved from position 112 to 120 on the corruption perception index.”
“All these are indicators that corruption is rife in Malawi and the OSISA report has just vindicated the same. Instead of responding to such issues, Dausi employed tactics of Machiavellian politics and committed a fallacy of attacking the person and not responding to the issues. As CEDEP, we find such conduct not befitting a cabinet minister and let alone an official government spokesperson.
“What the Hon Minister should understand is that, as the Minister of Information, he is the official spokesperson of government. This means whatever he says and comments in public in his official capacity as a Minister is taken as the official position of the government,” reads the statement in part.
CEDEP has also called upon President Peter Mutharika to take this as a wakeup call for it is high time he began appointing people into cabinet and other senior government positions whose integrity is beyond reproach.
The government spokesman on Wednesday refused to comment on the matter, very rare for talkative Dausi who comments on each and everything that comes his way.
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the best donors should do in future for malawi to develop is to supervise donor funded projects them selves, if they are to fund power interconnection they should do the negotiation,funding and not allow any penny to go thru our so called authorties aba. If its a road they should do the transaction and give us finished product like the chinese did with the stadium.We are not just corrupt but stinking corrupt as a nation.
the best donors should do in future for malawi to develop is to supervise donor funded projects them selves, if they are to fund power interconnection they should do the negotiation,funding and not allow any penny to go thru our so called authorties aba. If its a road they should do the transaction and give us finished product like the chinese did with the stadium
All of you are wasting time. There are more important issues to be discussed than apologizing to a Trepance report. Kodi ma CSO enanu do you have a 5 year strategy or do you have a plan at all.
paja iwe Trapence ndiwe mumathumikila zamantanyula azungu
iwe trapence usatinyase wanva tatopa ndi zochita zako ukumva ndiwe ndani kut utivute mxiee go to hell nd azungu akowo
@vuto, if only the money pumped into this country by your so-called racist World Bank/IMF were put to good use, like Kamuzu did, this country would have been miles away in terms of infrastructure development like power, roads, education, health and the like. But, alas, UDF, DPP, PP and, now, DPP again, only know Cash gate and nothing else. In my view your reference to these Institutions following Dausi remarks are misplaced
96% of ordinary Malawians think corruption is a serious problem. Dausi should listen to his people.
IMF world bank and all these other white led multinational institutions are very racist dig their history u will understand….they are not good for Africa…. they perpetuate our poverty their policies are based on theory they have never been tested and tried to be feasible…akuyesera pa ife….all the countries that were deemed a success are now back to economic chaos…wake up Malawi. IMF is always led by an American or somebody appointed by them and World Bank always by the Englishmen and they hold more voting power more than all countries combined. Seek and you will find….pick sense out of… Read more »
Ndiye pagona u MYP panenepo, diplomacy saidziwa. Who doesn’t know Dausi’ background and I wonder how he slipped through “operation bwezani” that the men in uniform undertook in 1993. Those that claim not to know his background are simply pretending or they were not born yet then. I will rule Gambia for a billion years.
Koma sitidzagwada kwa milungu yakufa , Inu a cedep akutuman , akuuzan kut Ngat musakakamize boma kuchita withdraw statement Iwo sakupasan ndalama.
mind nzungu wina wake anamunena driver was chi Malawi kut monkey, where were u trapence kut ulankhulepo. was that not discrimination/racism’?
Dausi sapepesa , till u cough out that ban . proud of Malawian