Mulli, Chipungu behind the flopped demos
Businessman Leston Mulli and parliamentarian Chimwemwe Chipungu have been mentioned as the two key personnel behind the flopped demonstrations which were set to take place on Wednesday in Lilongwe.
According to information, Mulli, who was recently arrested and has a number of criminal activities on his head, is said to be bankrolling the activities while Chipungu, a Member of Parliament for Thyolo South West is the coordinator.
An MP closer to the activities revealed in an interview that Chipungu has even tried to lobby among his fellow MPs to also join the bankrolling of the demonstrations but was turned down as those approached felt that the activities are only meant to satisfy person political agenda and defend criminals such as Mulli.
“Chipungu has been trying to force, especially DPP MPs to contribute funding for the demonstrations but we refused. Actually at the moment the “madala” team in Parliament is mad with us that we refused to make a contribution,” said a DPP MP who did not want to be named.
Mulli is currently answering several charges including a conspiracy to dubiously take a K5 billion loan from the defunct Malawi Savings Bank which the contract gave him a 50 years repayment period at K5 million a month and defaulting a K1.4 billion payment to Reserve Bank of Malawi.
Following his recent arrest, Mulli mobilized and paid people from his home district Phalombe to stage demonstrations against government complaining that the Tonse Administration is only arresting people from the district and other Lhomwes. Most commentators have since described the use of tribes to evade justice as dangerous.
The organisers of the Lilongwe demonstration attempted Wednesday morning to carry on with the activities despite a court injunction stopping them. Some eye-witnesses have indicated that some of the demonstrators have been ferried in truckloads from as far as Phalombe District, where Mulli comes from, and some parts of the southern region.
This raised suspicions that some opposition politicians are bankrolling the demonstrations for their own political goals and not a genuine concern to the plight of Malawians. Renowned seasoned rights activist Undule Mwakasungula has since intensely questioned the motive behind describing them as questionable and ill-timed.
Among other issues the organizers are demanding removal of presidential immunity in the country’s constitution. Mwakasungula, however, observed that Malawi is struggling with, what he called, socio-economic challenges which needs collective efforts to address, instead of wasting time, energy and resources on protests.
“The issue of removal of presidential immunity must not be politicised as it can create a Constitutional crisis and chaos. We need to seriously reflect and be sober with the issue without being manipulated by or for political interests in the name of fighting corruption,” he said.
He said many countries have such laws to ensure that a sitting president is not distracted from his job as Head of State because of useless law suits.
The High Court in Lilongwe stopped the demonstrations on condition that they will only go ahead if the organizers, among others, provide the list of names of people who will be liable for payment of all damages and theft to the property as a result of the demonstration.
So far more than 40 people have been arrested for contempt of court following their attempts to go ahead with the demonstrations despite the court order.
One of the organizers of the demonstration is South Africa based Ben Longwe who has also raised questions that he was mobilizing people to demonstrate while he was safely tucked in a foreign country.
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