Mutharika hits at Chakwera over ‘bloodshed’ strategy in Malawi: MCP zealots hack DPP’s Josiah

President Peter Mutharika has  accused  Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera of  being the architecht of political violence in the country using the party’s supporters after declaring to “shed blood.”

He said Malawi witnessed spate of  political violence after the nullified May 21 2019 elections because Chakwera  inaugurated it  with his “I am ready to shed blood in this country” remarks while the vote counting was at less than 40 per cent .

President Mutharika has said this through his Press Secretary Mgeme Kalilani in a statement made available to Nyasa Times on Tuesday.

He said since Chakwera’s “bloodshed” remarks,  opposition demonstrators  organized by the MCP, UTM Party and the HRDC unleashed untold violence on innocent Malawians  including supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

“At the height of the violence, an innocent police officer was brutally murdered at Msundwe and an innocent woman police officer was stripped naked and paraded in the streets of Lilongwe,” reads the statement in part.

The President said his  call on the opposition leadership to exercise political maturity and restrain their supporters fell on deaf ears and that his  wisdom and counsel was ignored and held with disdain.

Instead of condemning the violence, Chakwera, UTM and the HRDC organized what they called “A thank you rally” at Msundwe where the innocent police officer was brutally murdered, noted the President.

“The rally was rightly judged by the public as a way of thanking the community there for the  murder of the innocent police officer and for the political violence they systematically and periodically unleashed to the residents in and around  Lilongwe,” reads the statement.

The Presidential spokesman said one year later, the seeds of political violence planted by the opposition leadership and the HRDC are bearing ugly results . It has spread from Lilongwe to other parts of the country.

Recently, the country has  witnessed political violence in Mzuzu, Salima, Kasungu, Ndirande, Phalombe, Mponela and Machinga, among other places.

A couple of days ago in Machinga, UTM party security shot an innocent woman and some young men in response to political violence.

And thugs sponsored by MCP on Monday hacked DPP supporters  in Dowa for simply holding a political rally in the area.

Mutharika strongly condemns the violence .

“This primitive behaviour must stop,” he said.

The statement said Mutharika’s administration has exercised maximum restraint hoping that opposition leadership and their supporters will see sense in demonstrating peacefully as they mourn their May 2019 elections loss.

“As it turns out, the opposition parties have adopted political violence as a permanent strategy towards achieving political goals.   Government will not allow this  barbarism to take root in the country .  Enough is enough!”

President Mutharika, therefore, warned all political leaders embracing political violence as a political tool to stop immediately.

“  There is no excuse for political violence. Government will descend  seriously on those planning, funding and executing political violence in the country . Malawians have suffered enough ,” reads the statement.

President has assured  all Malawians that all those fomenting violence in the country will be arrested and the long arm of the law will take its course on them regardless of their political affiliation or status in the society .

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