Warrant of arrest issued for Mtumodzi: ‘Accused of inciting revolt in Malawi’
The Lilongwe Magistrate Court has issued a warrant of arrest to police for activist Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, a former spokesman of late president Bingu wa Mutharika, on allegations that he was inciting venderos to revolt against government.
Mtumodzi confirmed in a telephone interview with Nyasa Times that he has been told that he is a wanted person.
“I have learnt about the warrant of arrest. There is no iota of truth in the allegations of revolt,” said the Dziki Radio owner.
He said the issue stems from the meeting he was organising with the vendors under the Reform to Transform movement led by Presdient Peter Mutharika’s fierce critic, Z Allan Ntata.
“We have been meeting and street vendors whose goods were confiscated by Lilongwe City Council (LCC),” said Mtumodzi.
He said the meeting was organized to finding a solution on how to recover the confiscated goods from LCC or get compensation from government’s Youth Development Fund (YEDEF)’s K6 billion.
“As patriotic Malawians and good Christians we feel sorry for our brothers whose goods were confiscated. These vendors depend on vending for survival and looking at the current financial crisis that this country is currently going through, we feel it’s not fair,” said Mtumodzi.
He also bemoaned on that attacks he has been receiving for his role in the movement, the recent being a physical assualt by thugs last week.
Mtumudzi was attacked by unknown thugs and he went to a private clinic where he was treated for “burns and constusion” according to the medical report seen by Nyasa Times.
His movement is requesting government to either give back the goods or give each vendor an amount of K40, 000. The amount is also being proposed for those who were physically attacked or injured during the LCC cleanup exercise.
LCC has lately been chasing vendors trading illegally in the city’s streets.
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Mtumodzi and Allan Ntata worked under Bingu. Did Mtumodzi resign or Bingu booted him out for any reason? We know that Ntata run from this country when Bingu was not even buried yet he had a fat purse because of Bingu. Curses be upon these two guys.
Amtumodzi afuna akhale abwino lero. Munthu oipa kwabasi .akapezeka olakwa or atatsekera moyo wake osati ngakondwe. Chitsiru chimenechi chinandigwiritsa ntchito ya plumbing osandipatsa malipiro anga ku bwemba poti amati ali boma. Lero zimenezi. Ufulu wa anthu ena auona lero.I was young then with two kids of my own and other four dependents to take care of but kundiuza sabwereso ku site kwao mondiopsyeza ataona ntchito ndamaliza.mulungu simunthu I will pray hard apezeke olakwa kulangidwa.my wish It’s personal for this bastArd .
There are two issues here that should not be confused. The right to trade and the rule of law. For the sake of clean cities but also security of people, it is important to make sure that people trade in designated places only. I would further add to it that all these designated places should also have proper infrastructure. We seem to cry every time there is market fire but we have not even tried to address the root of the cause which is that our markets dont have the right infrastructure for conducting business. So in this case, I… Read more »