the Africa they Never show You

President Bingu wa Mutharika has ordered all Malawians to leave the streets forthwith, saying he might be forced to invoke his constitution powers to enforce peace in the country.

President Mutharika was addressing the nation Thursday on the second day of nationwide protests, which have spread out to the townships and have been characterised by looting, violence and sporadic running battles with the police.

The government has since deployed the military to quell the uprising.

Sounds of guns and tear gas shots were heard throughout the night in the townships in several towns in Malawi, with the violence having spilled over to other districts.

According to police information, about 300 people have been arrested in different areas. However, police were reluctant to discuss the number of deaths.

President Mutharika blames opposition political parties and civil society leaders for the deaths, looting and violence, alleging that the organisers were paying the protesters to engage in acts of violence.

“After yesterday’s protest, do we have fuel now? I order all the people in the street to leave the street now. I have the constitution powers to use every means to bring peace in Malawi,” he said.

President Mutharika said those protesting against his leadership were being guided by the devil, adding that the power of God would prevail over Malawi as Satan was a failure.

Organisers of the protest described President Mutharika’s speech as not inspiring and empty, saying it was obvious Mutharika was being told lies by the people surrounding him.

He then invited leaders of the opposition parties and civil society groups to a roundtable discussion, where they would discuss ways to iron out the differences.

One of the protest organisers, Mr Billy Banda, said civil society will give Mutharika up to August 17, 2011 to address all the concerns that were raised in the petition letters that were delivered to the city councils.

“Failure which another protest will be called,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (Macra), has ordered the shutdown of three radio stations.

However, Mr Banda admitted that the situation had gone out of hand as it was not anticipated that the protests would be violent.

Most Malawi forums and Facebook updates indicated that the president, in his address to the nation, failed to humble and indentify himself with the problems Malawians were facing.

Capital, Joy and MIJ radio stations were plugged off on allegation that the stations defied government orders to stop live broadcasting of the protests.

As many people feared, the authorities in Malawi did not let the pro-democracy protests go ahead without hassle. An injunction was granted by the High Court last night to prevent the demonstrations, while around 11 activists were arrested by police ahead of the marches.

However, reports suggest that marches did go ahead in Mzuzu, Zomba, Salima, Lilongwe and Blantyre. There have been some reports of violence as well as photos of burning vehicles - but it is unclear who is responsible. It is also unclear how many people turned up to protest across the country

The demonstrations were co-ordinated by civil society organisations and also involve opposition political parties, trade unions, faith-based groups and concerned citizens to try and arrest the alarming slide towards authoritarianism and a return to the bad old days of Banda and a one-party state.

Just a few years ago, Malawi and its first-term president, Bingu wa Mutharika, were the darlings of the international community and held up as beacons of democracy and good governance in southern Africa. Praised for their commitment to economic reform and the fight against corruption, they could also point to a huge improvement in food security and soaring economic growth. Although this economic success had not begun to trickle down to the majority of Malawians who still live below the poverty line, the country seemed to be on the right track.

However, hopes that the president’s landslide victory in the 2009 elections would be a springboard for further progress have been dashed. Instead, the polls marked the point when Malawi began plunging rapidly back towards the bad old days of one-party dictatorship.

Over the past two years, the President has systematically concentrated almost all power in his own hands and has launched a concerted - and often chilling - campaign to silence any potential critics and to close Malawi’s once-vibrant democratic space in a blatantly anti-constitutional fashion.

Almost every constitutionally-guaranteed freedom is under attack - from free speech to free association to academic freedom. Court rulings are regularly ignored, while critical constitutional bodies are deliberately sabotaged. Local elections have been postponed until 2014. Corruption is soaring, while an ethnic clique around the president consolidates its grip on key organs of state. Meanwhile, the authorities desperately blame all and sundry - rather than their own poor performance - for the fuel and forex crises that have taken the shine off the country’s economic ‘miracle’.

Clearly, Malawi is heading in the wrong direction - towards another authoritarian era, when the will of the people is subordinated to the dictatorial whims of one man. The aim of the marches is to halt this slide - and return Malawi to the path of democracy, good economic governance and progress. But it seems as if the government is not ready to let the people of Malawi voice their opinions or exercise their constitutional rights to free association and free expression.