Malawians have expressed dissatisfaction with Lilongwe City Council (LCC) Chief Executive Officer Lawford Palani’s U-turn on proposed Wednesday demonstrations organized by Citizens Against Impunity and Corruption.

Since last week, Social Commentator Joshua Chisa Mbele had been writing on his Facebook page that he will mobilize people to g to the streets to demonstrate against corruption suspect Ashok Nair who sued Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Czar Martha Chizuma for alleged defamation.

Nair made the move in reaction to a leaked audio conversation in which Chizuma was discussing work related issues with unknown individual, according to Nair, Chizuma labelled him as a kingpin of corruption when she said that Nair’s release from custody by a high court judge, corrupting took its course.

Chisa Mbele and other concerned Malawians, feel that the move by Nair to sue Chizuma, which they strongly believe that other top officials from the government are behind it, is a plot to frustrate Chizuma’s efforts to fighting corruption in the Zunneth Sattar corruption crisis.

In reaction, Chisa Mbele and others proposed to go to the streets on March 2, 2022 and hold vigil at Nair’s residence in the capital Lilongwe with an aim of forcing him to withdraw the lawsuit against Chizuma.

At first, the Lilongwe City Council had granted permission to the Citizens against Impunity and Corruption only to cancel the permission last minute arguing that the matter being demonstrated for is in court.

Malawians on social media have questioned the move by Palani to cancel the demonstrations as some have argued that it is not in the capacity of the Lilongwe CEO to call off the protests since he is there only to be notified and not asked.

“The council doesn’t have any mandate to grant the permission to go ahead with demonstrations. They are there just to be informed,” Christopher Mtonga said.

One Luciano Nanjiwa said “It’s laughable the DC has not cited any law to back his decision,the organisers can challenge the DC’s decision by obtaining an injunction after all he has no powers to cancel demonstrations.”

Simeon Mphunzitsi Chikoti “The DC Himself is politically motivated in decision making he forgot the fact that Malawians exercise the constitutional right by demonstrating on cross cutting issues.”

Fillykay Kulima Phiri “One could wonder why we were even busy protesting 2019 election while the matter were in the hands of constitution court, Malawi is just a joke.”

Other Malawians have since said that if the organizer’s go to court they will be granted the permission and proceed with the demonstrations.