Violent clashes yesterday marred an otherwise peaceful countrywide demonstration to force President Lazarus Chakwera to scrap presidential immunity as police battled protesters in Lilongwe while one rioter in Mzuzu was shot in the arm.

Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) staged the demonstration in Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu under the banner Action against Presidential Immunity (API).

The protests follow Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s recent request that Chakwera implement his campaign promise to amend Section 91(2) of the Constitution to do away with the provision that protects the country’s sitting President from criminal prosecution.

However, the drama started after reports of the alleged abduction of Cdedi executive director Sylvester Namiwa emerged ahead of the demonstrations, a development that forced the Lilongwe organisers to leave behind enthusiastic crowds that had gathered at Lilongwe Community Ground and along the road from Area 22 to Lilongwe CCAP and silently deliver their petition to the Lilongwe district commissioner’s (DC) office.

One of the protesters sending his message accross with a placard

Unaware that their leaders had abandoned them, the crowds—visibly determined to march, kept swelling at the assembly point and eventually got angry and started throwing stones at the police who in turn fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some were arrested in the process.

Delivering the petition at the Lilongwe DC’s office, one of the organisers Mundango Nyirenda said they decided to call off the Lilongwe protests due to Namiwa’s alleged abduction on Wednesday.

 Said Nyirenda: “We thought it was wise to silently deliver a petition without being accompanied by the marchers. And that was after a CSOs meeting was held [yesterday] morning to discuss Namiwa’s whereabouts and what that meant for the demonstration.”

In Mzuzu, the protests started at Katoto Secondary School ground around 10 am and protesters, who chanted anti-government songs, marched through Mzuzu Mall Roundabout to Clock Tower Roundabout and back to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) regional offices to present their petition.

However, things went berserk as some protesters barricaded the M1 with stones while others attempted to set ablaze a roadside banner bearing Chakwera’s face, forcing the police and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldiers to fire tear gas and gunshots in the air to disperse them.

Mzuzu Health Centre officer-in-charge Lloyd Mugode confirmed in an interview yesterday that a male protester shot in the left arm was referred to Mzuzu Central Hospital for further treatment.

Meanwhile, there running battles with the police in Zomba. As we went to press there were still reports that law enforcers were firing teargas at protesters who had been stoning cars and demanding money from motorists.

The reports indicated that the M3 which connects Zomba, Machinga and Mangochi districts had been rendered impassable following the riots.

Earlier in the day yesterday, Cdedi’s Eastern Region representative Joseph Phakameya led less than 10 people to deliver their petition to the district commissioner.

Similar demonstrations were cancelled in Mangochi and Blantyre on Wednesday.

Random checks in Lilongwe and Mzuzu showed that some business owners had organised their security, including arming men with machetes to deal with looters.

In their petitions, the protesters also complained of alleged selective justice by the current administration, nepotism, failure to address corruption, the rising cost of living and delays to fulfil campaign promises. 

Cdedi organised the demonstrations in partnership with the Mzuzu Youth Caucus, the Pan-African Civic Educators, the Social Revolution Movement and the Centre for Democracy Watch.—Additional reporting Holyce Kholowa and Ayamba Kandodo.

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