Malawi police arrest vocal human right activist

By Moses Michael-Phiri

LILONGWE, Malawi (AA) - Malawi police on Wednesday fired tear gas at protestors and arrested vocal civil rights activist Sylvester Namiwa at the Parliament Building in the capital, Lilongwe.

“Namiwa went ahead to hold vigils after being prevented from doing so by the city authorities,” National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera told Anadolu Agency.

He said protestors were not granted approval to hold a vigil in the city that is currently hosting the 41st Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit meetings.

The southeast African nation of about 18 million is hosting the summit from Aug. 9 - 18 with more than 10 African leaders expected on Aug. 17.

Kadadzera said Namiwa, who leads a local civil society group, the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, will be taken to court after 48 hours where he will be charged accordingly.

Several people have also been arrested for joining the protests which were meant to force parliament to act on individuals involved in the smuggling of a loan authorization bill to the National Assembly in June.

The bill was meant to allow the government to borrow €98,360,000 (4116,473,978, or Malawi kwacha K93 billion) to finance the construction of houses for police and defense forces.

The country’s attorney general and finance minister did not approve the bill to go to parliament.

The scandal resulted in the dismissal of President Lazarus Chakwera’s special advisor Pastor Martin Thom. Investigations by the president revealed Thom played a role to fast track the loan process.