Munawwarah Islamic Organisation has become the first Islamic organization in Malawi to come out of the cocoon to condemn mass protests organised by Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) scheduled to take place on January 17.
Addressing journalists on Sunday, January 13 in Blantyre, Munawwarah Chairperson Erick Jaffali Ali said reasons raised by CAMA are not satisfactory to hold demonstrations.
“…as civil society organization, [we] would like to express our disagreement over the impending demonstration organized by Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA). With hindsight over the political and economic climate in the past 8 months, we are of the view that the country is just recovering from the sickbed. Therefore, we should not expect too much from the current administration in the meantime,” said the chairman.
The chairperson also said CAMA should not forget that problems rocking the country were inherited from the previous regime.
He cited the sour relationship between the previous regime and donors as one of the factors that contributed to the trailing economy after donors pulled out their aid support.
Munawwarah further said CAMA should take advantage of the current administration ‘which is a listening and responsive to issues affecting citizens.’
“The country experienced fuel and forex scarcity, therefore with all these economic ills; we shouldn’t expect the economy to transform overnight. The government has opened its door to dialogue; therefore, we shouldn’t act as if all options are exhausted. Thinking of conducting demonstrations, in our view as Munawwarah, sounds too forward,” he said.
CAMA has vowed to go into streets against government’s failure to address the current economic challenges which, it says, have come as a result of Kwacha devaluation.
Several churches including CCAP and Anglican have also expressed their disagreements with the demonstrations saying they don’t know the objectives of the protests as there is still room for dialogue.
Malawi Muslims’ mother body Muslim Association of Malawi is yet to make statement on the matter.
Meanwhile reports reaching this website indicate that divisions have rocked the demonstration’s organising committee with some pulling out saying they want to give dialogue with government a chance.
