Malawi Human Rights Commission angers Ex- Malawi Young Pioneers
Former Malawi Young Pioneer (MYP) officers Thursday sent back a team from Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) after it proposed that the commission is ready to help them if they call off their vigil.
The group has been holding the vigil since July 2017, demanding payment of terminal benefits amounting to K1.6 billion.
According to the Task force Leader, Franco Chilemba, MHRC Executive Secretary, David Nungu, and three other officials set calling off of the vigil as a condition for their intervention on the matter.
Chilemba said this follows a letter that the group wrote to various human rights bodies seeking their intervention on the government’s delays to release payment of their dues.
“We sought their help as a human rights body which represents people like us, whose rights are being violated. But, to our surprise, he is coming here giving us a condition to leave the place if we want them to be our mediator on the matter. We cannot allow that,” he said
He said, if the group is to leave the place, the government must first pay them K500,000 President Peter Mutharika declared as a bonus to them.
“We think now he is politically affiliated. He cannot come here and narrate stories. We wrote them a letter to help us,” he said.
Nungu confirmed receiving a complaint on the government’s delays to address their grievances as well as challenges associated with their vigil.
He said the commission met the group on Tuesday, when they sought to find out if they had confidence in the commission so that MHRC could take up their complaint .
The ex-MYPs were also asked if they would prefer to use a vigil in seeking redress to their complaints.
“We gave them until Wednesday, 25 October 2017 to revert to the commission. Our proposal to them was based on their forgoing plight. We expressly feared, with the possibility of the rains starting, that the environmental issue would result, for instance, in a cholera outbreak which would even be more costly to arrest. On Wednesday, the complainants responded in writing to commission with a mixed position,” Nungu said.
He added: “On the one hand, they would indeed require the intervention of the commission. At the same time, they would rely on their vigil and leave only after government addresses their complaint.”
He said the commission is committed to handling the matter but said they are of the view that the complainants’ attitude is irrational, considering that the government has not refused to remedy their grievances.
Apart from MHRC, the ex- MYPs also sought the intervention of Mutharika and Parliament.
Despite their petitions, not much has been done on their concerns.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
