Despite signing an agreement, a protocol and diplomatic agreement with the Government of the Republic of Malawi, Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has asked donors to state their agenda in the small impoverished southern African country of about 13 million people.

The former African Union (AU) chairperson and Malawi’s third president since independence wondered why foreign ambassadors have breached diplomatic agreement with his government. They have accepted a petition from the country’s civil society who say Malawi’s human rights standards are deteriorating.

“What is your agenda? What is your agenda in Malawi?” he charged at the weekend broadcast live on public radio.

“Let me remind you. You cannot undermine the government which you have signed a diplomatic agreement in order to support NGOs,” said Mutharika. In any case, he added, the donors are outside the Geneva convention, falling short of naming foreign envoys in his line of fire.

A few days ago the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) through its Programme Manager, Levi Mvula, and Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) through its Executive Director, Gift Trapence, presented a petition to the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of the Malawian civil society.

Angered, Mutharika warned he would deal with the activists for reporting him to UN, accusing them of giving calculative wrong impression of issues to gain mileage.

“Mwakasungula and others are lying to you (donors) because they just want a job. He wants to be given money for survival. Most of these NGOs you are dealing with are made up of people who are unemployable, they are people who have no credentials but they are smart,” he charged.

“They find out what donors want to hear and then they go and say exactly that, they go and attack government on issues that are irrelevant. Unfortunately, you listen to them, you give them money. When they finish they pick up another issue and come back to you,” added Mutharika.

Civil society organizations say Mutharika’s administration has lost track. They site his bringing unconstitutional decrees like on paying a MK2 to 5 million cash bond before holding demonstrations; arresting peaceful demonstrators; accenting to amendment of Section 46 which gives powers to a minister of information and civic education, among many others.

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