Setback for third term campaign

A controversial campaign to allow President Bakili Muluzi to stand for a third term in office received a set back on Thursday, when the tabling of a parliamentary private member's bill to amend the constitution was postponed. Opposition Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) MP, Khwauli Msiska, was expected to present the bill that would clear the way for Muluzi's bid for a third term in 2004. But Speaker of Parliament Sam Mpasu announced late on Wednesday - to silence from the ruling United Democratic Party (UDF) bench and booing from opposition deputies - that Msiska had written to him to defer the motion. "Following repeated appeals for more time to allow for more extensive consultations on my proposed private member's bill, I am persuaded that given the importance of the matter to be tabled, the introduction of both the relevant motion and the bill be deferred to a later date," read Msiska's letter in part. A local newspaper reported on Thursday that Msiska has bowed to pressure from his Karonga Nyungwe constituency, which had petitioned him to drop the bill entirely or resign. "Honourable Khwauli (Msiska) is betraying us his constituents, this is a slap on our face, and for sure he has not consulted us to know our views on the amendment. We do not support the amendment and, therefore, disassociate ourselves from his utterances," the paper quoted a letter bearing 1,500 signatures. But Msiska denied that he had received such a letter. "It's a fabrication. I've not seen any communication to that effect," he told IRIN on Thursday. Msiska said he would table his bill during the current session of parliament, which is expected to wind up business in the next two weeks. "I'll have to consult with the speaker to come up with a date," he said. AFORD chief whip, Wallis Chiume, told IRIN on Wednesday that a delegation of four Western envoys comprising the British high commissioner, US ambassador, Norwegian ambassador and European Union representative had called on the party president last week to persuade Msiska to reschedule the bill to another date to allow for wider consultations. "There have been a lot of calls from different quarters that the debate had been stifled. AFORD had a delegation from the diplomatic corps. And also to give time to our members of parliament to consult," Chiume said. "We thought they had a point. And he wrote the letter to the speaker today to reschedule the debate which will definitely be this session." A two-third majority is required for the bill to be passed in parliament, where the UDF holds about 40 percent of seats, although there are factions among the opposition working with the UDF. These include AFORD's president and some key members of the party. Msiska's proposal to end presidential term limits has met with overwhelming protest from local human rights NGOs, churches and the Western donor community. There have been calls for either the scrapping of the proposed bill or a referendum, amid memories of the dark days of autocratic rule under "President for Life" Hastings Kamazu Banda. Chijere Chirwa, a political scientist, told IRIN that deferring the amendment bill was an indication that the pressure was beginning to tell. "That is simply a reaction to public opinion. The public opinion is becoming too strong," he said. Chirwa said he doubted the amendment would be tabled during the current session of parliament because the budget was due to be presented on Friday, and would be followed by debate. Chirwa said it was likely the bill would be pushed to the next sitting of parliament in December. He added that, given the scale of protest, Msiska's bill could even be dropped all together. But as the agitation has grown, the police have warned they would enforce a ban by Muluzi on demonstrations over the third term issue. At least 200 armed police were deployed this week to the University of Malawi campus, in the sleepy town of Zomba, some 68 km northeast of Blantyre. A police officer in the town told IRIN that the reinforcements were ordered in after rumours spread that university students were planning a major street protest should parliament go ahead with the debate on the proposed amendment bill. Edge Kanyongolo, head of the university's law faculty, said the heavy police presence was making residents jumpy. "Living in Zomba is like living in a different country. There is nowhere in Zomba you can be without bumping into a group of armed police officers fingering automatic rifles." Roadblocks have been erected on the main road leading to the university campus. Chancellor College, the main college of the University of Malawi, has been a political hotbed since the country's Catholic bishops issued a historic pastoral letter in 1992 that signalled the end of Banda's three decade dictatorship. A top Malawian lawyer, who requested not to be named, said Malawi risked returning to the bad old days and throwing away the democratic gains achieved with the first multiparty elections in 1994. "I think we have gone back to the 1970s. It is the beginning of repression," he told IRIN. Last week, the police prevented United States Agency for Development (USAID)-funded public debates in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu on the third term issue. In Blantyre, in a show of force, more than 30 police were backed by an armoured car and told people coming to attend the meeting that it had been cancelled. Meanwhile, the state-owned Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has threatened to withdraw the broadcasting licence from the one-year-old Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) radio station for allegedly biased editorial comments and newscasts. James Ng'ombe, the director of MIJ, told IRIN that in a letter and an even sterner verbal warning, MACRA had not provided a specific example of the alleged bias. Ng'ombe said MACRA was accusing the community radio of broadcasting beyond its authorised 35 km radius in Blantyre. He said MIJ FM was originally meant to reach one million listeners, but that figure had doubled and the signal could even be picked up on the Mozambican border. The Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a regional media watchdog, has criticised MACRA for threatening MIJ radio. They alleged the public broadcasters, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi (TVM), routinely aired programmes blatantly in favour of the ruling UDF.