Third term divides ruling party

A High Court in Malawi has reversed a presidential decree banning demonstrations linked to President Bakili Muluzi's alleged bid for a third term of office. During a rally in May, Muluzi banned demonstrations either in favour or against a campaign for him to run for an unconstitutional third five-year term, and ordered the army and police to "deal" with anyone who defied the order. But Judge Edward Twea said in his ruling on Tuesday: "The president has no powers to make laws ... If he was addressing the rally as head of state, he could have put the directives in writing, citing the constitution and forwarded it to parliament." Twea's ruling was the latest setback for the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) attempts to change the constitution to allow Muluzi to stand again in 2004. As the political temperature rises in Malawi, the UDF has faced mounting opposition from NGOs, churches and Western governments over the third-term issue. In what appeared to be a response to the pressure, in a national address earlier this month, Muluzi urged members of parliament (MPs) to prioritise the country's food crisis and not the third-term issue. "At this time when our people are starving, it seems irresponsible and hard-hearted to pre-occupy ourselves with politics, especially when the next general elections are not [due] until 2004," Muluzi said. Muluzi has maintained an official silence on whether he intends to run again in 2004. But Justice Minister Duncan Phoya had announced that the government would re-table a bill in October proposing an amendment to the constitution, after an earlier attempt was narrowly defeated in July. However, the UDF has reportedly begun to split on the issue, and some party members have publically declared their opposition to an amendment. MP and former deputy agriculture minister Joe Manduwa, told IRIN: "I told the president that I don't want him to contest for the third term. I also told him that even if you pass the bill, you'll not be the one to reap the benefits because the force [against you] out there is too great." For advising the president to withdraw, Manduwa was expelled from the UDF and his parliamentary seat was declared vacant. But a High Court re-instated him, together with another renegade, ex-deputy finance minister Jan-Jaap Sonke, who was fired earlier this month. Sonke said that "I begged him to withdraw before a lot of damage was done." He told IRIN that he felt the UDF would lose the 2004 election if the bill to amend the constitution was passed, and donors would halt aid to Malawi. Sonke's concerns were shared by Jeoff Shaba, deputy director for Malawi CARER, a human rights NGO that provides counselling services on civil and political rights. Malawi CARER is one of 40 human rights NGOs opposing the third-term bid. "The donors are not happy. If the bill is approved, that will be the beginning of conflict, not the end. Because he [Muluzi] will want to cling to power when people don't want him," Shaba said. "The president has lost direction, his party has lost direction, [and] the whole country has lost direction. They are leading us into an abyss." According to Sonke, at least 10 other ruling party MPs would not support the bill if it was tabled, but were too afraid to declare that publicly. "We have established a democracy in Malawi but the [ruling] party does not behave according to democratic principles. One of my colleagues, an MP, told me that if he had a gun, he would blow my head off. That's the pressure we have," Sonke said. In parliament on Wednesday, a member of the ruling party reportedly roughed up a local journalist, Gideon Munthali, for asking whether he had received a petition from his constituency asking him to vote against the third-term bill if it ever came to the national assembly. Another MP had also received a written petition asking him to vote against the bill.