Malawi Presbyterians do U-turn on new president 

by Hobbs Gama
Ecumenical News International

BLANTYRE, Malawi — The Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian has expressed its approval about the efforts of recently elected Malawian President, Bingu wa Mutharika, to promote good governance and wage war against corruption.

      “We are encouraging you to go ahead with this difficult task,” said a statement signed by the synod’s newly elected moderator, the Rev. Mezuwa Banda and general secretary Howard Matiya Nkhoma.

      The statement marks a turnaround by the synod, one of the three institutions of the Presbyterian church in Malawi, after it had earlier indicated it would not accept Mutharika’s presidency on the grounds he had won through a rigged ballot.

      When the economist-turned president invited churches to his official residence in Blantyre to map out a reconciliation strategy after the disputed results of the May 20 general elections, the Livingstonia Synod shunned him. They questioned his overtures to the church while the poll was still being challenged by the opposition in the courts.

      Mutharika was appointed as presidential candidate by his predecessor Bakili Muluzi. But the opposition, leaders in the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches and civil associations had felt it was a unilateral attempt to prolong the former president’s reign in a nation declared as one of the world’s poorest by the United Nations.

      Memories are still fresh of seven people killed after police opened fire on opposition members irate at what they saw as biased conduct by the Malawi electoral Commission during the poll.

      But since the election, civil society, politicians and churches have all praised Mutharika for his policy of “zero tolerance on corruption” after expressing their skepticism about the poll.

      Six former cabinet ministers who served in the administration of his predecessor are facing investigations by the official Anti-Corruption Bureau, while a manager for a government-linked oil company was sentenced in August to a six-year jail term for embezzlement.

       The clergy urged the president to act swiftly on issues that cause irregularities in the electoral process preventing Malawi from having free and fair elections.

      Of Malawi’s 12 million population, about 75 per cent are Christian, the Catholic church being the largest denomination followed by the Presbyterian church.