Hajat apologises for street vigil cancellation

The director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI) Rafik Hajat has apologised to the nation for the cancellation on nationwide street vigil which he, in part, attributed to threats the civil society groups were receiving in the run-up to the event.

Hajat whose offices were petro-bombed by regime thugs three weeks ago, accepted blame for creating confusion which led to the cancellations of the street vigils on Wednesday September 21

"My action has led to the disappointment and I apologise and I accept liability," Hajat told a private broadcaster Capital FM.

"I must however say that we have suffered huge losses. Our offices have been burned to the ground… but if people are still disappointed with us, I would say that we should better walk the talk and tell us what you want us to do and show us how to do it," he said.

Hajat: We should better walk the tal

The civil society groups are demanding President Bingu wa Mutharika to respond to a petition calling on him to account for his wealth, address the chronic fuel and forex shortages.

Hajat said the activists have been intimidated threatened. His offices arson attack was followed by another fire which burned down the home of the acting national coordinator for a local NGO that was also supporting the vigils, the Malawi Human Rights Consultative Committee.

However, Mzuzu University political commentator Noel Mbowela told the same radio that the cancellation of the vigils would likely cause some supporters to lose trust in the civil society organisations.

"The most unfortunate thing is how the confidence they [civil society leaders] have lost from the people is going to [negatively] impact on their future agendas whereby people will not take them seriously anymore and will not rally behind their calls even if it could be genuine and very important that time," said Mbowela.

Nonetheless, Billy Mayaya  a leading figure in the rights group Civic and Political Space Platform,  said the stay-away was a success "as business stood to a standstill"  in response to the civil society group's call.

According to Mayaya, the national wide stoppage had sent a “powerful message to government that people are unsatisfied with economic and political governance.”

Nyasa Times 22 Sep, 2011

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Source: http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/09/22/hajat-apologises-for-street-vigil-cancellation/
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