As chief awarded honorary degrees, let us honor our own past and present heroes

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PIX of Chief Dr. Kachindamoto with Malawi diplomats, 2015

By Janet Karim

Dream like Martin, Reclaim like Maxine, Think like Garvey, Fight like Malcolm, Challenge like Rosa, Speak like Fredrick, Write like Maya, Build like Madam C.J., Educate like W.E.B., Lead like Harriet, and Inspire like Obama. – Black History Month commemoration plaque of just a few of African American heroes, 2024

 Opinionate like Janet Z. Karim by giving opinions that are laced with solutions! – Janet Zeenat Karim, 2024

The ngoma drums and nsindo dancers are still resounding with great joy this week Kumangoni lands in Malawi and in the diaspora: Chief Theresa Kachindamoto was this past week awarded two honorary PhD degrees by two Belgium universities. As Chief of Dedza district, she has authority over more than 900,000 people. She is known for her forceful action in dissolving child marriages and insisting on education for both girls and boys, footing the tuition bills of those who cannot afford the cost of tuition at secondary level.

According to Nation Online, the two Belgium universities, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University in Belgium) and Université Catholique (UC) de Louvain have accorded Chief Kachindamoto of Dedza the joint honorary degrees for her work that champions women’s and children’s rights in her area. At the onset of her rise to her campaign, the media often referred to her as the Child Marriage Terminator, Malawians may now call her Chief Dr. Theresa Kachindamoto.

I first met Chief Dr. Kachindamoto when she was part of the entourage of former Gender Minister Patricia Kaliati at the 2015 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Malawi Parliament had earlier in 2015 passed into law the raising of the age of marriage to 18 years, being the first country to legally outlaw child marriage in Malawi. She spoke eloquently relating her work in her area of authority that includes Dedza, how by that time she had terminated over 300 marriages involving children (girls and boys). She also told the stunned delegations from 194 countries how after terminating the marriage, she found herself paying for school fees (especially for the girls) of the former married students.

Among the pictures Dr. Kachindamoto painted was that of young girls either being taken out of school by parents who cannot afford to pay for school fees, or young girls being married off to pay a debt owed by the family. As a member of the audience, it was exciting to listen to the Chief speak so passionately about issues that the UN SADC (Southern African Development Community) group had painstakingly outlined in our Resolution calling for the end to the global scourge of child, early, and forced child marriage. As a member state of SADC, the Malawi Mission to the UN, joined fellow delegates advocating for an end to the practice of child, early, and forced marriage that was noted to be a global menace that impinges on the human rights of young girls and boys.

The times were great moments to work at the UN as a Malawian; in 2012 Malawi had its first female President, dr. Joyce Banda. As she elaborated and underscored the village-level campaign to have all pregnant women have their babies delivered  at health centers or hospitals, Chief Kachindamoto’s work on terminating marriages coupled with the promise of school fees. Thus in my Malawi, while chiefs were insisting on “no pregnant women will deliver their babies in my village,” Dr. Kachindamoto was decreeing “There shall be no child marriage in my district.”

The brass and brave decree morphed fast into a By-Law; the actions of the Child Marriage Terminator was applauded for the noble, laudable, and refreshing game-changing actions for the benefits got national and later global attention. Her exposure at the UN the 2015 CSW led to invitations to be guest speaker at UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNICEF; all three benefit from the cross-cutting nature of banning child, early, and forced marriage.

It has been close to 10 years since Chief Kachindamoto’s debut at the UN. When I had the opportunity to talk with her in the corridors of the United Nations, it was an awesome feast to witness the Chief rise to the level of global recognition and the honorary degree accolade. As I sing and dance like an avid fan on steroids, I wonder what were all the two honorary degrees from UNIMA and MZUNI to the former first ladies in the previous administrations, all about? Comparatively-speaking, were their achievements of grander substances as Chief Dr. Kachindamoto? 

Do honorary degrees have to be awarded to our local heroes from foreign and distant countries? UNIMA, MZUNI, MUBAS, and the Lilongwe Uni, where are your honorary degrees for local heroes? Malawi has truckloads of  heroes (past and present). Regrettably, Malawians – the educated and not, eloquent, and not so eloquent, should they be waiting to be called to another country to be awarded the coveted honorary? Or does it mean the foreign and distant universities are beating unnecessary drums or drums without a cause for our honorary degree recipients? Many of these questions are water under the bridge; but very suspicious murky waters.

The answer is that maybe Malawians just do not care about its heroes: it has a truckload of heroes, both past and present. Regrettably to the credit of the educated and not, the eloquent and not, the political and not,  all that would rather criticize, find fault, go past the light of some local person’s thunder, arrive and get immersed into Critique Zone. The opportunity to appreciate, elevate, and enjoy the success of a fellow Malawian evaporates ever so fast. This must stop.

A very big case in point is the story of William Kamkwamba, who in my opinion, deserves one from three main constituent colleges of UNIMA.) Kamkwamba is an inventor, engineer, and author. Before he graduated from secondary school, he built a wind turbine to power multiple electrical appliances in his parent’s house in Kasungu. He used blue gum trees, discarded bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. The lad was whisked away to SA where he attended British system secondary school then air-lifted to the US where he graduated from Dartmouth College. He has since built a solar-powered water pump, which supplies drinking water to his village. He has been a guest speaker to the renowned TED talk shows. And the book recounting his amazing story, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, was turned into a film.

The country has someone from its soil who builds solar -powered water pumps and yet we are still yapping about load shedding and power blackouts?! The Kamkwamba story pains me because of Malawi’s reluctance to embrace and celebrate its heroes. This is a call out to the UNIMA colleges (past and present, please excuse me that I do not agree with the breakup of the original UNIMA), these must scrape up on their research prowess and find all the brilliant Malawi minds that did, have done, or are doing great things, worthy of the honorary degree.

Here is my short list of heroes that must be awarded honorary degrees:

1.     Former Official Hostess, Mama C. Tamanda Kadzamira (dedication to service in transition to democracy).

2.     Bakili Muluzi (successfully steering Malawians to life after Kamuzu Banda, former first, and Life President of Malawi).

3.     ConCourt Justices (delivering brilliant verdict on the 2019 flawed presidential elections.

4.     Dr. Joyce Banda (showing Malawians and the world “Yes, she can!”).

5.     Former first female Chief Justice Anastasia Msosa (worked brilliantly in one party and multi-party environments with great aplomb).

6.     Justice Andrew Nyirenda (for integrity and ensuring the rule of law and respect to our constitution prevail).

7.     Gregory Gondwe (for the tenacity to unveil the truth behind the news.

By the way, all Malawians, systems, and institutions should keep very keen eyes on our Chief Dr. Kachindamoto. She is fighting child marriage and promoting the welfare of women’s rights and empowerment; let us help her in her campaign that there is integrity of school curriculums  in our schools. Since Belgium is part of the EU, (an organization that has blackmailed African countries and others – ACP-EU NPA – to sign a document with values that are not our values. Under the banner of human rights, the EU aims to get Malawi and other African countries to change the laws governing pregnancy, contraceptives, right to abortion and the rights of same-sex couples. Malawi should not allow such deceptive agendas to slip into the Chief’s campaign.

UNIMA, please start giving out the degrees to numerous Malawian heroes and sheroes. All quiet on this front is no longer an option: start dishing out them honorary degrees! Kamkwamba should get at least three.

Caption: In the picture below: Chief Dr. Theresa Kachindamoto, in March 2015 when she visited the UN to talk about ending child marriage in her constituency. Seen here with the Malawi Mission to UN diplomats and staff.  – Photo by Robert Michael

Pakistan’s Election Outcomes Leave Many Unhappy

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Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Crime & Justice, Economy & Trade, Featured, Headlines, Human Rights, Press Freedom, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

Credit: Rebecca Conway/Getty Images

LONDON, Feb 22 2024 (IPS) – Pakistan’s 8 February election has resulted in an uneasy compromise that few wanted or expected. There’s little indication the outcome is going to reverse recent regression in civic freedoms.

Army calls the shots

Around 128 million people can vote in Pakistan, but it’s the army, the sixth-biggest in the world, that’s always had the upper hand. In recent decades, it’s preferred to exert its power by strongly influencing the civilian government rather than outright military rule. Prime ministers have allied with the military to win power and been forced out when disagreements set in. No prime minister has ever served a full term.

In April 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. But it was common knowledge this was the military’s will. Khan, having cosied up to the generals to come to power in 2018, had publicly and vocally fallen out with them over economic and foreign policy. He had to go.

Khan’s fall from grace was swift. He survived an assassination attempt in November 2022. In December 2023, he was barred from running in the election. Just ahead of voting he was found guilty in three separate trials, with the longest sentence being 14 years. Bushara Bibi, Khan’s wife, was jailed too.

The army turned to a former foe, Nawaz Sharif, three times previously prime minister. After he last fell out of favour in 2017, he was forced out and found guilty of corruption. Yet for this election he’d evidently patched things up enough to become the army’s favoured anti-Khan candidate.

A catalogue of restrictions

But voters didn’t go along with the army’s choice. Candidates running as independents but affiliated with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the most seats, albeit short of an outright majority. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came second, with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), its partner in the 2022 coalition of convenience that replaced Khan, third.

This was a shock result, given the obstacles placed in the PTI’s way. The government postponed the election from November to February so, it said, it could hold a census. The suspicion was that the move was to allow more time to prosecute Khan and lean on his party’s politicians to swap allegiances.

Sure enough, some PTI representatives were banned from standing and others faced harassment and violence seeking to persuade them to distance themselves from Khan. In the biggest blow, PTI candidates were banned from using Khan’s cricket bat symbol on ballot papers. Symbols are crucial for mobilising party support, since over 40 per cent of people are unable to read. PTI candidates were forced to run as independents.

There was never any prospect of equal space for campaigning. Last year, the media regulator applied a de facto ban on mentioning Khan’s name on TV. In August 2023, it directed TV channels not to give airtime to 11 people, among them Khan and journalists considered sympathetic towards him. As the election neared, the military interfered in the media on a daily basis, telling them which stories to run.

Given these constraints, and the near impossibility of holding physical rallies, PTI used online opportunities. Khan kept up a virtual presence through AI-generated videos. WhatsApp was used to inform PTI supporters which independent candidates to vote for.

But constraints came here too. When the PTI organised an online rally in December, authorities blocked access to major social media platforms and slowed the internet down. On election day, they imposed a full internet and mobile data shutdown for the first time in Pakistan’s electoral history. The authorities claimed they’d done so on security grounds – the Islamic State terrorist group carried out two deadly bombings the day before – but it made independent oversight of voting and counting much harder. Further restrictions on Twitter followed after the results were out.

This pressure on the PTI and its supporters came on top of the ongoing repression of civic freedoms by successive governments. Pakistani authorities have continued to criminalise, threaten and harass human rights activists, restrict online freedoms, intimidate journalists, censor media and violently repress peaceful protests, particularly by women’s rights activists and people from the Baloch and Pashtun ethnic groups.

Uncertainty ahead

Despite the highly unlevel playing field, results show that many took the opportunity the election offered to communicate discontent with military influence, a political establishment dominated by two families and the dire economic conditions. A youthful population has found something appealing in Khan’s fiery populist rhetoric.

But what’s resulted is something few voters likely wanted. The PML-N and PPP quickly announced a resumption of their coalition. The PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif’s brother, is set to return as prime minister. It would appear to be a coalition united by little more than a determination to keep the PTI out of power, suggesting a weak and fractious government will result.

Strong opposition can be expected. PTI supporters aren’t accepting this quietly. The party claims rigged votes denied it more seats. Thousands have protested and numerous legal cases have been filed. Their claims were given credence when an official in Rawalpindi stepped forward to say he’d been involved in election rigging. One politician from a minor party also announced he was renouncing his seat because the vote had been rigged to exclude the PTI-backed candidate.

Khan is no democratic hero. When he was in power and enjoyed the military’s favour, he used the same tools of repression now being applied to him and his party. Civic space conditions worsened under Khan and there’s been no let-up since.

The bigger problem is a system where the military calls the shots, sets the parameters that elected governments must stay within and actively works to suppress dissent. With many young voters angry and wanting change, problems can only be building up for the future. It’s vital that civic space be opened up so people have peaceful means to express dissent, seek change and hold power to account.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

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Snowless Winter and a Climate Crisis: Kashmir’s ‘Unprecedented’ Weather

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Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Climate Change, Climate Change Justice, Editors’ Choice, Environment, Featured, Food and Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Headlines, Natural Resources, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations

Climate Change

Local Muslims held special prayer ceremonies in January for snowfall. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

Local Muslims held special prayer ceremonies in January for snowfall. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

SRINAGAR, India, Feb 20 2024 (IPS) – Abdul Gani Malik, a 75-year-old goldsmith living in Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, has witnessed eras of tranquility and turbulence in the Himalayan region. What he has not seen, however, is a snowless Kashmir during the winter.

Malik still works at his shop, located in one of the jam-packed markets of the old city area of Kashmir’s capital, intricately lacing colorful emeralds on dazzling gold necklaces. While conversing with IPS, he mentions that the winter in Kashmir has never been so terrible and terrifying as it has been this year.

He recalls how, during the 40-day harshest winter period from December 21 to January 30, snow would accumulate to about six or seven feet, freezing and making pathways treacherous even for city dwellers. In the mountainous region, according to Malik, the snow would last for several months, regulating temperatures during the summer and providing water and food.

“Now is a different tale. The mountains appear dry and dead. The rivers are carrying no water, and our woods are bereft of life. This is an absolute apocalypse,” Malik said.

The region of Kashmir is located in the north-western complex of the Himalayan ranges, with marked relief variation, snow-capped summits, antecedent drainage, complex geological structure, and rich temperate vegetation and fauna.

Kashmir’s winter is traditionally divided into three parts: Chilay Kalan (old man winter), Chilay Khuarud (young winter), and Chilay Bacha (kiddy winter). The coldest part, called Chilay Kalan, starts on December 21 and ends at the end of January. It is during this period that snowfall is expected.

“The temperatures during this period plummet to even minus 8 to 10 degrees Celsius, and when it snows, it accumulates in glaciers. The snowfall in the later period is of no use,” says Abdul Ghani Malik.

He was part of the congregational prayers held across Kashmir for snowfall. Local Muslims, who constitute more than 90 percent of the local population, decided in January to hold special prayers for snowfall in all major mosques. “We prayed, and we hope God listens to our plight.”

According to Abid Ali, a student of environmental sciences from Kashmir, Kashmir’s livelihood depends on snowfall, and if it doesn’t snow, things are going to take a terrible shape.

“The region’s electricity system, agriculture, and tourism are all dependent on snowfall. The dry winter will prove catastrophic for the local populace,” Abid said.

Kashmir, as per estimates, reported a 79 percent precipitation deficit through December of last year. Indian meteorologists claim that unusual weather is linked to global warming and El Niño, the sporadic climate phenomenon that can create warm, dry conditions in the Indian subcontinent and other parts of Asia.

A man walks through an area in Kashmir where low snowfall is causing concern as the region’s economy is highly dependent on it. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

A man walks through an area in Kashmir where low snowfall is causing concern as the region’s economy is highly dependent on it. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

Threat to Agriculture

In Kashmir, 60 percent of the state’s revenue comes from agriculture and horticulture, and about 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas.

However, over the years, the valley has experienced irregular patterns of precipitation. In the first five months of 2022, Kashmir saw a 38 percent rain shortage, according to data provided by the Meteorological Department (MeT) in Srinagar.

The data reveals that the Kashmir Valley has experienced a significant lack of pre-monsoon precipitation over the years. From March 1 to May 31, 2022, the region got 99.5 mm of rain, 70 percent lower than average.

Comparatively, between March and May of each of the following years—2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021—there was a deficit of 16, 28, 35, and 26 percent, respectively. The dry winter this year is already throwing life out of gear for the farmers.

Abdul Karim Ganaie, a farmer hailing from south Kashmir’s Pulwama, says the threats are menacingly looming large, and people cannot do anything other than watch helplessly as the crisis unfolds.

When IPS contacted Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal, the director of agriculture in Kashmir, he stated that the department was closely monitoring the situation and would be issuing a warning to the farmers in the coming months.

“We accept that the situation is going to prove worrisome for Kashmir’s farming community, but we have to adopt a strategy to ensure minimal losses. We are working on that front,” Choudhary said.

Tourism under Cloud

The famous tourist destinations in Kashmir are also witnessing a dip in tourist arrivals, putting the people associated with this business in dire straits. In January, the famous tourist resorts recorded the lowest arrival of foreign and domestic tourists, with only 30 percent occupancy in hotels.

It snows at last but too little, too late!

Finally, in the first week of February, when the harshest 40-day-long spell was already over, it snowed in most of the areas of Kashmir. However, according to experts, the snow would yield the fewest results as it is not possible to accumulate for an extended period.

What is important, says Mehraj Ahmad, a research scholar working on climate change in Kashmir, is that the snow must accumulate in the higher reaches for as long as possible until the arrival of summers.

“The snowfall of February or March carries the least significance when compared with the snowfall of January. Therefore, we really are keeping our fingers crossed and praying for the safeguard of our lives against the dark, dreadful effects of climate change,” Ahmad said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report, India, Kashmir

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Forced Migration Grows, Justice Withers, Say Activists at World Social Forum

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Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, Inequality, Migration & Refugees

Migration & Refugees

"Governments are not motivated to fix migrants’ issues because the money they send home keeps their economies running" Credit: Shutterstock

“Governments are not motivated to fix migrants’ issues because the money they send home keeps their economies running” Credit: Shutterstock

KATHMANDU, Feb 19 2024 (IPS) – As involuntary migration rises around the world, partly in response to the impacts of climate change, justice for those leaving their homes and families to earn a living is largely missing, said activists meeting at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Kathmandu on Sunday.

In various sessions, participants from Europe, northern Africa and Latin America detailed governments squeezing doors shut on migrants trying to enter their countries. Disturbing stories from Asia focused on individuals falling victim to employers and traffickers as their governments looked the other way while profiting from migrants’ income remitted home.

The WSF ends in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Monday. During the annual event global activists gather to discuss issues ranging from education to debt relief, legalization of sex work, and poor farmers’ lack of control over their land and resources.

“One of the women we talked to told us that she had to sleep with six to seven men daily for six months. The saddest part is the employer’s wife regularly gave her a pill so she wouldn’t get pregnant,” said a researcher with the Bangladeshi organization OKUP. “Another worker was diagnosed with colon cancer: his employer sent him home without paying a single bit of his salary.”

OKUP hosted the session, Climate Change, Migration and Modern Slavery, to share its report documenting the treatment given to migrant workers from coastal regions in Bangladesh who were forced to leave after the impacts of climate change destroyed their farms and other livelihoods.

Research found that 51% of households migrated after being hit by cyclones, floods, salt water intrusion in their fields, erratic rainfall and other climate disasters. “There is no sustainable adaptation opportunities for them. In most cases people receive assistance from the government after disasters, but there is no sustainable assistance. That’s why people rely on loans to rebuild their houses or restart their farming activities,” said OKUP Chairperson Shakirul Islam.

“Before they can repay the money they experience the next cycle of climate emergency,” he added, making them desperate to go earn money elsewhere in the country or abroad.

Eighty-six percent of those displaced migrate within the country; 14% internationally. En route 90% face excessive fees, 81% do not get a promised work permit and 78% have their salaries held back. “I strongly believe that the same situation is present in other countries in South Asia,” said Islam.

Chairperson of the Bangladeshi organization OKUP, (standing far right) introduces the session Climate Change, Migration and Modern Slavery at the World Social Forum on Sunday, Feb. 18. Credit: Marty Logan/IPS

Shakirul Islam, Chairperson of the Bangladeshi organization OKUP, (standing far right) introduces the session Climate Change, Migration and Modern Slavery at the World Social Forum on Sunday, Feb. 18. Credit: Marty Logan/IPS

Malaysian activist Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna cautioned the group to not blame climate change for the migrants’ problems. “The fear I have is governments using climate change to justify migration. They will say ‘that’s why we have to send our migrants out’. They have done this to justify migration due to poverty.

“The discussion has to be that climate change is real and how the government’s policies are contributing to climate change,” added Kishna, from the organization Our Journey, which provides legal support to migrants and refugees.

In another discussion in another classroom just minutes later and only metres away, activists from India were learning about a hotline created after COVID-19 to help migrant workers in distress. In less than one year, the Migrant Assistance and Information Network has responded to 800-plus calls, said its director, Dr Martin Puthussery.

The cases include 40 deaths (19 accidents, 15 accidents, 6 suicides), 20 instances of forced labour and 16 cases of legal aid or mediation, involving wage theft, delayed payments illegal confinements and imprisonments.

During the question-answer session a participant from northern Bihar state noted that migration is a must because “everything is closed down. Where do the people of Bihar go to earn their livelihood?”

“Can we ourselves create small industries?” she asked. “We can’t depend on the government.”

Governments are not motivated to fix migrants’ issues because the money they send home keeps their economies running, said Arie Kurniawaty from Solidaritas Perempuan in Indonesia at one of the day’s last sessions, Call for Migration Coordination within the WSF in Kathmandu.

“The basic problem is the perspectives of our governments, which think that migrant workers are a commodity… They will try to send many migrant workers abroad without considering if their situation will be good or bad,” added Kurniawaty.

Other speakers in the session, which covered France, Africa, Palestine and Latin America as well as Asia, noted rising numbers of migrants but increasing hostility to them, led by governments.

In Latin America, governments’ actions are linked to rising racism and xenophobia, said Patricia Gainza from the World Social Forum on Migrations. “This is nothing new but in this case we’ve had some very bad decisions by governments, like Peru, who invite people to come but later, for political reasons, pushed them out.”

In Europe, the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, of December 2023, “encourages informal and confidential agreements between European countries and migrant-sending countries that are not legally binding, so that the European Parliament will not have to ratify them,” said Glauber Sezerino of the Paris-based Centre de Recherche et d’Information pour le Développement. “The pact tries to encourage more and more of this kind of agreement, so you can expect more violation of human rights” of migrant workers, he added.

In North Africa, governments are increasingly dominating debate on migration policies, “leaving little room for civil society,” said Sami Adouani of FTDES Tunisia. In February 2023, a xenophobic speech by Tunisian President Kais Saied targeted migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. That triggered an exodus but also “exposed those remaining migrants to more institutional violence,” he added.

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Has Malawi legislature faired well under the Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara?

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By Rick Dzida

When Catherine Gotani Hara was elected in 2019 as the first female speaker of Malawi’s National Assembly, there sparked ululations and high expectations among many Malawians.

Five years down the line, has Catherine met people’s expectations? Has she proved to the world that women can do much better than men? Has she enhanced the perception that women are mostly of higher integrity than men?

For starters, Gotani Hara’s appointment marked a great stride towards gender equality and women’s empowerment.

During Catherine’s tenuren of office, Malawians were satisfied with the bold step the National Assembly took to reject the amendment of Malawi Constitution just to accommodate the 50%+1 case law.

You may recall that by this time, the 50%+1 had already been rejected by the parliament. However, the Constitutional Court found it necessary to push it back to the National Assembly through a case law.

This was in sharp contradiction with Sections 7, 8 and 9 of the Malawi Constitution that grant each arm of Government separation of powers.

Furthermore, Malawians saw the National Assembly asserting itself by enacting a law so that parliamentary and local government elections should be determined by the first past the post, overriding 50%+1 constitutional court interpretation of the word ‘majority’.

However, Gotani Hara’s leadership in the National Assembly is replete with parliamentary controversies and anomalies.

First, Gotani Hara has failed to appreciate that the position of the speaker requires one to discharge duties without any bias, partiality or being partisan.

At the outset, Catherine was very quick to handpick Kondwani Nankhumwa as the leader of opposition without the blessings of the main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, DPP.

Without any iota of shame, Catherine single-handedly created a temporary position of deputy leader of opposition in parliament.

Obviously, Gotani Hara’s actions were in contradiction with parliamentary standing orders 35.

Are we then mesmerised that the Judiciary granted a court injunction to Kondwani Nankhumwa restraining DPP from removing him from that position and yet Kondwani was not duly elected?

Logic rules that it is the Speaker of the National Assembly herself who had started to defy her own parliamentary standing orders 35. The judiciary was just an accomplice in violating the parliamentary orders.

It is not therefore mindboggling that productive deliberations in parliament are now history.

This is why many Malawians were surprised to note that the whole 2023/2024 national budget, under a compromised leader of opposition Nankhumwa, was passed within 120 minutes without any detailed scrutiny.

It is only under the tutelage of Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara that the tenure of office for Members of Parliament (MPs) was unconstitutionally enacted to 6 years instead of 5 years.

This substantiates that Catherine’s leadership has produced law makers who can make laws that contradict the Supreme Malawi Constitution.

In fact, Section 5 of the Malawi Constitution provides that any law that contradicts the Malawi Constitution is rendered invalid.

This simply implies that the Constitutional mandate of the current crop of MPs ends this year.

The added year of 2025 for our MPs is unconstitutional and is therefore invalid.

In conclusion, we implore our beloved Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara to desist from partisan politics in the National Assembly.

Furthermore, we request Speaker of the National Assembly, Catherine Gotani Hara, to enact laws that are in tandem with the Malawi Constitution.

Lastly but not least, it is the duty of the Speaker of the National Assembly, as the Head of one arm of Government, to ensure that the Constitutional separation of powers is highly respected.

She should not be paranoid of the Judiciary and the Executive arms of Government.

World Social Forum Activists Unravel Roots of Israel’s Occupation of Gaza

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Armed Conflicts, Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

Armed Conflicts

Protesting against Israel's attacks on Gaza, at the opening day march of the World Social Forum in Kathmandu. Credit: Marty Logan/IPS

Protesting against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, at the opening day march of the World Social Forum in Kathmandu. Credit: Marty Logan/IPS

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 2024 (IPS) – Romi Ghimire has a busy life running a non-profit organization dedicated to Nepal’s rural people, but she also feels driven to do something about Gaza. “There are a lot of issues happening in the world, but right now the genocide in Gaza is the most urgent one,” she said inside the Palestine tent at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Kathmandu on Saturday.

“We’re watching it live…. we’re seeing it on a daily basis: every morning and evening I’m consuming it and I just can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t pretend that it isn’t happening,” Ghimire told IPS. “We have to raise awareness about it around the world because we are all the (Palestinians) have. They don’t have any arms or ammunition, any military — it’s just people like us that they have.”

“People like us” include the roughly 30,000 activists expected to attend the WSF, the annual global gathering of social activists, happening this year in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu until Monday. This block of the city centre is bustling with activists, rushing to reach a scheduled workshop or bumping shoulders with peers from 90+ countries amid white tents set up as temporary classrooms in a fairground.

Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, in response to an attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, is one of the most discussed issues.

“Israel has refined the art of colonization through what I call the best business practice of colonialism, which invites multinational actors and corporations to invest in their colonial project. And that provides an economic incentive to ensure that political positions are supportive of Israel”

On Friday, Dr Varsen Aghabekian spoke to 30 activists from Nepal, South Asia and beyond. The former Commissioner General for the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, Aghabekian detailed the history that has culminated in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, stressing the deep roots of the current assaults.

Demographic strategy

For example, in Mandate Palestine (as it was known in 1947), Palestinians made up 93% of the population and Jewish people were 7%. By 2023 the make-up had changed dramatically, with Palestinians at 51% and the Jewish population equal to 49%, said Aghabekian, labelling the process part of Israel’s “erasure”.

Historical “annexation” includes takeover of public and private property. In 1947, 90% of such property was owned by Palestinians; by 2023 they had been relegated to 22% of historic Palestine.

Israeli laws and policies “institutionalize the superiority and privilege the status of Jews,” added Aghabekian. They reserve the right of self-determination in Israel exclusively for the Jewish people, and declare Hebrew as the official state language, demoting Arabic, which had been the country’s official second language.

“We rightfully call (the situation) apartheid but when we do that many western countries frown and say: ‘It can’t be!’… Israel is trying to project that an occupier state is a victim of our resistance and our violence (but) we have the right to resist as an occupied people who want to be liberated.”

Eventually Israel must make peace with the Palestinians, added Aghabekian. “If they are prospering and we are in pain there will not be peace. The Gaza genocide, despite its disasters, is an opportunity… even the US said seriously ‘maybe we should think about the two-state solution’. I think we’re moving toward that.”

Not only is Israel misrepresenting its occupation and current attack on Gaza, the situation has revealed the hypocrisy of western legal, religious and cultural tradition, argued Mitri Raheb, the first president of Dar-al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, who spoke after Aghabekian.

Israel’s response to the Hamas attack has revealed the “warrior God,” not the God of peace, said Raheb, citing a personal example. A German bishop he met counselled Palestinians to remain non-violent. But just weeks later Raheb, who also served as the pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from 1987 until 2017, saw the bishop on TV calling for western countries to provide Ukraine with tanks to counter Russia’s invasion.

Palestinians, he added, used to “believe in and fight for human rights because we thought they were international, they were for everyone. But I’m starting to question that. I think that human rights were meant for white Europeans, so they won’t kill each other any more, but it’s OK if the rest of the world is killed by the empire.”

“Business of colonialism”

Legal expert Wasem Ahmad dissected the economic structure that props up Israel’s occupation. “Israel has refined the art of colonization through what I call the best business practice of colonialism, which invites multinational actors and corporations to invest in their colonial project. And that provides an economic incentive to ensure that political positions are supportive of Israel.”

A human rights scholar, Ahmad told IPS he recognizes the limitations of the human rights system. “The more you do this work the more cynical you become of the system as it’s proposed. (Human rights) look very nice on paper but when you try to put them into practice you realize that there are a lot of political obstacles to that realization and it has to do with the broader imperial interests at play.”

“Our role,” he continued, “is to push that system and engage it, and force the wheels of justice to turn. Either it works in our benefit or we expose it and over time that system will change, even if it requires a breakdown to rebuild.”

But opposing Israel’s colonization through the legal system is only one approach, added Ahmad. “The idea that I’m only going to rely on the legal mechanisms, ignoring that the law is a social construct connected to economic, political and cultural interests and beliefs in society ignores that reality.”

Despite his critique of the West’s legal and cultural traditions, Raheb said he was invigorated by the throngs of people worldwide, and at the WSF, protesting Israel’s attacks. “Gaza was the wake-up call for all of us. And I think in the future this will just get stronger and stronger… Gaza galvanized the global South because it was the magnifying glass: suddenly we could see clearly. That was the turning point.”

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