Blantyre, Malawi - As the civil society leaders were making their case in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, on why they decided to call off their much-hyped Wednesday demonstrations, 360 kilometres away in Blantyre, President Bingu wa Mutharika and First Lady Callista, were attending inter-faith prayers. Organisers said the sermon was held to reflect on how the otherwise peaceful Malawi lost its innocence and degenerated into unprecedented chaos on 20 July, which led to the death of 19 people.

In his homily, the head of the Catholic Church in Malawi, Bishop Joseph Mukasa Zuza, made a veiled attack on Mutharika's handling of the crisis and democratic credentials, saying that blaming the civil society and the media may not solve Malawi's problems.

'At times, we may put the blame on the civil society or Non-Governmental Organisations; we blame them as being misguided and leading people astray, we may go even further, saying that these people have not been elected, therefore do not have the mandate to act on behalf of the society or citizens of our country,' he said, adding 'Yes, they have not been elected but they are working for the good of the nation.'

Zuza also zeroed-in on Mutharika's open disquietedness with the way the independent media has been covering the events of 20 July.

'We may also put the blame on the media as misguiding people and igniting dissent. However, the truth may be that they are only fulfilling their noble duty of reporting and making people aware of what is happening,' he said.

President Mutharika has tried his best to make public demonstrations impossible in Malawi, to the extent of putting a premium on any demonstrations.

He recently said anyone planning to hold any demonstration should pay a deposit of 2 million Malawi kwacha (about US$ 12,000), which he said should be used to pay for any resultant damage to property.

His relationship with the media is also frosty and his government has banned its agencies from advertising in some sections of the media deemed to be critical of his administration.

The President's relationship with the media took a new low in the aftermath of the 20 July demonstrations with government stopping private radio stations from live broadcasts of the demonstrations and taking off air four private broadcasters.

Mutharika is also on record of accusing 'hostile radio stations' of fanning the resultant violence and looting.

However, Bishop Zuza said Malawi chose democracy and Malawians must be allowed to enjoy democratic principals, another veiled reference to the Mutharika administration's move to thwart all manner of demonstrations in the country.

'As a nation, we have chosen multi-party democracy and have refused dictatorship,' he said, asserting 'let us be happy we have the choices that we make and let us make it (democracy) work, it depends on us as Malawians.'

Meanwhile, police have warned that they will decisively deal with anyone who defiles the civil society's decision to call off the demonstrations.

This was after reports that some pockets within the civil society plan to go ahead with the demonstrations.

There was heavy police presence in all major cities across Malawi with soldiers driving around in their full military gear. Some shop owners have been carting away their merchandise to safety as they are still unsure whether a repeat of 20 July will be averted Wednesday.

Pana 16/08/2011