Failed protests may affect donor support

The move taken by government to block the fuel protests that were scheduled to be held in Lilongwe and Mzuzu might further anger donors.

This is according to Mustafa Hussein, a lecturer in administration and political studies at Chancellor College.The demonstrations were aimed at forcing the authorities to provide a lasting solution to the crisis which has been on-going since last year.

But prior to the demonstrations, some organisers of the protests were taken to police for what is described as a discussion on how the concerns could be handled.

These were Undule Mwakasungula, chairperson for human rights consultative committee, the organisations national coordinator Mavuto Bamusi, Dorothy Ngoma of the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives and Robert Mkwezalamba secretary general for the Malawi congress of trade unions-MCTU.

This comes a few days after the German government and the Millennium challenge account of the Unites States of America announced their withholding of funds to Malawi for the country’s poor record on human rights and governance.

Hussein told Capital fm that donors were closely monitoring the developments taking place in the country.He says the detention of the activists and blocking peaceful protests could force them not to release aid to the country.