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Misanet.com / The Chronicle, 23 April - Civil society and opposition leaders in the country have called on President Bakili Muluzi to disassociate himself from the third term call being championed by a few misguided United Democratic Party (UDF) ruling party loyalists or risk severe embarrassment when he is rejected en mass by voters. - We want to ask President Muluzi to seriously consider the third term issue being championed by Davis Kapito, Dumbo Lemani and John Chikakwiya and tell the nation where he stands. If he remains silent we will believe he has accepted the offer, Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) spokesperson Dan Msowoya told The Chronicle in an interview. - While we know that the third term issue is a non starter and against the law we demand the president to openly declare his stand. Silence becomes a lie when the truth is not spoken out. He should not indirectly push the third term issue because it will backfire badly in him. People are tired of the UDF hypocrisy, Msowoya ascertained. He also parried aside the State President's recent warnings that he will arrest opposition leaders who are alleged to have connived to cause unrest in the country saying that Muluzi is fearing his own shadow. "The opposition has never thought of taking over the country in a violent way. Malawians are angry because they have systematically been impoverished by the UDF government. So, when people start speaking their mind Muluzi should not think that they are being sponsored by the opposition," he said. MCP Treasurer General Hetherwick Ntaba last week told The Chronicle that the third term issue is being pushed by Davis Kapito and his friends in UDF to force Muluzi to stand again in 2004. He said that to advance their cause the UDF loyalists have composed a third term slogan to be recited during rallies to brainwash the rural populace and to ensure that the incumbent President stays in office beyond the constitutional and legal mandated period. Said Ntaba, "This slogan of 'Agama, Agama 2009 - woo!' is uncalled for. We know it is the works of Davis Kapito and his friends who want Muluzi to continue ruling Malawi forever." Ntaba also appealed to the president to come out into the open and make his stance clear. But at a rally in Mangochi last Thursday Davis Kapito declared that the UDF does not follow rules written in books but does what the people want. It is believed that the UDF has already mobilised some of it's faithfuls who have agreed to force Muluzi to stand for a third term because the contention is that under any other leader the UDF would not stand a chance against the current political onslaught. A former top cabinet minister Brown Mpinganjira has been on record as saying that he was fired from government because he was against the idea of Muluzi standing for a third term against the law. The country's second largest Christian denomination, the Church of the Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) have issued a pastoral letter in which, among other areas of concern it points out the potential negative repercussions to Malawi of a third term bid by Muluzi in 2004. The church says that this could lead to a reversal from the democratic gains to the dreaded autocratic rule that citizens fought so hard to remove. The church points out that it would cost President Bakili Muluzi the good international reputation he has so far built for himself and for Malawi as a nation. Malawi could lose its reputation as a shining example of democracy in Africa. Says the letter: "Our democracy system is almost the only asset we have to attract donor money and foreign investment Destroying that asset means economic strangulation for the country with disastrous consequences." The letter has been greeted with anger by the UDF and the Attorney General, Peter Fachi described it as a document prepared by individuals with a political agenda. He said that it attacks President Muluzi personally and directly and does not speak for the people of the church or for Malawians. By Christopher Jimu,
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