Civil society demands inquest into student’s death, more academic freedom

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has come under renewed pressure to reform the higher education sector, with a petition calling on him to set up an investigation into the death of a student activist and to scrap draconian legislation trampling on academic freedom.

The Public Affairs Committee – a civil society organisation comprising religious groups, lawyers, students and trade unions among others, chaired by the Right Reverend James Tenga Tenga of the Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi – outlined demands in a communiqué following a two-day conference that called for far-reaching reform.

The petition comes a year after crippling academic freedom protests at campuses in Malawi that disrupted learning for months and become a major national issue, and a month after students went on strike for the first time this year following last year’s academic impasse.

“Given the human rights challenges Malawi continues to suffer, members demanded an inquest into the death of Robert Chasowa. The outcome of the inquest would assist Malawi to avoid a repeat of such horrible events,” said the communiqué.

Chasowa was a University of Malawi student who was found dead on campus on 24 September last year, with a deep cut on his head. Police ruled the death as suicide. Chasowa’s funeral was attended by thousands of students and lecturers, some of whom wore cloths around their mouths to symbolise the silencing of academic voices.

He was chair of a student activist group, Youth for Democracy, which published a weekly pro-democracy and anti-Mutharika government newsletter, circulated at the university. He co-wrote and performed a play at a theatre in Blantyre, critical of the government.

The Public Affairs Committee also demanded the repeal of a number of laws, including an injunctions law that the government sought to use to block lecturers from seeking redress in the courts during the academic freedom protests last year.

Further, the group called for repeal of a section of the Police Act that Mutharika has used to set law officers on dissenting students and lecturers.

The Public Affairs Committee noted the loss of donor support as a major cause of concern, following poor relations between Mutharika’s government and Western nations. Last year some students were suspended from lectures for failing to pay fees, because of the drying up of donor funds – besides the government failing to pay civil service salaries.

In December 2010, University World News reported that Mzuzu University had suspended 100 nursing students after the government withdrew funding because of the flight of donors. The government also stopped scholarships for students studying in Christian Health Association of Malawi colleges spread across the country.

“The need to repeal bad laws and to cooperate with the IMF and other development partners is of urgency with the prevailing crisis,” said the Public Affairs Committee communiqué. “Malawians may exercise their right to withdraw the trust bestowed upon the current regime in accordance with provisions of the Constitution.”