A HUDDERSFIELD student arrested on a treason charge in Malawi has called on people to occupy the country’s parliament.
Political activist Ben Chiza Mkandawire wants the citizens of Malawi to come together to challenge the current leadership in the southeast African country.
He was recently arrested with four others for holding a placard in the capital city Lilongwe which said President Bingu wa Mutharika, 78, was a dictator.
He is now awaiting trial for treason.
The political science student at Huddersfield University told Malawian newspaper Nyasa Times: “The idea is to organise new forms of action against MPs, government officials and the failure by government to address the current economic and governance woes.”
Mr Mkandawire posted on social networking site Twitter how he admires the Egyptian people who ousted Hosni Mubarak from power and protested in Tahrir Square.
He said that by occupying the parliament buildings the Malawian people would be peacefully demonstrating their discontent with the current administration and appealing for change.
Twenty people died in the country in July when security forces cracked down on anti-government demonstrators.
The country is in the midst of political unrest with people blaming the government for slow economic growth and rising fuel prices, fuel and electricity shortages and unemployment.
Mr Mkandawire will also be protesting against repressive laws such as the police law, media ban law and the injunctions law.
The protest is scheduled to start on Monday when activists will occupy space outside the National Assembly.
Mr Mkandawire was arrested following a peaceful demonstration in Malawi last month and says he has received death threats while he awaits trial for treason.
According to press reports in Malawi he has received anonymous phone calls warning of fatal consequences if he continues to criticise the Mutharika regime.
The University of Huddersfield’s Amnesty International Society is campaigning for the charges against him to be dropped.
Mr Mkandawire is a trustee of the Youth Leadership Project Africa which he helped set up two years ago.
He was born in Lilongwe an attended Likuni Boys School in the city.
He studied journalism at Westminster Kingsway College and graduated in 2003 before later moving to study at Huddersfield.
