By Timothy Peter

Governance expert Ernest Thindwa says issuing of ultimatums by civil society organizations (CSOs) to government officials including Office of the President and Cabinet in a bid to force them to urgently resolve problems in the country has not been fruitful because the CSOs lack capacity to enforce the ultimatums.

While acknowledging the need to hold leaders accountable, Thindwa argued that both the CSOs and the authorities have political intentions to meet, which makes it difficult to resolve problems together.

“There is too much politics in the country, and this will not take us anywhere,” said Thindwa, University of Malawi (Unima) political scientist.

“However, the CSOs lack timing in issuing ultimatums because they give a very short period of time to authorities to resolve problems that can be tackled in long term. They should understand that the country meets different problems that are of short term, some are medium term while others are long term.”

Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), which on eighth September this year gave President Lazarus Chakwera 14 days to fix the problems that have crippled the country, said it is not surprising that government fails to honor ultimatums because political leaders take CSOs for granted.

CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa, said they are not giving up until their grievances are rightfully settled.

“We are not amused, our leaders are inconsiderate, but we will soon collect signatures and force the Speaker of Parliament to call for an emergency meeting on how best problems of forex scarcity, fuel unavailability, crumbling economy and persistent blackouts can be resolved,” Namiwa said.