UDF LEADERS ARRESTED FOR DISSEMINATING BINGU RECORDING

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000027

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR AF/S KAMANA MATHUR
STATE FOR INR/AA RITA BYRNES

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM MI
SUBJECT: UDF LEADERS ARRESTED FOR DISSEMINATING BINGU RECORDING


1. (SBU) Summary: Police arrested two opposition leaders on January
11 for distributing a recording of President Mutharika instructing
an unnamed GOM official to "shake up" former President and political
nemesis Bakili Muluzi. The two officials, arrested on charges of
sedition, played the recording after a recent opposition United
Democratic Front (UDF) press conference. More arrests, possibly
including print and radio journalists who reported on the story,
additional opposition leaders, and the former Anti-Corruption Bureau
(ACB) Director (who is thought to have made the recording) are
rumored to be on the way. The two arrested UDF officials have been
released on bail. End Summary.


2. (SBU) After the recording was played on local radio station
Capital Radio on January 9, the Malawi Communication Regulatory
Authority (MACRA) ordered the station to cease airing the tape or
face unspecified consequences. Police then reportedly went to the
station on January 11, confiscated the CD, and were looking for the
radio show host who had played the recording. Capital Radio's
attorney, former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara, obtained a court
injunction blocking MACRA's order to stop the electronic media from
playing the recording. Police have since reportedly backed off
plans to arrest journalists reporting on the story.


3. (SBU) In the recording Mutharika lectures an unnamed official
over Muluzi's faults, and then instructs, "let's meet (Muluzi) at
the courts...I think he needs to be shaken up...he needs to be
shaken up." The GOM's Minister of Information claims the unnamed
official, who she says recorded the conversation, is former ACB
Director Gustave Kaliwo. Police are reportedly currently searching
for Kaliwo to arrest him over the recording.


4. (SBU) Embassy officials spoke to a high-ranking UDF leader who
was present at the press conference where the recording was first
played. He confirmed that the two officials have been released on
bail, and said that no other officials have been arrested. However,
he also said that they expect UDF Spokesman Sam Mpasu, who was also
at the press conference, and Kaliwo to be arrested today.


5. (SBU) Comment: Mutharika's recent past seems intent on coming
back to haunt him. Not only has his former ACB Director apparently
leaked tape-recorded conversations with the President, but his
former Attorney General (Kasambara) is making sure the recordings
stay in the public sphere. Both officials were unceremoniously
fired by Mutharika last summer.


6. (SBU) However, overlooked in all of the controversy regarding the
recordings is the fact that the President doesn't actually say
anything illegal or even all that improper. He merely outlines his
problems with Muluzi, and then intones that he's given up on the
idea of compromising and is ready for the matter to be settled by
the courts. Much more worrying than the President's statements has
been the government's knee-jerk, authoritarian reaction to the
recording being made public. Aside from the dangerous willingness
to use law enforcement as a political tool, arresting UDF leaders
will also surely inflame the opposition ahead of next month's
sitting of Parliament. The two UDF officials arrested seem likely
to join a long list of people who have been detained on politically
motivated charges over the past 18 months. End Comment.


EASTHAM