20100808
africanews

Malawi consecrated moves for a new national flag. The event has been hurried up following constructive protests from the civil society and general public. The new flag, with red, black and green stripes from top to bottom, bears a white fully risen sun in the middle with rays spilling into the top and bottom stripes.

"Those who say there were no consultations on the flag change were busy drinking beer," said Mutharika on his return from a heads of state and government conference in Uganda last week. Today, he reiterated that those who are against the flag change, are myopic to change and drunk.

“We need to change. As a country we have moved significantly from 1964. Our flag must reflect this development,” he said, erroneously including the colour yellow to the flag instead of the red. Last week, he slipped his tongue again when he said ‘blue’ in reference to the green on the flag.

A thin crowd of people, mainly doning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) colours were in attendance as soldiers from all units of the Malawi Defence Force, the Malawi Police Service and Malawi Prisons staff marched.

He was referring to calls from the general public led by the civil society not to change the national flag.

CSOs, religious leaders and eminent figures advise government not to change the flag, but to instead focus its energies at providing Malawians with their basic needs.

"Changing the flag will not help poor Malawians. It is food security, water, roads, electricity and other basic needs that we want," said Rafiq Hajat of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI). News about the intended change had just come out.

“There is no need for Malawi to change its flag, particularly when Malawians are still poor and the country is well underdeveloped,” said the Human Rights Consultative Committee’s (HRCC).

Through the ministry of information and civic education, government said it had carried our intensive consultations with chiefs in all districts of the country. Minister Reckford Thotho also told journalists the flag would be ordered after the Protected Names bill went through parliament to allow the change.

The flags, however, were ordered months away of the consultations and before the change could be drafted into the gazette as required by law after Mutharika assented to it, the new flags were already flying in the capital Lilongwe.