“Commissioner Kunje need our prayers”

Here at The Talking Grass we have a bone to pick with Malawians in general over the unjust conviction of Commissioner Linda Kunje.

This is an unusual thing for us to do. We normally don’t direct our criticism towards Malawians, our job is to criticize the powers that be for the sake of Malawians. WE FIGHT OPPRESSION. This time however we have seen it necessary to direct our criticism towards Malawians but still call out on oppression.

Not long time ago, as Malawians we raised our voice in unison against a judgement by a judge we could see was corrupt and unfair. We defied the oppressive Malawi tradional argument that tell us that Judges are little gods, they can’t be told when they are going wrong.

We might not have gone far yet but we defied the odds and spoke against injustice. For the first time, parliament moved aggressively to demand justice for the people and accountability from the judiciary.

It doesn’t matter how small, to us here at The Talking Grass is a huge step. It showed us that Malawians are not willing to be subjected to the ideological oppressive ideas that keep the judiciary corrupt and susceptible to discharging injustice.

With the issue of Commissioner Kunje:

To us here at The Talking Grass, from the word go, the headline “Convicted for Offending/not respecting … Chakwera!” in itself makes a grim reading. It brings sour taste in the mouth. Sadly more and more Malawians seem to be suffering over these crimes against Chakwera. One man up north, pushing his bike was booted off the side of the road by Chakwera’s guard. Another girl was arrested for posting a video some spy policeman thought would not make Chakwera happy. There’s more people losing freedom because Chakwera has to feel respected and happy despite being pathetic as president.

Someone wanted to know if, here at The Talking Grass we have read the judgement before saying the conviction of Commissioner Kunje is unjust. The answer to that question is no, we have not.

The other question was weather we have studied law or read the laws of Malawi. The answer to that is that we do read the laws of Malawi but no, we have not studied law.

This is actually the reason we are worried about the thinking of us Malawians and the reasoning of Chief Magistrate Austin Banda to Convict Commissioner Kunje on similar driving offence as her driver. As a Law expert, he is either being tool for politicians using the judge chair to do politics or he is just damn lazy in the head not fit for that job.

The claim made by the driver is that Commissioner Kunje instructed him to obstruct Chakwera’s convoy and the State, paraded 7 witnesses that verified that Commissioner Kunje instructed the driver.

Were these 7 state witnesses in the car with the two to see or hear the instructions being given?

If indeed it could be verified that such instruction were given, wouldn’t that be treason?

Our take hear at The Talking Grass is that the driver was told to testify against Commissioner Kunje and it was out of shame and guilt that he didn’t go to court, he had to be arrested and brought to court by the police.

Commissioner Kunje need our prayers. She chose to remain silent because of how oppressive the whole plot was answering and being convicted on a case that had nothing to do with her. There’s no logical way that she could argue to convince a judge and prosecutors that wanted to teach her and the rest of us a lesson not to disrespect Chakwera. She is known in the Chakwera circles as wamwano and deserve to be punished and anything in the hands of this magistrate would have been a right tool.

We at The Talking Grass have seen Commissioner Kunje and can say that our president and the corrupt judiciary has destroyed this person. We worry about her mental health.

As for us Malawians our perception of justice seems to be wanting, as such, we are also to blame for the mediocrity, corruption and the politics we continue to see built within some of the judgements coming from our courts.

That someone can appeal a conviction or that ‘the rule of law is the rule of law, no buts, no ifs” must not be the reason to excuse a court judge for being political and mediocre. Judges must strive for impartiality and excellence at all times.

“We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something, for liberty and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.” – Ronald Reagan