Malawi Vice-President Joyce Banda says she is ready to be ‘smoked and flushed out’ if she has committed any crime as claimed by President Bingu wa Mutharika last week.

Responding to questions from journalists in Ndirande Township on Wednesday, where she went to condole two families whose children were shot by police during the July 20 anti-government demonstrations, Banda said she was shocked by Mutharika’s speech in Zomba. Mutharika was commissioning police officers in Zomba.

“I heard the speech and it left me in shock and total disbelief that the leadership talked about that,” said Banda. “I was shocked, but not surprised because I have heard those words before.”

The VP said she was not part of the organisers of the demonstrations, but that she “respects those brave men and women who organised the protests” after a long time.

Citing a press statement she issued prior to the protests, Banda said she pleaded with people to enjoy their constitutional right to peaceful demonstrations with responsibility apart from asking the police to protect the lives on the streets and property.

Banda said she also asked Mutharika to enter into peaceful discussions with the aggrieved parties to resolve the problems amicably.

Said the Vice-President: “I am ready to be smoked and flushed out. I am ready for anything. In fact, I have been ready to be smoked and flushed out since Friday. I cannot run away as if I committed any crime.”

In his Zomba address, Mutharika accused Banda and civil society leaders of plotting to overthrow his administration through the demonstrations.

Besides   Banda, the President mentioned Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) chairperson Undule Mwakasungula, HRCC acting national coordinator the Reverend MacDonald Sembereka, Leader of Opposition John Tembo, former vice-president Cassim Chilumpha, lawyer Ralph Kasambara and Institute for Policy Interaction executive director Rafiq Hajat as those allegedly plotting his downfall.

On her visit to Ndirande, Banda, who was accompanied by her husband, retired chief justice Richard Banda, said it is her tradition to condole families that have been bereaved even by going into remote areas whenever possible.

Banda helped one of the families with transport to Salima to bury their son, the late 20-year-old tyre fitter Joseph Lingimani, who was shot dead at Ndirande Market while trying to protect his tyres from people who wanted to burn them.

Speaking to the Semu family that lost a grandchild, 13-year-old Standard Four orphan John Mola, Banda asked the family to look up to God as no human being could change the situation.

Mola’s grandfather, Frank Semu, said his family was grateful to Banda.