Members of Concerned Citizens of Malawi have started gathering at Yanakis in Blantyre ready for what they describe as mass demonstrations aimed at forcing the government to address some of the challenges people in the country are facing.

Heavily armed Police officers have also gathered in order to make sure the demonstrations are held in a peaceful manner.

According to Chairperson for the grouping Oliver Nakoma, they expect to present their petition to the District Commissioner for Blantyre District Council and not to Sanjika Palace as planned earlier.

“We changed both the route and where to present our petition following stakeholders meeting which took place on Tuesday”, said Nakoma.

He added that his grouping agreed with stakeholders including police on how to do it so that peace prevails.

Among other issues, they want to present are the rising cost of commodities, the increased number of university and secondary school students who are dropping out of school due to lack of financial support, and unfulfilled campaign promises by Lazarus Chakwera.

He further said they want the government to address these challenges now or call for a referendum so that Malawians should make a decision if this government should continue ruling the country or not.