LILONGWE (Malawi Democrat) –Malawi  President Bingu wa Mutharika  has been accused of  destroying the country’s democratic tenets and the rule of law through his  dictatorial style of leadership, the Namibia-based  Forum for the Future of Africa said in a statement.

“Malawi, the  second poorest country in the world, is descending back to dictatorship and  autocracy. Barely 19 years after democracy was taking root, a new leadership has  come to mess up everything the population of Malawi had struggled to put  together in 1993,”  The Nation quotes  the statement titled: ‘Malawi’s democratic pillars are  being destroyed’ signed by Saunders Jumah, the forum’s founding trustee.

The forum cites the recent expulsion of British High Commissioner  Mr Fergus Cochrane-Dyet as  one of such destructive decisions

The NGO  also pleaded with the British  government and other development partners not to punish Malawians by cutting  financial aid because of some “destructive decisions made by few individuals.”

According to The Nation, the  statement says Mutharika, who during his first term of office was touted as the  “engineer” of the economy, is now leading a country that is struggling with  numerous problems, such as low wages for civil servants, fuel and forex  shortages and erratic supply of electricity and water.

“What we are worried and concerned about is the unilateral decisions to  change the Constitution of Malawi by enacting his [Mutharika] own laws that back  his personal vendettas such as the Police Act, the Injunctions Law, the media  act [amendment to Section 46 of the Penal Code that empowers the Minister of  Information to ban local publications] and other unnecessary  laws.”

But Minister  of Information and Civic Education Symon Vuwa Kaunda, who is also government  spokesperson, said it is surprising that several international  institutions would want to paint a negative picture about governance in Malawi  when the situation on the ground is different.