Msonda faces arrest over gay attack
Malawi’s former ruling People’s Party publicity secretary Ken Msonda is facing arrest over remarks he made in a Facebook post in which he said that gays do not deserve any human rights and they should be killed.Msonda who was expressing his personal opinion described homosexuality as a sin and said it should not be legalised. According to media outlets, Msonda is quoted as saying that gays are “worse than dogs and deserve to be sent to hell or to be killed.”In a statement made available to Malawi24 and signed by Malawi Law Society (MLS) president John Suzi Banda MLS has condemned remarks by Msonda and says the PP spokesperson has shown irresponsible behaviour which will incite violence in the country. Reads part of the statement: “as all right thinking members of society would agree with us, however, this irresponsibility takes an unacceptably different turn when political leaders and opinion makers take the lead. The Society finds Mr Msonda’s alleged utterances contemptible, irresponsible and bordering on hate speech.”Msonda: Railed at gays.“It would want to condemn them without any reservation whatsoever. These remarks are certainly beneath anybody who lays claim to being a leader in our country. The Society has observed with concern the increasingly homophobic statements that are being published by some quarters of our citizenry on social media inciting actual violence against fellow citizens.”Meanwhile, MLS has hinted that it encourages the constitutional right of all Malawians to pronounce themselves on the question of homosexuality in Malawi and reminded citizens that hate speech is not covered by the constitutional guarantee of free speech. The Society has further called Malawi Human Rights Commission and the Malawi Police Service to take action on Msonda’s remarks.“Calling on members of the LGBTI community to be killed is hate speech and is not protected by the constitution. It is in fact criminal. It is in view of the foregoing that the Malawi Law Society has taken the unusual step of referring the alleged conduct of Mr Msonda to the Malawi Human Rights Commission and the Malawi Police Service so that they investigate the said conduct and take appropriate action,” said the society while arguing that all citizens should be treated equally regardless of their sexual orientation. The inherent dignity of all citizens, which in terms of the constitution is inviolable, requires the state and all Malawians to take steps that ensure that persons are not treated differently solely on the basis of their sexual orientation.