There has been jubilation among Malawians after reports trickled in that Libya’s deposed dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi died after being captured with many people seeing it as a good omen for a hopeful Malawi which is undeniably reverting to dictatorship.
Abdel Majid, a senior official at interim government the National Transitional Council (NTC), told television networks that Gaddafi, who was deposed on August 23 after 42 years in power, was captured and wounded near his hometown of Sirte at dawn as he tried to flee in a convoy which Nato warplanes attacked. Reports say Gaddafi died of wounds sustained during his capture.
Malawians over the cyber sphere are eager to see what this means for the country. Already Zimbabweans are tweeting that President Robert Mugabe should be next and some Malawians are saying that President Bingu wa Mutharika should also be deposed since has become a “mad dog” of some reputation.
“It shows that the world is running out safe havens for dictators. We have one in Malawi,” said Jimmy Kainja, a passionate academician and blogger.
“Gaddafi reportedly captured, Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika change your agenda for dictatorship or change will change you,” tweeted Nyasa Times editor Thom Chiumia from the UK where he is coordinator of Malawi Diaspora Forum.
Former Malawi Defence Force brigadier Marcel Chirwa commented: “One by one dictators on the continent are being removed.”
Reports also said the head of Gaddafi’s armed forces Abu Bakr Younus Jabr had been killed during the capture of the Libyan ex-leader.
In a statement on NTC-controlled state television, a presenter draped in the flag of liberated Libya said: “Libya has given a lesson to all those who want to learn.”
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And as the picture of his capture got clearer by the day, one wondered how Mutharika was swallowing the news as many people have been calling him dictator.
