When Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, a celebrated Christian theologian, won election in Malawi in June 2020, the Christian community rejoiced. The new president went on to declare that he was “duty bound by God” to give his very best. 

Among those that expected to benefit from this “very best” were refugees and asylum seekers from across Africa that hoped the nation would become a true safe haven for them. Over the last two years, Malawi has since turned into one of the worst places for one to be a refugee.

In 2000, during the World Refugee Day commemorations, the government of Malawi granted all refugees and asylum seekers with professional qualifications and others skills the freedom to move out of Dzaleka Refugee Camp to live among locals. It also went further to offer employment to some of these professionals, such as nurses, teachers and social workers. For over two decades, the foreigners mingled freely with the locals, resulting in intermarriages, children being born and immovable assets being acquired as the refugees settled in the country.

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Then in April 2021 — barely a year into Chakwera’s rule — the refugees were suddenly taken by surprise when the government gave them a 14-day ultimatum to move into Dzaleka, the country’s only refugee camp. The refugees and asylum seekers protested, challenging the order in the courts.

That began a protracted stand-off between the two sides that only ended in May 2023 when the Chakwera administration began enforcing its encampment policy by rounding up the long-integrated foreigners and taking them to the overcrowded Dzaleka in a controversial move that was roundly condemned by human rights groups.

Families violently uprooted

Youth and Society, an NGO operating in Malawi, has been documenting the human rights violations that have taken place in the process of the enforcement of this encampment policy. It was reported that between May and October 2023, some 765 families — totaling 2,296 refugees and asylum seekers — had been forcibly uprooted and dumped in Dzaleka. The encampment policy targets some 8,000 refugees in total.

“This relocation has added strain to the already overcrowded Dzaleka Camp, which currently accommodates 52,272 refugees, despite its initial capacity of 12,000 refugees when established in 1994,” Charles Kajoloweka, YAS’ executive director, said in a presentation last October to the 77th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the ongoing situation in Africa.

The bulk of the refugees in Dzaleka are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.

“The government's implementation of the refugee encampment policy and the ongoing relocation exercise have been marred by systematic violations, including the rape of women, loss of property, unlawful detention of children and women, forced and unlawful deportations, extortions, xenophobic attacks by authorities, corruption and robberies targeting refugees and asylum seekers,” Kajoloweka said.

Sylvester Namiwa — the executive director of the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, a Malawian nongovernmental organization working to promote an informed and organized citizenry — says the exercise was being carried out in a brutal way.

“In the course of the exercise, we witnessed gross violations of basic human rights for refugees and asylum seekers,” Namiwa told Religion Unplugged. “Children (were) whisked from schools into Maula prison, expectant mothers and the sick hauled into military trucks, fellow Africans made to sleep on bare ground within prison premises without bedding during cold weather, albeit on empty stomach! Criminal elements and party cadres hijacked the process; they went on the rampage, looting and plundering property belonging to foreign nationals. Women (were) raped in the process; others were taken to military camps, detained without trial and abducted into the next available flight at midnight. Court orders were ignored.”

Catholic church shows concern

In October, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Malawi also condemned the treatment of refugees by Chakwera’s government.

“Refugees and asylum seekers in the country have not been treated with dignity in light of the refugee relocation exercise,” the group said. “This is unacceptable!”

It said the human rights of the refugees and asylum seekers had been violated by state agencies as well as the country’s citizens while law enforcement did nothing.

“Conditions at Dzaleka Refugee Camp to where these voiceless people are being relocated are appalling; and the government's treatment of these helpless people in the relocation activity is quite inhumane,” the CCJP added.

The CCJP called on the Chakwera administration to protect the refugees and asylum seekers, saying it is “a matter of law, moral obligation and solidarity in humanity. … Refugees are human beings who are entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms.”

INUA Advocacy expelled from Dzaleka

The Malawian government responded to the growing criticism of its encampment policy by terminating its partnership with INUA Advocacy and expelling the nongovernmental organization from Dzaleka Camp. Chakwera’s government has already enacted the NGO Amendment Act, 2022, which contains provisions interfering with the free operation of NGOs and human rights defenders.

The group had compiled a dossier highlighting the human rights violations committed by the government. INUA Advocacy CEO Innocent Magambi told Religion Unplugged that its expulsion from Dzaleka is a result of the work it has been doing in exposing the excesses of the Chakwera administration.

“The justification for the relocation is based on the upholding of the Malawi Refugee Act of 1989, which the Malawian government recognizes is in need of revision,” Magambi said. “However, the minister of homeland security, Zikhale Ng'oma, added other reasons, such as security and economy. On the security front, he blamed refugees for the armed robberies and killings that are taking place in Malawi. He also said that 44 former army generals who committed genocide in Rwanda were among the asylum seekers in Malawi. … All these claims, and many more, have yet to be substantiated by the minister.”

Magambi said many refugee children were no longer in school, health facilities were overstretched and the refugees that receive a paltry $5 monthly stipend are malnourished.

In some cases, refugees were forcibly sent to Rwanda in spite of court orders, in violation of universal obligations towards refugees, including the international law principle of non-refoulement. The principle guarantees that “no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm.”

As a result, some fearful refugees have been seeking to leave Malawi for other countries in the region, such as Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

High expectations

“Christians dream for a better country and an improved leadership,” said Matilda Matabwa, who serves as secretary general of the Malawian Assemblies of God, when Chakwera came into power. “We expect to see and experience the birth of a new nation, and are excited to have a highly respected man of God as the head of state.”

This summed up the very high expectations that the African Christian community had of Chakwera’s presidency.

The pastor-turned-president spent more than 20 years as the head of one of Malawi’s largest denominations, the Assemblies of God, before he entered politics as the Malawi Congress Party leader in 2013. The 68-year-old leader trained with Haggai International, attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and worked in partnership with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, whose president Franklin Graham congratulated him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Chakwera captured the Malawian presidency after campaigning on a promise to eradicate the corruption, nepotism and injustice that have plagued the African nation for decades. However, in no time, some opinion leaders started expressing misgivings about this Christian’s leadership.

In January 2022, religious leaders in Malawi gave Chakwera an ultimatum to reshuffle his cabinet — protesting a series of questionable appointments that were widely viewed as based on nepotism and corruption.

Namiwa said Chakwera has proven to be a poor Christian leader.

“The man that campaigned with a Bible on one hand and the rule of law on the other hand looked away as his own homeland security minister literally tortured refugees and asylum seekers in the name of encampment,” Namiwa said. “Fellow Africans whose only crime was to seek peace and protection they could not find everywhere else, were abducted on the guise of extradition. I mean where on earth does one get extradited when they have a High Court ruling against them?”

Namiwa added that Chakwera has “conveniently forgotten what the Bible says about looking after strangers. … He lies without blinking.”

Cyril Zenda is a Christian and an African journalist and writer based in Harare, Zimbabwe.