BLANTYRE, Malawi

Hundreds of Malawians took to the streets on Thursday to protest rampant corruption and the soaring cost of living in the southern cities of Blantyre and Zomba.

The protesters, carrying placards and singing anti-government songs, blocked roads and the main highway.

However, riot police controlled the protesters until they delivered a petition of their grievances to the Office of the President and Cabinet at the Blantyre district commissioner’s office.

“Corruption and poverty levels have drastically gone up since President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera took office,” Joshua Chisa Mbele, a lead organizer of the protests, told Anadolu Agency.

Mbele, a leader of Action Against Impunity, the network of civil rights organizations behind the protest, accused the government of mishandling money that Malawi received to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The president seems not keen to fight corruption. So we can’t keep quiet when the situation is worsening. We want him to act now,” Mbele said.

This week, Chakwera sacked Agriculture Minister Robin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima over what the president called “incompetence and gross negligence.”

Chakwera blamed the two officials for facilitating a fertilizer procurement deal which saw Malawi's government lose about $725,000 to a British company that failed to supply the commodity.

The scandal was among the grounds for the protests.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party and United Democratic Front both backed the protests, saying Malawians have a right to be heard.

Similar protests are expected on Friday in Malawi's capital Lilongwe.

Information and Digitization Minister Gospel Kazako, also the government spokesperson, told Anadolu Agency via WhatsApp that President Chakwera is committed to fight corruption in the country.

“We recently changed the law to ensure speedy handling of corruption cases,” said Kazako.