A grouping of enterprising Christian and Muslim youth working under the banner, Youth with a Vision, Thursday launched a campaign aimed at mobilising moral and financial support from \u2018patriotic citizens\u2019 for Ken Msonda who has been dragged to court for anti-gay remarks.<\/p>\n
In a notice placed in the newspaper Thursday, the grouping which is campaigning under the tag \u2018Team-Ken Msonda\u2019, appealed for support to Msonda.<\/p>\n
The grouping which has adopted \u2018poverty is not a sin, homosexual and same-sex marriages are\u2019 slogan said the appeal is for Msonda\u2019s legal fees.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Blantyre Magistrate\u2019s Court summoned Msonda to appear before it on January 22, following a complaint from two human rights defending bodies, Centre for the Development of the People (Cedep) and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR).<\/p>\n
Msonda is reported to have posted on his Facebook page that Malawians were not ready for gay rights and that homosexuals should be killed. He was reacting to a challenge by a confessed gay, Eric Sambisa, who said if Malawians were not ready to guarantee gay rights, then the best way was to kill the gays.<\/p>\n
But CHRR, Cedep, Malawi Law Society and other human rights organisations feel Msonda\u2019s sentiments could incite violence against homosexuals in the country.<\/p>\n
However, Youth with Vision said Msonda should be supported in whatever way as, according to the organisation, he carries the burden on behalf of Christians and Muslims.<\/p>\n
The notice, which Youth with Vision Trustee and Chairperson, Ceasar Fatchi, board member Charles Joshi and Secretary Andy Tchuwa signed, contained a special NBS Bank account number where all funds from well-wishers can be channelled for Msonda\u2019s trial expenses.<\/p>\n
For moral support, the Youth with Vision called on \u2018all patriotic citizens\u2019 to go to Blantyre Magistrate\u2019s court in red attire on January 22 in a show of solidarity with Msonda.<\/p>\n
In an interview yesterday, Tchuwa said the grouping believes what Msonda said is in support of Christian and Muslim doctrines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bible and Quran do corroborate in this issue of homosexuality. Now, we are surprised that somebody is expressing his opinion on an issue and is taken to court. We, as the youth who believe in God, we thought it wise that we should team up with Ken Msonda to help him financially, morally and spiritually as he begins the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the believers in the country should come out to support Msonda who is being tried for coming out and condemn what was also condemned in the Bible and the Quran. All God fearing people should support Msonda,\u201d Tchuwa said.<\/p>\n
On whether the grouping is in support of the suggestion to kill gays and lesbians or not, Tchuwa just said they are supporting what the Bible, Quran and the Constitution of Malawi say on homosexuality.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe Malawi is a faithful nation and will definitely support this gentleman who has carried our cross right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the development, Msonda said the grouping briefed him about their initiative and he thanks God for the support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey briefed me about their intention to support me and I have seen it in the paper today [Thursday]. They said that they fully support me because the youths are actively involved in the issue that I am fighting for. I thank God for the grouping. This is God\u2019s fight and God fights his own battles and I am just a messenger,\u201d Msonda said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A grouping of enterprising Christian and Muslim youth working under the banner, Youth with a Vision, Thursday launched a campaign aimed at mobilising moral and financial support from \u2018patriotic citizens\u2019 for Ken Msonda who has been dragged to court for anti-gay remarks. In a notice placed in the newspaper Thursday, the grouping which is campaigning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16554,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16552\/revisions\/16554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}