Rafiq Hajat

Rafiq Hajat is a prominent Malawian civil rights activist.[1] He is the director for the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI)in Malawi.

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Career

Vice president of the country's chamber of commerce and industry, chairman of DEMAT, the Development of Malawian Traders' Trust, and also founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI).[2]

Political career

He was a member of the executive in the United Democratic Front[3]

Activism

He is the founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI)[4] and is the founder of Transparency International - Malawi Chapter.[5] Hajat and Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) president Kamlepo Kalua formed a Forum for the Defence of Democracy a pressure group on governance concerns under the Mutharika administration.

July 20th Protests

Hajat was one of the main civil society organizers of the July 20th Ultimatum and July 20th nation wide economic protestsJuly 20th Ultimatum .[6] This forced him to go in to hiding for a few days but later he continued to organize the subsequent protests.

Sept 21st Protests

Hajat is on of the organizers of the on-going protests.

IPI Office Burned

On September 2, 2011, The offices of the IPI were burned whilst Hajat was traveling to Lilongwe.[7]

References