A popular rapper and ardent campaigner against corruption and bad governance in Mali has come under threats from anonymous callers for opposing planned constitutional amendment.
Master Soumy, as the artiste is popularly called, recently embarked on a vigorous campaign dubbed “Don’t Touch My Constitution!” to mobilise grassroots opposition to a proposed amendments which many say will give the President too much powers.
The MFWA’s correspondent in Mali reports that the popularity of Soumy’s campaign has however made him many enemies who have started assailing the activist with cyber-attacks and anonymous phone calls, some of them threatening to eliminate him.
Soupy has however indicated that the threats will not affect his campaign.
“Nothing in this world will make me allow evil-minded people who only think about themselves to destroy my country. If I have to die for the sake of Mali’s prosperity, so be it,” Soumy said in an interview.
Soumy is known to have rejected several proposals from many influential people attempting to dissuade him from his passionate campaign against the proposed amendments that will be put to a referendum on July 9, 2017. The rapper who has been decorated as a Knight of the National Order, for his patriotism, is a tireless campaigner against corruption and nepotism in Mali.
In addition to the threats, the artiste’s social media communications are being interfered with.
“All the photos I post on social media are picked up and modified to mislead the people,” he complained.
This is the second time in two weeks that anonymous threats have been used to attack freedom of expression. Following an investigative report about some leaders of the Catholic Church in Mali on May 31, 2017, two Malian journalists were serially threatened by unidentified callers.
The MFWA condemns the threats on the life of Soumy and call on the Malian authorities to provide him with adequate security and to investigate the matter to apprehend the culprits.
