Dr. Steve Sharra, you have beaten e to it and in a very admirable manner…keep it going. The World has big lessons to learn from the great American who lived to the fullest the ideals of a useful, moral life and what he believed in needs to be held true to this day.
My tow tambala worth thoughts on this man are below: -
If America wants to be a first class Nation, it can not afford to have second class citizens…Martin Luther King Jr.
For today, the world needs to tell itself that it can not afford to have second class human beings if the world is to be at peace, if the world is to be good enough for qualitative inhabitation of all people – the world can not manage to default on this, if it does, we may as well forget about a world where even the affluent societies live a meaningful, peaceful life because the poverty, the suffering, the suspicion with which the less privileged citizens of the world get treated to will continue to haunt each one of us in equal measure, and it does not matter what measure that takes.
The World, especially the staggeringly affluent societies, can not just look on and ignore the suffering, poverty, hunger disease etc that continue to cripple the “Kuphukira kwa Africa” as Dr Steve Sharra wants Africa to do. There are not many, as should be the case, success stories in Asia and the Middle East either.
Listen to the inspiring speeches by Martin Luther King Jr by following the link below:
http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com
Some Yahoo readers who have listened to the “I have a dream speech” have had the following comments: -
User Reviews
Read all reviews
• Grat speech
01/15/2007by jmcrespi
Great speech indeed. The main points of Mr.King, if applied by current societies would solve many of the problems that humanity is facing. However, notice that Mr.King talks about equalities...Yes, equalities, not supremacy of ones above the others...so all those that use Mr.King s words to stress on their crusades but then wear T-shirts with slogans such as Coffe? Black please, it tastes better ...double think about it.
• Thank you!
01/15/2007by laura_ulmeanu2000
You have the most wonderful idea. Bravo. It s so great to leasen the speech not only to read it. Thank you again.
• Dream...
01/15/2007by pleasantoakb
thanks Yahoo!!! great concept...
• The Greatest Speech Ever
01/15/2007by touretech
Thank you YAHOO, for sharing this with the World. In my opinion, this is one of if not the GREATEST Speech for Humanity and Peace, and should be appreciated and remembered by all humans. If we live with this goal in focus, many of our ills and wars in society will end.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Responding to Dr Steve Sharra on Nyasanet: My thoughts on Malawi's 2009 elections
Steve and all,
I can only guess the figures in the posting above should have an "m" in front of them so it represents "million".
If this were to happen as soon as, my prediction would be that MCP would carry the day, I will tell you why I think so, musathamange mwazi kaye: -
Of all the parties represented in Parliament today, MCP has had the most stable MPs; there have been very very few movements except for a few cases like the Kainjas...the electors of MCP MPs will have to reinforce this good behaviour of their MPs - sticking to what MCP stands for.
That said, MCP's leader has been around for a long time and all he knows is MCP, the only time I can remember he kind of showed a rare breed of instability was when he openly supported the open terms/3rd term bills "drama" when Muluzi's term of office was coming to its close...but he quickly retreated because he "listened to the voice of reason within his own party and he sensed what a political blunder that was going to be." (To digress a bit, sometimes I think he supported the UDF machinations at that time because he thought and believed that MCP was in a position of wrestling power back from UDF and so he was going to be the one enjoying the fruits of open terms for Malawi's presidents or indeed three terms running, after all that is what he was used to when the Lion was in control of the reigns of power in Malawi).
Thirdly, MCP's strong base is in the Central Region and it is the least affected by unstable MPs, JZU knows how to play regional politics so much that he has failed completely to make sound in-roads in the South as well as the North and he seems to care very little about this and this consolidates his power for the following reasons: -
The South will have 2 or 3 giants in the front line...a probable giant from UDF, a probable giant from DPP (BwM has declared that he is going to stand again) and another giant from these "brief-case parties"...you can not rule out people like Vincent Gwandangulube Chakuamba (kodi ndi Vincent munthu uja eti?), you can not predict the political behaviour of people like BJ if the UDF do not pick him up as their front runner and you never know what Jimmy-Koreia Mpatsa might want to come up with in liaison with Justin Chimera Malewezi...so basically, there will be running battles in the South between UDF and DPP...there will be a fight and a bloody one there and as DPP and UDF fight over the South, JZU will be calling the shots in the Central region.
The North will be a tricky one...until about 4 - 5 months ago, DPP might have been taking a strong grip on the region but I do not think it is the case any longer...the people of Karonga and Chitipa might find themselves confused on who cares about their roads and certainly they may find DPP equally deceptive on the "Roads-project" in that part of the country. The signs of AFORD's revival do not spell good news either for most of the parties...Rumphi will also be a very very tricky one, the DPP President not having attended the burial ceremony of one Chakufwa "Simbiyamoto" Chihana, the people there might not find "comfort" in the same, CC was one of Rumphi's respected children and he still commanded a lot of respect there (I dare say). AKB, should he choose to run again, might, arguably, control Nkhata-bay and Ralph Kasambara having been treated the way he has been by the Government, might want to help out in keeping DPP at bay (I am just speculating here, I do not know) and his impact should not be overlooked...Mzimba might be the liberal one where voters might want some persuasion and convincing as to who to vote for.
My analysis for the North in general, makes it a very difficult region to predict in its voting pattern but I can definitely rule out any significant impact coming from MCP, UDF might control Likoma and a small part of Nkhata-bay because of the Neuro-Surgeon turned politician, Nga Ntafu. The North, in general, might be able to vote for different people of different parties just like they did in 2004 because as we speak, there is no big big politician making significant impact in as far influencing the electorate is concerned.
Goodall Gondwe should have been the man for DPP, but the Government has not helped him in, once again, the Karonga-Chitipa road falling in between the cracks of the politics of funding.
That is my 2-tambala line of thought if we went to the polls in the next year or so, the pattern might change if we maintained 2009 for elections, some political groupings might have time to consolidate their grips on certain areas of the country, others might want to go to political beds in partnership etc.
Gonani bwino nonse.
Isaac
I can only guess the figures in the posting above should have an "m" in front of them so it represents "million".
If this were to happen as soon as, my prediction would be that MCP would carry the day, I will tell you why I think so, musathamange mwazi kaye: -
Of all the parties represented in Parliament today, MCP has had the most stable MPs; there have been very very few movements except for a few cases like the Kainjas...the electors of MCP MPs will have to reinforce this good behaviour of their MPs - sticking to what MCP stands for.
That said, MCP's leader has been around for a long time and all he knows is MCP, the only time I can remember he kind of showed a rare breed of instability was when he openly supported the open terms/3rd term bills "drama" when Muluzi's term of office was coming to its close...but he quickly retreated because he "listened to the voice of reason within his own party and he sensed what a political blunder that was going to be." (To digress a bit, sometimes I think he supported the UDF machinations at that time because he thought and believed that MCP was in a position of wrestling power back from UDF and so he was going to be the one enjoying the fruits of open terms for Malawi's presidents or indeed three terms running, after all that is what he was used to when the Lion was in control of the reigns of power in Malawi).
Thirdly, MCP's strong base is in the Central Region and it is the least affected by unstable MPs, JZU knows how to play regional politics so much that he has failed completely to make sound in-roads in the South as well as the North and he seems to care very little about this and this consolidates his power for the following reasons: -
The South will have 2 or 3 giants in the front line...a probable giant from UDF, a probable giant from DPP (BwM has declared that he is going to stand again) and another giant from these "brief-case parties"...you can not rule out people like Vincent Gwandangulube Chakuamba (kodi ndi Vincent munthu uja eti?), you can not predict the political behaviour of people like BJ if the UDF do not pick him up as their front runner and you never know what Jimmy-Koreia Mpatsa might want to come up with in liaison with Justin Chimera Malewezi...so basically, there will be running battles in the South between UDF and DPP...there will be a fight and a bloody one there and as DPP and UDF fight over the South, JZU will be calling the shots in the Central region.
The North will be a tricky one...until about 4 - 5 months ago, DPP might have been taking a strong grip on the region but I do not think it is the case any longer...the people of Karonga and Chitipa might find themselves confused on who cares about their roads and certainly they may find DPP equally deceptive on the "Roads-project" in that part of the country. The signs of AFORD's revival do not spell good news either for most of the parties...Rumphi will also be a very very tricky one, the DPP President not having attended the burial ceremony of one Chakufwa "Simbiyamoto" Chihana, the people there might not find "comfort" in the same, CC was one of Rumphi's respected children and he still commanded a lot of respect there (I dare say). AKB, should he choose to run again, might, arguably, control Nkhata-bay and Ralph Kasambara having been treated the way he has been by the Government, might want to help out in keeping DPP at bay (I am just speculating here, I do not know) and his impact should not be overlooked...Mzimba might be the liberal one where voters might want some persuasion and convincing as to who to vote for.
My analysis for the North in general, makes it a very difficult region to predict in its voting pattern but I can definitely rule out any significant impact coming from MCP, UDF might control Likoma and a small part of Nkhata-bay because of the Neuro-Surgeon turned politician, Nga Ntafu. The North, in general, might be able to vote for different people of different parties just like they did in 2004 because as we speak, there is no big big politician making significant impact in as far influencing the electorate is concerned.
Goodall Gondwe should have been the man for DPP, but the Government has not helped him in, once again, the Karonga-Chitipa road falling in between the cracks of the politics of funding.
That is my 2-tambala line of thought if we went to the polls in the next year or so, the pattern might change if we maintained 2009 for elections, some political groupings might have time to consolidate their grips on certain areas of the country, others might want to go to political beds in partnership etc.
Gonani bwino nonse.
Isaac
AFORD: THE LAST NAIL ON ITS GOLDEN CASKET?
Who would have thought, if we turned the hands of time to 1991, 1992, 1993, that AFORD would be in the shape it is today? Probably no sane Malawian would except those that have "helped" AFORD to be where it is today. AFORD called the shots in the years prescribed above.
Something must have happened on "the way to Damascus" for AFORD, instead of gaining back its sight after 1994 elections when it was given a "bloody" nose and a huge and immense wake-up call, it kind of remained blind to all things that mattered to it and the Malawian people. Since I have no information on what happened, on this "road to Damascus" I will not attempt to delve into the field, however, I will offer my opinions on what I think and what AFORD should do to kind of attempt to regain its meaning and purpose to the Malawian political scene.
Arguably, when Loveness Gondwe, MP was pronounced "President" of AFORD recently, there were people in the "room" like me behind my computer, who said "really?" I could be wrong for those in the "elections room" but I did just that...first and foremost I never would have imagined Loveness Gondwe, MP would rise up and take up the mantle of leadership in AFORD, let alone after CC (RIP). She simply never crossed my mind to end up in the top position of AFORD's small world. Not that the rise of Loveness Gondwe is detrimental in itself, what with the sensitivity we have to approach issues of gender equity, but I doubt her capabilities of "rebuilding" the party...I could be wrong.
AFORD, in my view, at this point in time needed a "leader" that can redirect the party, reshape the Party in readiness for a national challenge, in my small world too, I have no inclination to believe Loveness Gondwe, MP has the guts, clout, charm, eloquence, vigour, strength, political prowess to do that to the Party, we probably have to wait and see...her rise, in my view, may as well be the last nail on AFORD's golden casket...again I could be wrong.
AFORD, at some point in its existence, could well have been described as an "oasis and fountain" of good political composition, professionals from all walks of life and from across the Malawian nation grouped together to stand up for the Malawian people, you remember Dr Meki Mtewa, you remember the Mapopa Chipetas, the Mayinga Mkandawires and all? AFORD lost a golden opportunity to do to Malawian politics what it ought to have done in a good, subtle, beautiful way.
AFORD can redirect the party and the sooner it does that the better. AFORD needs to look at Malawi as standing in need of good leadership and that good political leadership will only be able to sprout from organised, stable and serious political groupings which, AFORD, arguably, started with and failed to sustain over the years...let me be quick to point out that not all is lost because that image can determine their road map in order to regain it...the mirrors are still there where this, that 1991/91/93 image is reflecting and lesson can be learnt.
The ball is in your court, AFORD, you have passed it on to Loveness Gondwe, MP...we will wait till she starts kicking it around - in the view of this Malawian citizen, an opportunity to rebuild the party has been lost by passing the ball on to Loveness Gondwe, MP, what with the Norman Nyirenda’s in the field of play?
We will keenly watch your direction.
Isaac Cheke Ziba
Edinburgh – Scotland
David Mkwambisi, Greenwell Matchaya and John Mthupo have made the following comments on this issue: -
***
Isaac
Over the years, I have tried to write something on AFORD and national development. In so many cases I have deleted and rejected full articles on AFORD as a party and AFORD and its leadership. But over the same period I have been very sensitive and stupid enough to fail and articulate clearly how my message can avoid writing on AFORD as a regional party rather than a national party. Therefore among my unanswered questions, is to give section b of your gaps, will AFORD come out as a national party or will remain a regional property under Gondwe the MP? What will be consequences of creating linings towards a regional entity rather than opening the windows to the rest of the people? Is this what we do observe within the MCP and UDF as regional oriented political groups? I was here. Did you hear me Isaac?
Greenwell Matchaya comented: -
Dear people,
It is indeed sad that we seem some parties like MCP and UDF and
ex-aford
blossoming like regional parties on the whole and this must be
discouraged.
But for politicians, they will find it inevitable in the short run to
regionalise or racialize or villagize or districtise hahah their
parties
just to be in power. The price to pay is great but it falls on the
people
they rule not the politicians themselves. Had Aford not succumbed to
UDF
trick they would have been great by now and politician would not be
worse
off there. but gosh ndalama mchilombo, money corrupted one aford member
after the other until the party went unconscious.
The only problem is that, unless something dramatic happens, parties
bolstered this way would suffer national injustice in inverse
proportion to
their sizes. Parties representing minorities would find it tough to win
national presidency and this might not be without its problems. This is
why
parties must not be regionalised, villagised, districtised ohh what a
coinage
Greenwell
John Mthupo macked in as follows: -
Isaac,
Your observations are common to all parties and our politicians. Unfortunately politicians are so greedy that they become blind to the realities on the ground. I don’t want to underestimate Loveness but I think, if AFORD gurus really wanted to resurrect the party to its old self, they should have done a thorough research on a “fitting” Presidential candidate, someone with the acumen and stature of a president. This “someone” does not necessarily have to come from AFORD. It can be somebody from another political party or it can be somebody currently not in politics. Somebody who can have a spontaneous appeal on Malawians. This is where I give credit to Brown Mpinganjira and the UDF in its early days of its inception. These guys decided to look for somebody “with a name” to be their first leader. I am told they approached the likes of the Late Justice Chatsika and the Late Dr. Chiphangwi before they settled for Bakili Muluzi. Had the first two accepted, we would have been talking of a different story today. The choice of Bakili was not bad either considering that he was well known and respected at the time because of his previous political record and positions he held in the “old” MCP.
Things started going wrong for the UDF when Bakili became President. Many influential personalities who would have naturally and easily assumed the UDF mantle either died or were forced out of the party. I am talking about the likes of the Late Edward Bwanali, the Late Shaibu Itimu, the Late Chizumila, Aleke Banda, Justine Malewezi, etc. Today the UDF has problems identifying a natural successor because of greed and lack of foresightedness. If the UDF is not careful, especially in the way it will handle the issue of succession, it will crumble just like AFORD. Because each aspirant, if frustrated, can choose to go their own way and this will mean taking away their own chunk of supporters thereby weakening the already frail UDF.
This problem is also felt in the MCP. With the brutal murders of Gadama and Matenje and the political persecutions of prominent and natural successors to Kamuzu the MCP succession plans are not clear up to today. Can you imagine what the political landscape would have been like and how political powerhouse the MCP would have been if we still had the characters of Gadama, Matenje, and Sangala around? Koma because of “ndikhale ndi ine” all these people are not there and things are not the same. Today one cannot easily point at a single personality in MCP who can succeed Tembo. Potential candidates within the party are afraid to come out and show their political prowess. They know the consequences of doing so.
As for the DPP the same scenario applies. People are busy persecuting each other in order to establish themselves as small “gods” within the party. They don’t care what impact their actions may have on the image of the party. All they want is to climb to the top. The party had promising young talents in Kasambala, oratory skills in Mussa, and imposing personalities in Ng’oma and yet the party and its leadership decided to let these go without any “remorse”.
Yet what all political leaders forget is that one of the strengths of their parties and their own personalities after their offices is in grooming or identifying powerful and visionary leaders for their parties. Personalities that will easily assume leadership without fights like those we are witnessing in the UDF. Fights that may, eventually, kill the party. Nyerere died a hero and with dignity and his party, Chamachamapinduzi”, is still very powerful and ruling because Nyerere had the vision and humility to accept that there are others who can do better than himself and decided to quit after carefully grooming a successor. The same applies to South Africa . Mandela is respected today and has the hero status because of his humility in being accommodative. He quit politics after only one term and groomed a successor who is looking after him very well. ANC is the strongest party today and it is obvious that the next six or so presidents of South Africa will always come from ANC if things do not drastically change. All because Mandela professionally and fatherly steered the party to what it is today. If he did not handle it properly, chances are that we were going to have so many splinter groups from ANC and things would not have been the same.
So AFORD is not alone in this game. All political parties have the same disease. “Ndikhale ndi ine” syndrome.
John
I have made some comments to the thoughts of David, Greenwell and Joh as follows: -
David,
I tried to hear you...and i listened too.
Over the years, AFORD has lost its natinal identity - I am not sure
if this came about by default or by design - anybody can have a go at
that.
What i am sure of is that AFORD started as a National entity and most
malawians never gave the party a second thought on what they were up to
- Governing malawi in a democratic culture. My view is that their
"terrible" loss in 1994 was because of something...one of the conspriancy
theories purports that when asked to come up with a shadow cabinet, CC
(RIP) drafted more than three quarters of the would be Cabinet from the
North - some people argue that this was not necessarily because of
regionalistic notions but because CC was looking at potential and capability
- however if this were true, CC should have been the first one to
project that this arrangement may politically backfire and it did - mind you
this is not based on something I know for a fact - but of "conspirancy
theorists."
Following this, achina Che BM, the HKB etc, anangoti "mwamuwona" -
that was now behind the scenes and there and then AFORD was adrift, going
off shore and the people on the control panels did not do much to halt
the change in direction...I do not know.
Since 1994, the leadership of AFORD because dangerously unstable,
politically bedding UDF, MCP, MCP, UDF in very strange and intersting
patterns and styles; in the process "AFORD the giant" continued to shrink,
losing credible people on the journey and the AFORD we see today is one
that needs a lot of clever, painful, shrewed, bold, immense, and huge
political aligments, moves, decsions and machinations...and when i get
to that and hear that Loveness Gondwe, MP, is the leader, i stop to
think of an AFORD that will ever again, be fit for its original purpose,
but then, i have already conceded that "I could be wrong."
Norman Nyirenda's outburts the other time only drifted AFORD further
to its "fate"
Grenwell and John,
You both mack in very well on this issue...the political scenery in
Malawi, looked at from "our" political parties, presents a very
non-promising picture of a progressive democracy. Some of us have always
contended that "democracy needs to mature" at party levels before we can notice
any significant changes at a national level...so our task as Malawians
is to tackle the causes of undemocratic seeds and notions at party
levels and naturally things should, somehow, knit themselves in place at a
national level.
It is the responsibity of each and every political party member, each
and every malawian, to, at each oportunity presented, to stand up for
democratic values in and within their parties. We will, as a nation, only
be able to breed good, democraticlly mature leaders at a
national level if we cross-bred them at political party level...
N'nati n'nensotu ine abale!!!
Isaac Cheke Ziba
Something must have happened on "the way to Damascus" for AFORD, instead of gaining back its sight after 1994 elections when it was given a "bloody" nose and a huge and immense wake-up call, it kind of remained blind to all things that mattered to it and the Malawian people. Since I have no information on what happened, on this "road to Damascus" I will not attempt to delve into the field, however, I will offer my opinions on what I think and what AFORD should do to kind of attempt to regain its meaning and purpose to the Malawian political scene.
Arguably, when Loveness Gondwe, MP was pronounced "President" of AFORD recently, there were people in the "room" like me behind my computer, who said "really?" I could be wrong for those in the "elections room" but I did just that...first and foremost I never would have imagined Loveness Gondwe, MP would rise up and take up the mantle of leadership in AFORD, let alone after CC (RIP). She simply never crossed my mind to end up in the top position of AFORD's small world. Not that the rise of Loveness Gondwe is detrimental in itself, what with the sensitivity we have to approach issues of gender equity, but I doubt her capabilities of "rebuilding" the party...I could be wrong.
AFORD, in my view, at this point in time needed a "leader" that can redirect the party, reshape the Party in readiness for a national challenge, in my small world too, I have no inclination to believe Loveness Gondwe, MP has the guts, clout, charm, eloquence, vigour, strength, political prowess to do that to the Party, we probably have to wait and see...her rise, in my view, may as well be the last nail on AFORD's golden casket...again I could be wrong.
AFORD, at some point in its existence, could well have been described as an "oasis and fountain" of good political composition, professionals from all walks of life and from across the Malawian nation grouped together to stand up for the Malawian people, you remember Dr Meki Mtewa, you remember the Mapopa Chipetas, the Mayinga Mkandawires and all? AFORD lost a golden opportunity to do to Malawian politics what it ought to have done in a good, subtle, beautiful way.
AFORD can redirect the party and the sooner it does that the better. AFORD needs to look at Malawi as standing in need of good leadership and that good political leadership will only be able to sprout from organised, stable and serious political groupings which, AFORD, arguably, started with and failed to sustain over the years...let me be quick to point out that not all is lost because that image can determine their road map in order to regain it...the mirrors are still there where this, that 1991/91/93 image is reflecting and lesson can be learnt.
The ball is in your court, AFORD, you have passed it on to Loveness Gondwe, MP...we will wait till she starts kicking it around - in the view of this Malawian citizen, an opportunity to rebuild the party has been lost by passing the ball on to Loveness Gondwe, MP, what with the Norman Nyirenda’s in the field of play?
We will keenly watch your direction.
Isaac Cheke Ziba
Edinburgh – Scotland
David Mkwambisi, Greenwell Matchaya and John Mthupo have made the following comments on this issue: -
***
Isaac
Over the years, I have tried to write something on AFORD and national development. In so many cases I have deleted and rejected full articles on AFORD as a party and AFORD and its leadership. But over the same period I have been very sensitive and stupid enough to fail and articulate clearly how my message can avoid writing on AFORD as a regional party rather than a national party. Therefore among my unanswered questions, is to give section b of your gaps, will AFORD come out as a national party or will remain a regional property under Gondwe the MP? What will be consequences of creating linings towards a regional entity rather than opening the windows to the rest of the people? Is this what we do observe within the MCP and UDF as regional oriented political groups? I was here. Did you hear me Isaac?
Greenwell Matchaya comented: -
Dear people,
It is indeed sad that we seem some parties like MCP and UDF and
ex-aford
blossoming like regional parties on the whole and this must be
discouraged.
But for politicians, they will find it inevitable in the short run to
regionalise or racialize or villagize or districtise hahah their
parties
just to be in power. The price to pay is great but it falls on the
people
they rule not the politicians themselves. Had Aford not succumbed to
UDF
trick they would have been great by now and politician would not be
worse
off there. but gosh ndalama mchilombo, money corrupted one aford member
after the other until the party went unconscious.
The only problem is that, unless something dramatic happens, parties
bolstered this way would suffer national injustice in inverse
proportion to
their sizes. Parties representing minorities would find it tough to win
national presidency and this might not be without its problems. This is
why
parties must not be regionalised, villagised, districtised ohh what a
coinage
Greenwell
John Mthupo macked in as follows: -
Isaac,
Your observations are common to all parties and our politicians. Unfortunately politicians are so greedy that they become blind to the realities on the ground. I don’t want to underestimate Loveness but I think, if AFORD gurus really wanted to resurrect the party to its old self, they should have done a thorough research on a “fitting” Presidential candidate, someone with the acumen and stature of a president. This “someone” does not necessarily have to come from AFORD. It can be somebody from another political party or it can be somebody currently not in politics. Somebody who can have a spontaneous appeal on Malawians. This is where I give credit to Brown Mpinganjira and the UDF in its early days of its inception. These guys decided to look for somebody “with a name” to be their first leader. I am told they approached the likes of the Late Justice Chatsika and the Late Dr. Chiphangwi before they settled for Bakili Muluzi. Had the first two accepted, we would have been talking of a different story today. The choice of Bakili was not bad either considering that he was well known and respected at the time because of his previous political record and positions he held in the “old” MCP.
Things started going wrong for the UDF when Bakili became President. Many influential personalities who would have naturally and easily assumed the UDF mantle either died or were forced out of the party. I am talking about the likes of the Late Edward Bwanali, the Late Shaibu Itimu, the Late Chizumila, Aleke Banda, Justine Malewezi, etc. Today the UDF has problems identifying a natural successor because of greed and lack of foresightedness. If the UDF is not careful, especially in the way it will handle the issue of succession, it will crumble just like AFORD. Because each aspirant, if frustrated, can choose to go their own way and this will mean taking away their own chunk of supporters thereby weakening the already frail UDF.
This problem is also felt in the MCP. With the brutal murders of Gadama and Matenje and the political persecutions of prominent and natural successors to Kamuzu the MCP succession plans are not clear up to today. Can you imagine what the political landscape would have been like and how political powerhouse the MCP would have been if we still had the characters of Gadama, Matenje, and Sangala around? Koma because of “ndikhale ndi ine” all these people are not there and things are not the same. Today one cannot easily point at a single personality in MCP who can succeed Tembo. Potential candidates within the party are afraid to come out and show their political prowess. They know the consequences of doing so.
As for the DPP the same scenario applies. People are busy persecuting each other in order to establish themselves as small “gods” within the party. They don’t care what impact their actions may have on the image of the party. All they want is to climb to the top. The party had promising young talents in Kasambala, oratory skills in Mussa, and imposing personalities in Ng’oma and yet the party and its leadership decided to let these go without any “remorse”.
Yet what all political leaders forget is that one of the strengths of their parties and their own personalities after their offices is in grooming or identifying powerful and visionary leaders for their parties. Personalities that will easily assume leadership without fights like those we are witnessing in the UDF. Fights that may, eventually, kill the party. Nyerere died a hero and with dignity and his party, Chamachamapinduzi”, is still very powerful and ruling because Nyerere had the vision and humility to accept that there are others who can do better than himself and decided to quit after carefully grooming a successor. The same applies to South Africa . Mandela is respected today and has the hero status because of his humility in being accommodative. He quit politics after only one term and groomed a successor who is looking after him very well. ANC is the strongest party today and it is obvious that the next six or so presidents of South Africa will always come from ANC if things do not drastically change. All because Mandela professionally and fatherly steered the party to what it is today. If he did not handle it properly, chances are that we were going to have so many splinter groups from ANC and things would not have been the same.
So AFORD is not alone in this game. All political parties have the same disease. “Ndikhale ndi ine” syndrome.
John
I have made some comments to the thoughts of David, Greenwell and Joh as follows: -
David,
I tried to hear you...and i listened too.
Over the years, AFORD has lost its natinal identity - I am not sure
if this came about by default or by design - anybody can have a go at
that.
What i am sure of is that AFORD started as a National entity and most
malawians never gave the party a second thought on what they were up to
- Governing malawi in a democratic culture. My view is that their
"terrible" loss in 1994 was because of something...one of the conspriancy
theories purports that when asked to come up with a shadow cabinet, CC
(RIP) drafted more than three quarters of the would be Cabinet from the
North - some people argue that this was not necessarily because of
regionalistic notions but because CC was looking at potential and capability
- however if this were true, CC should have been the first one to
project that this arrangement may politically backfire and it did - mind you
this is not based on something I know for a fact - but of "conspirancy
theorists."
Following this, achina Che BM, the HKB etc, anangoti "mwamuwona" -
that was now behind the scenes and there and then AFORD was adrift, going
off shore and the people on the control panels did not do much to halt
the change in direction...I do not know.
Since 1994, the leadership of AFORD because dangerously unstable,
politically bedding UDF, MCP, MCP, UDF in very strange and intersting
patterns and styles; in the process "AFORD the giant" continued to shrink,
losing credible people on the journey and the AFORD we see today is one
that needs a lot of clever, painful, shrewed, bold, immense, and huge
political aligments, moves, decsions and machinations...and when i get
to that and hear that Loveness Gondwe, MP, is the leader, i stop to
think of an AFORD that will ever again, be fit for its original purpose,
but then, i have already conceded that "I could be wrong."
Norman Nyirenda's outburts the other time only drifted AFORD further
to its "fate"
Grenwell and John,
You both mack in very well on this issue...the political scenery in
Malawi, looked at from "our" political parties, presents a very
non-promising picture of a progressive democracy. Some of us have always
contended that "democracy needs to mature" at party levels before we can notice
any significant changes at a national level...so our task as Malawians
is to tackle the causes of undemocratic seeds and notions at party
levels and naturally things should, somehow, knit themselves in place at a
national level.
It is the responsibity of each and every political party member, each
and every malawian, to, at each oportunity presented, to stand up for
democratic values in and within their parties. We will, as a nation, only
be able to breed good, democraticlly mature leaders at a
national level if we cross-bred them at political party level...
N'nati n'nensotu ine abale!!!
Isaac Cheke Ziba
Nurse Migration: My experiences and views
In March 2006, I presented a paper on peronnal experiences of Nurse migration.This was in Geneva at a conference organized by the International Organization on Migration (IOM), World Health Organization and Amnesty International. Talking points of the paper I presented can be viewed on the folowing link for those interested:
http://www.old.iom.int/en/PDF_Files/mhr/Presentations/presentation_ziba.pdf
http://www.old.iom.int/en/PDF_Files/mhr/Presentations/presentation_ziba.pdf
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