WE NEED RENEWD "NEW" POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN MALAWI

In the run-up to the 1999 presidential and parliamentary elections in Malawi, I had a bitter exchange of letters with Desmond Dudwa Phiri aka DD Phiri. I had just completed my second year of University then and doing some part time vacation work with the Press Corporation Health facility in Blantyre (Chichiri). What prompted me to write DD Phiri was the fact that in one of his contributions to the Nation Newspaper, he had endorsed Bakili Muluzi for President and UDF as the party that should be ushered back into power. I disagreed with him. My argument was that the UDF was failing the Malawian people as they did not seem to manage by objectives, they did not seem to have a work-plan for the nation and they did not seem to have a coherent agenda that could easily be pieced together in the policies that they were articulating and implementing. At that time, Gwanda Chakuamba and Chakufwa Chihana had teamed up – calling themselves the MCP-AFORD alliance. While they were fighting with JZU on the sidelines as he seemed to have been bypassed in the selection process of running-mate of the alliance, they seemed, to me and at that time, to present a serious agenda for the nation – may be we should actually be grateful that they never made it to power – both of them showed a serious lack of steadiness, maturity, comprehensiveness, proper judgement etc after they had lost the election and Gwanda has deepened further into very erratic political behaviour in recent times. There was another reason why I disagreed with another five years of Bakili Muluzi – the MCP-AFORD alliance presented the Malawian people with an opportunity to have two “top-flying” politicians (Gwanda and Chihana) tested at the same time and in that sense in the 2004 elections Malawians would have an opportunity to choose from the three leaders (Bakili, Gwanda and Chihana) after they all had been “tested”. It never was to come to pass.

DD Phiri, initially, reacted in the Nation Newspaper. While naming no names, he alluded to the fact that a young man, in the University of Malawi, had taken him to task for and over his endorsement of Bakili Muluzi and the UDF. His tone was not that of “appreciation” but that of dismissing “this youngman” as still very young and not knowing enough about people like Gwanda Chakuamba, Hetherwick Ntaba, Chakufwa Chihana etc. This “youngman”, this time around with a second youngman, also in the University of Malawi, featured again in DD Phiri’s column the following week – again DD’s tone sounded, at least to me, dismissive. While I seemed to enjoy the “silent” featuring in DD Phiri’s column, I was more shocked when, about six weeks or so after I had posted my letter to DD Phiri (via his Aggrey Memorial School address), a letter came through to me – behind the envelope was the school stamp of “Aggrey Memorial School” – I shuddered because it struck me, “this must be DD Phiri” and it was. All the enjoyment that I had of the silent features in his columns was gone and replaced with fear. The language was tough and intimidatory as the letter started with the words to the effect that “if your letter was written any time before Bakili Muluzi was president, you will already have lost your place at the University of Malawi and either would have become food for crocodiles or you would be on the run to somewhere unknown; so count yourself lucky that you have Bakili Muluzi as president.” This was not only shocking to me but also planted an immense amount of fear. Sooner rather than later, though, I gathered enough courage to respond – and my response was to the effect that “the beauty of democracy was that we could all express our opinions and exercise our choice – I thought I needed to counter your endorsement of Bakili Muluzi in some way as I had an opinion to express.” This one did not yield any response – neither in his column with the Nation Newspaper nor in private – till today.

My wife, then my girlfriend, Patronella Mayamiko Ziba feared for me and she always insisted on burning these letters as they may incriminate me into some politically motivated arrest. I resisted the burning. Unfortunately she got her chance when I had travelled to the UK in June 2004 and she just felt so uncomfortable keeping this big file with a lot of political correspondence with different people including the late Chakufwa Chihana. Added to her fears was the fact that I always tried to make my views known via News-talk at Capital FM and they were not views that the Government of the day would have thought were in support of their agenda for the nation – I remember in one of the shows, then manned by Benson Nkhoma-Somba that I called the UDF and its leadership “weapons of mass destruction” because they were not responsive, largely and in my view, to the needs of our people.

Close to 10 years from 1999 when I exchanged letters with DD Phiri and close to five years since there was change of government from Muluzi and the UDF – in circumstances less than democratically admirable, I still think that the people of Malawi deserve better. We need nuanced, subtle and new political consciousness.

For this to come about, we probably need to start thinking of overhauling the political arena – so that leaders start to “trust” the people as the owners of the political processes in our country, starting with and from political parties and groupings. Secondly we need to start appreciating the positive role of “consensus” around issues that matter to our people – and “consensus building”, it can be argued, is the very essence of embracing democracy. Further to this we need a youthful generation of leaders – those that can embrace Malawi as one nation without the devastating effects of “kamuzuism” because when you look around today – Bakili Muluzi quickly slipped into “kamuzuism”, Bingu has quickly slipped into “kamuzuism” – he has even accepted the title “Ngwazi”. While there is nothing much in the title itself, it has a lot of associations with the late “Lion” Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda and many Malawians do not have very good stories to tell about the late “Ngwazi” and we have to remember that even during the Ngwazi era, straddling over 30 years, food insecurities were a rare occurrence.

Our “prominent” political leaders, it can be argued, are all products of the same school of political thought – “kamuzuism” and that is why it can be opined, without fear of contradiction, that every one of them thinks his views should be the reigning point of view – JZU proclaims change but he can not pave way for anybody else; Bakili Muluzi has been president of Malawi for 10 years but he thinks there is nobody else who can do it other than himself – even from his own political party; Bingu wa Muntharika thinks that he does not need anybody to elect him through a convention so he can be the flag carrier of the DPP in the May 2009 Presidential election – I can go on and on here – but what we should all be able to see in all this is what Thabo Mbeki said the ANC has always resisted - “the cult of personality” as a way of running the affairs of a political agenda – except Thabo said this after succumbing to his political opponents and after there were reports of Thambo engaging in a “small” debate to allow him to stay on in power for longer than provided for by the laws of South Africa – a politically tragic end to Thabo, but he left us with a serious message that should resonate amongst all well meaning citizens of all countries, Southern Africa in particular – the “cult of personality” is not the way to go.

More and more Malawians can say it with Barack Obama, particularly young Malawians, as he says in his book entitled “the audacity of hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream” (Obama 2006, pp. 362-3) that “…and in that place I think about America [Malawi] and those who built it. This nation’s founders, who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation unfurling across a continent. And those like Lincoln and King, who ultimately laid down their lives in the service of perfecting an imperfect union. And all the faceless, nameless men and women, slaves and soldiers and tailors and butchers constructing lives for themselves and their children and grandchildren, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, to fill in the landscape of our collective dreams. It is that process I wish to be part of. My heart is filled with love for this country.”

ISAAC CHEKE ZIBA – MSc – Social Development & Health.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

THE CHANGED JZU & THE "CULT OF PERSONAITY" IN MALAWI'S POLITICS

“During the decades we have worked together in the ANC, we have had the great fortune that our movement has consistently repudiated the highly noxious phenomenon of the "cult of personality", which we saw manifested in other countries” (Thabo Mbeki 2008 sourced at BBC News 24).

This is one of the leaders of Africa pointing to what is generally a cancer in political leadership, not only in our country, but in most parts of Africa. What prompted me to write this short peeve is the news that is coming of a changed jzu and MCP. While I may want to give all this benefit of doubt, I have problems accepting the change wholesale and wholesome. It must be borne in mind that JZU has been on our political scene for the past 40+ years. Added to that It must further be remembered that he was one the most vocal opponents of the coming and ushering in of political pluralism in our country. The vehemence with which he articulated his opposition to democratic politics does not seem to match inch by inch with his pronouncements that he has changed. What has he changed? How has he changed? When did he experience that change himself? When did he think it was right to share that change with the country? How does he want us to celebrate his change? Does he have any confessions to make? Is he ready to let go of the mantle of power within the MCP? Or he believes in the cult of personality in as far as governing political parties is concerned?

When looked at from this angle, the change that jzu and MCP are talking about, in the view of the writer, should have taken a different form – one of which could have been “I have done my party, I therefore pave way for another leader in the party that I love most – the MCP.” However jzu has decided to choose another path for that change – “I will be the leader, as I have been for the past…years and expect that I have changed.” This is a tough call for me – and probably for many others. The very fact that he can not decide on taking the initiative of stepping aside to allow for totally new faces contesting for the top notch job within MCP sends a chill down my spine as to what change he really is talking about.

Let me try to take this issue a step deeper and further. Tracking his political diary, one will find that jzu has concentrated his campaign rallies and meetings in and around the central region of Malawi (can we outlaw these regions, by the way?). Looked at even from the surface, one wonders if jzu you really wants the whole country to rally round his “new shape and image” – if at all that new shape and image is there.

Then there is this notion that jzu has his first vice president from the south and his second vice president from the north – well and good – but if I may ask, what are the roles of “two vice presidents?” (those that have the answers please do enlighten me on this one). As for me and my thought pattern, this kind of approach entrenches the fact that MCP can only be seen to be inclusive if all the three regions are seen to be catered for. My view, however, particularly in regard to inclusivity in a Malawi that should be – not the one that is – is that a leader can be picked from anywhere, from any spot in the country and for any party and still command national support without having to look over ones shoulders as to whether or not everybody feels accommodated. The “regions” dimension needs to be looked at very critically in a Malawi that can be truly progressive as a nation. While many a politician think and feel they benefit from this regional divide, it is a divide that divides us more than it unites us and in the process we lose the agenda that can be described as truly nationalistic. “Regions” in my view, play a negative role in making us to be in a position where we can play a truly national agenda. That said, I would still love to listen to those that think our inclusivity should entail a set-up like the one MCP has adopted (and I think for a long time now)…and remember Gwanda’s presidency of the party was riddles with a lot of “pseudo-problems” that then led to a real feud between jzu and Gwanda – and some conspiracy theorists think it is because Gwanda was from the southern region. Need we require to remind ourselves that there has been nobody from the northern region taking the command in and within the Malawi Congress Party? Is this by default? Is this by design? Is this supposed to be the norm? – I do not know but probably your guess is as good as mine.

Let me be clear…saying this of and about the MCP does not exonerate the other political clubs. We see the same trend in and within the UDF. Can one honestly tell me if we have seen any other leader apart from Bakili Muluzi? And do we anticipate to see any other leader within that party in the foreseeable future? Your answers to those questions are as good as mine.

The same culture seems to be growing in and within the DPP. We have not seen or witnessed any real and tangible participation of the “people” in and within the DPP in electing their leaders. The National Governing council was decided upon in the “boardrooms” and it is becoming increasingly clear that the decision to have Bingu as the flag carrier in the forthcoming presidential elections will be endorsed in the “boardrooms”. Further to this, while there is a surge on the number of people who want to stand on a DPP ticket in the parliamentary elections in many a constituency, there seems to be dragging of feet in setting the scene for healthy competitions and eventual primary elections. One would actually be tempted to think that the decisions on who should or will stand on their ticket in the parliamentary elections may be getting decided on in the “boardrooms”. And with the fierce title of “Ngwazi” bestowed on their leader, the DPP seems even more at risk of slipping into a crashing, “unilateral-deciding” party.

While we all should applaud the coming in of a democratic dispensation in 1993, that seems all we have managed to achieve. We do not seem to have “political leaders” ready to truly embrace and contest with democratic tenets and top on the agenda that people should be involved, in real terms, in electing the leadership of political parties – not necessarily endorsements – but electing them.

“The highly noxious phenomenon of the "cult of personality" (Mbeki 2008) is real and palpable in our country and particularly in the way political parties are run – and nobody should raise hands in applause for such a highly entrenched political culture in my, our country, whenever and however it manifests itself… And with so many questions in my mind about the change that jzu has pronounced, I find it hard to celebrate it…and I may not be alone.

Isaac Cheke Ziba
Livingston
United Kingdom.