A BINGU WIN WILL START TO POUR COLD WATER ON POLITICS OF REGIONALISM

The nation – yes Malawi – needs exorcising. The nation needs redeeming. The nation needs re-directing. We are 40+ years old as a self determining lot and yet we are miles and miles away from freeing our people from poverty, disease and in-capabilities that take many forms. I have dared to say, in the not so distant past, that the elections in 2009 will be about “politics vs. development” and I, further, have dared to say that the Bingu wa Muntharika government has started – yes only started – the long journey to the “promised land” where people are free, free from poverty, free from disease, free from incapability – yes the long journey to a destination where we can say it, in unison, with a renowned economist and “humanitarian” Amartya Sen that our “development is our freedom.” We can claim and reclaim it – as a people, a people of Malawi – a people determined to do something that will make us emerge “victorious” from our so many traps – with poverty at the helm.

One of the most dangerous enemies, amidst us, as a nation is “regionalism”. This ill ism has actually made us fail – in my view - as a country, to aggregate consensus on and around things and issues that matter to our people – yes the people of Malawi – from Chitipa to Nsanje and from Mangochi to Mchinji. We need to reject and abandon the platform of “regionalism” – sooner rather than later – he sooner I say, the better so that we can challenge, as a people united in purpose, a people ready to change their circumstances, the real social and economic problems that continue to beset our people. We can do it and the only way is to trust and believe in Malawians, Malawians are a people, one people, with one destiny. In the spirit of William Shakespeare we can “loose so many arrows in many directions – with only one mark as our aim – ensuring the betterment of the people of Malawi – taking them as both the means as well as the ends”. Our politics needs to engage with them so that it is them that are taking centre stage and it is them that are taking control.

I, for one, am happy with the pick of Joyce Banda as running mate of and to President Dr Bingu wa Muntharika in the forthcoming general elections. This is because I totally believe that Malawi can and should be one and Malawi can be treated as one country – with only one fragment – Malawi. There are those that think Malawi can only be represented if Malawi has three fragments – the North, the Centre and the South. We have tried this platform for ages on end – it is not working for our people – and we do need - not just a paradigm shift but a paradigm change in the way we do not only our politics but our national endeavours as well – including on the development front. Malawi is yearning for a day when all of our people – yes from Chitipa to Nsanje, Mangochi to Mchinji will have well determined three square meals a day; they will have roads that will lead them to where they are going and they are sure to come back; they will have schools that prepare not only the young ones but communities for future challenges while riding in the comforts of today – we need – and yes – we demand better politics and better engagement with communities and yes improved and guaranteed development for all Malawians in substantial, equal, equitable, considered and coherent measures.

There are divisive, hate-concocted and vile-filled sentiments emerging from certain quarters in the wake of the news that Bingu has picked Joyce Banda as his running mate. Nyasanet, for example, mainly emerging from ardent, die-hard, hard-core and unrelenting supporters of Bakili Muluzi, is awash with messages like “Bingu equates Malawi with south only; it’s Bingu and southerner Joyce Banda; Nzeru zayekha Bingu goes south and south only; Bingu snubs Goodall – picks Joyce Banda; Central, northern regions hurt by Bingu’s snubs” – and many other such invasive, divisive and evasive remarks. I say to Bingu and Joyce “ignore them and get on with the job, the campaign and engagement with the Malawian people – it is the message that you will take to them and the way you deliver – and of course the way you will carry that message through – and the manner in which you will follow through the message with action that will matter.”

While there could be many explanations why Bingu may have chosen Joyce Banda as his running mate - very much dependent on his prerogatives – one of them could be that the President, on the whole, wants to snub the fact that Malawi is and should be fragmented into three regions – I could be wrong – but definitely allow me to speculate…and in my view, his win will have started to pour cold water on this notion that we have to feed the “big bull, white elephant” of “regionalism” as we have done for many years gone by. Of course I am aware it is a gamble; it is a risk bearing in mind the other players on the political scene and the message that they had, the message that they have and the message that they will take to the Malawian people, you can not guarantee the content of that message and yu can not quarantine it – but the gamble; the risk is one worth taking as it promises, in my view, to start the process of turning the tables of “regionalism” around – again I may be completely wrong in this – but I do believe it is the right way to go.

It is to the effect that we can be one Malawi; we can be one nation with one vision why I would like to appeal to all Malawians of good will; all Malawians that want to start the process of healing the wounds of regionalism to support the BwM-JB ticket. It represents, in my view, a shift that we can follow as a country. It is my sincere hope that the ticket was hatched; the ticket has been borne and the ticket has been revealed with solid and concrete consensus within the rank and file of the DPP. If the ticket came out of an honest debate and honest process that each member – particularly those of us from the outside look at as senior members of the party agreed to it, the ticket will be sold in unison – across the country. It will be a tragedy if the ticket will actually be sold in an incoherent manner.

There will be people, intent at reinforcing, retrenching and consolidating the gutter, regional politics; they will say lots of things – some of them already coming out as above – that has to be rejected outright, all Malawians need to stand up and say we are one Malawi, we are one nation and we have one destiny.

While listening to the divisive voices, it may be quite natural for people from the central and northern region to feel a certain degree of emptiness; a certain degree of irrelevance and probably a certain feeling of being “neglected” – but that will be emanating from the fact that we have been fed on “regionalism” for ages on end – and this ticket, the Bingu-Joyce ticket, represents a big shift and that is the shift that we have to follow – as one Malawi, one nation with one destiny.

Malawi is too small to be fragmented into three; and of course big enough to work and “produce” for its people from Chitipa to Nsanje and from Mangochi to Mchinji. Bingu and Joyce have to be steadfast, resilient and forward looking. It will be tough. You will be called names from all over the place – but keep your eyes on the ball – the oneness of our country…our unity does not and should not depend on “regionalism” – it depends and will depend on good leadership and the political will to unite the country and, above all, politics that works for all Malawians.

Go for it Bingu! Go for it Joyce! You have left many people with their negative energy in quandary. 2009 will be a year of history in Malawi – may I be allowed to predict.