Northerners urged to quit DPP, Bingu govt over quota system –FOND
The Forum for New Direction (The FOND) is demanding immediate resignation of Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers in the DPP led government – following the President’s open declaration that he supports the Quota System for selecting students into all tertiary academic institutions.
President Bingu wa Mutharika told a news conference on Wednesday that the current merit selection system is not proper the northern region dominates in academic and civil affairs in this country.
“Initially the residents of northern region and those of the entire country, entrusted their dreams and visions by massively voting the incumbency Bingu wa Mutharika into power; FOND is concerned that the President has turned out to be pursuing tribal and rationalistic agendas and is fast acquiring dictatorial tendencies reminiscent of the MCP government of Kamuzu Banda,” said a statement issued by spokesman Msenga Mulungu.
The statement e-mailed to Nyasa Times said FOND with members from all walks of life including representatives from churches and other collaborating groupings in the north, is demanding that its sons and daughters in cabinet and parliament pull out of government and resign from DPP with immediate effect.
“Where they insist on continuing to serve in this government, they will be deemed as sell outs and traitors to unity and co-existence of diversity; but also collaborators of discriminatory government policies,” said the statement.
“FOND on behalf of the residents of northern region is against Quota System and therefore expects the region’s representatives in this government and parliament to openly say NO in accordance to the wishes of their voters,” it said.
The group said northerners who will continue to serve Mutharika in government will do so at the peril of their political careers.
President Mutharika said under quota system, government guarantees each district specific number of places in the university and the remaining places will be filled on merit.
“The new system is not discriminating against the people from Northern Malawi but rather it’s aimed at giving every Malawian equal opportunity to university education,” Mutharika told journalists.
However, FOND said it is of the position that grounds for introducing Quota System are lame.
“We are all Malawians. Any persistence for lawmakers from the north to continue to stay in government will be an open defiance to the aspirations of their voters.
“Quota System assumes that graduates from tertiary institutions go to work in their districts and thereby make their districts/regions more developed than others. This is ironical because if this were the case the northern region would be the most developed; and yet the reality on the ground show that most of the graduates from tertiary institutions (from all the regions) have been concentrated in the south and central regions and have worked hard together to develop our Malawi.”
The group said it is now wary whether or not the many unfilled vacancies in the government right now are not connected to the issue of equitable distribution of resources too – emanating from the perceived fear that they will be occupied by the people from the northern region, considering the President’s “perceived annoyance” that the so called ‘super scale’ jobs in government are filled by people from the north.
“With this open attitude of hatred for a section of people, is it not possible then that the government has deliberately not filled them for fearing the likely occupants will be ‘residents of the north?’ Hence increasing the skewing of the so called super scale whatever it means? ‘If we cannot have these jobs, then they cannot have the jobs either” – so service delivery suffers. This is how FOND is now trying to understand the current government and the incumbent,” said the statement.
“If government is so eager to introduce the Quota System, why does it not also introduce quota or equitable access to all other areas civil and political, to address the endemic imbalances?”
FOND said the statistics that Mutharika provided to journalists about northern residents occupying many positions in the super scale of government are baseless.
“The reality on the ground shows that the influential positions in civil service and politics – the movers and shakers –are held by people from the President’s region or tribe [Lhomwe]. If government is well intentioned about the Quota System, will it consider a ministerial positions per each district; a principal secretary per each district etc. etc. if equitable access to national resources is such an important issue. What more can a leader be divisive than this?”
The group said quota system is tantamount to outright discrimination and punishment of hard work.
“One can see that the President’s arguments to introduce the quota system at any cost clearly shows deep rooted animosity that either he or his office has towards residents of the northern region even when he knows that political and economic monopoly and infrastructural development has also been skewed among the regions – with the central and southern regions getting lion’s shares.
“Yet not a single day did the current and previous governments and leaderships called for the north too to have a quota share. Are we going to consider quota on everything? Including the presidency and the budget? Are we saying then that government must introduce a quota based system on the budget, if the president’s analogy of a family is to be considered – where government as a mother ensures that all children get an equal share of food?
“Doesn’t this mean that the north must get a lion’s share of the budget? For you cannot let a vulnerable thin and hungry child (north) starve just because mother (the government) is giving all the food to children that are already full and just want to dominate. Is not this the president’s argument?”
FOND said it is of the view that from his remarks, the President would rather the northern residents and the region were dismembered from his memory and that of the nation: “it’s like they irk him; they are an eye sore to nationhood; it’s like he regrets they are part of Malawi and wishes they were species that existed elsewhere and not in Malawi.
“For how else does one describe a leader who thus says, ‘You can’t let other children starve just because one is crying for dominance; why should some people fight for dominance?’ FOND finds the description of the people of the north by the president as dominant an unfortunate statement; for if the leader is at the forefront to spit such venom in public against the so called ‘dominating’ minority; as persuasive as his position in society is, is he not perpetuating destructive stereotypes and hatred against people of northern region?”
“This is either how strong his negative attitudes are against the residents of the northern region or a collaborative mindset of the south and centre against the northerners. It would seem dominance is used relatively here by the president, as good for others and not good when it is the minority having it.”
FOND has asked President Mutharika to stop hiding behind, other people when he says the issue of university education “has favoured people of the northern region and….creating discontent in other areas”.
“Which areas are these which we have never heard of and those that never were in Bakili Muluzi’s government? He must be telling Malawians that he is actually the one who is discontented and the midwife of this infamous policy.
“When we have a government and a president that sits down and statistically dissects a region in such a manner, surely people have a right to ask: what drove him? Is it for the love of the nation or hatred of a people? Of course our president would insist of doing this with good intentions; but FOND believes that this was a decision emanating from a hateful mind. How else did Bakili Muluzi not be discontented for the ten years that he was in power? Can we say he did not have these facts with him? At least Bakili Muluzi tried to correct the cultural factors that contributed to populations in the south having limited access to higher education,” said the statement.
The group therefore said the route Mutharika has taken, although sold to the nation as well intentioned, is dangerous when applied to a nation that is already polarised and working hard towards unity and nation building.
“Can we build a nation in the environment where citizens are pulling in different direction? And where national leadership is at the forefront sowing seeds of disunity?”
FOND said it has supported the implementation of affirmative action for disadvantaged groups like the girl child and people with physical and mental health limitations.
“For example owing to the amount spent on doing gendered activities, the girl child has a disadvantage over a relatively freer male child who seem to have fewer gendered distracters. One thus would have no objections to have the girl child given a head start. Similarly, for those with disabilities like mobility disabilities and or relapses of mental health problems that persistently interfere with consistency for them to succeed. These require a quota in education too.”
FOND is requesting the government to let Malawians be “peace loving”.
“We are all Malawians we feel pain the same way; we get affected the same way and it will be sowing seeds of disunity and mistrust among diverse groupings if government went ahead to implement this [quota system].”
The district quota system was first introduced by the late dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s Malawi Congress Party in 1988. But it was abandoned following a 1993 court ruling that it was discriminatory and in violation of the fundamental right of Malawian citizens to equitable development through equal opportunities to access higher education, regardless of one’s district or region of origin or ethnicity.
Kodi FOND ndi ndani? While I do not subscribe to the idea of quota system, I do not believe that someone should ask people from one region to quit DPP. Honetsly, nobody asked them or persueded them to vote DPP, they had a choice. For 5 years they had known who Bingu was and when they did vote for him they knew who and what they were voting for. FOND find another way of addressing this issue, not asking people to quit. It wont solve anything.
Am Sorry Bingu why do you want to punish the northeners for being intelligent?
They did not choose to be intelligent, God is watching this.
copy a leaf from the northeners and apply it to e nation.
Bingu is now dividing the nation.
Are you sure you knew who Bingu was in the first 5 years? Do not make misleading statements to emphasise a point, Make factual statements.
The way Bingu is behaving now is not the same as he did in the last 5years, and you know it.
I agree FONDA is overstaping the mark, but to say they knew what Bingu was like is not a good argument.
You Do NOT have to WORK HARD AFTER ALL.
Even if you dont do very well at MSCE, Bingu Has GUARANTEED your place at the UNIVERSITY through the QUOTA SYSTEM.
BINGU HAS KILLED THE HARD WORK SPIRIT.
Instead of moving forward we are moving back.
I have lost Faith AND CONFIDENCE IN BINGU I honestly THOUGHT he was SMART but he isn’t.
The QUOTA SYSTEM is a MISTAKE, using ESCOM, MACRA AND THE WATER BOARDS to run DPP in terms of MONEY and VEHICLES, whilst millions of malawians akudandaula za ELECTRICITY, WATER, TV N RADIO LICENCE.
How can ESCOM be in debt when all they do is produce and distribute electricity, THE HAVE NO COMPETITION, 90pecent of their cost is fixed, the production cost was paid 30yrs ago. if escom was left to handle its resources we wudnt have these problems now.
ESCOM 80MILLION party ISSUE swept under the carpet, because the money was used by DPP, and claimed it was a party its not true.
THESE POLITICIANS ARE THE SAME.
Northeners, pull up ur socks, we are talking of genocide next year. Bingu hitler muntharika.
Honestly you pple of north you are crying as you’ve targetted-equitable distribution of national resources is important.It pains me when a minority group is trying dominating in walks of life.
Your arrogance in the matters of national interest makes pple to get suspicious.The problem with you prefer your fellow northerners at the expence o f highly qualified a person from other regions.I went to unmia purely based on merit and nothing to contrary.
Bwanamlakho! sound like plum comments to me. Do you mean the quota system is a matter of national interest? If it was what you think it is, a certain group of people wouldn’t be smelling a rat… do you think FOND just popped out from the blues to take their stand without any sound bases? Get a grip man/woman
Its words like “arrogance”, “crying” that do not help the situation. So you went to UNIMA purely on merit? There are many others too from South, Center and North who went to UNIMa on merit… So stop bleating. You are not the first one
YOU are claiming but your statements show a different thing.A college grad cant argue the way you’ve done.osamanamizira Unima ayi.How can quota be a matter of national interest when one part of the country is against it? is a unima chancelor anorthener,what about the vice? so how does the issue of kukondera come about?plz just find another excuse!not kukondera.Talk of laziness and low IQ.
You went on merit, so let others also go on merit.
What you do not understand is that it is not only Northerners that will be left out after doing very well. Everyone will be affected. What puzzles me is, why are the others not making noise?
Someone pointed out that the population of Lilongwe alone is more than the whole of the North. The north has 6 quotas therefore 60 students, and Lilongwe has only 2 quotas, so what are you going to do with the many students in Lilongwe that will get very good points?
This will repeat itself in many districts in the Centre and South. At least in the north fewer will be left out because the population is small.
The fact that the others are silent, makes me believe the whole thing is about victimising the North.
Unfortunately when all is said and done, everyone will be victimised.
Quota was tried and rejected.(We vomited the quota system) Northerners are going by the MWAMBI which says ” Mphaka akasanza samandya masanzi ake”
but we know which domestic animal eats its vomit.
Lets break the country into four and have a Fedrela State.One country operating along regions has completely failed us.
Bwanamlakho,
That should make you think right? Its a minority yeti? These are Zulu warriors that descended from hills of Kwazulu, don’t expect them to be queit. There are other minorities in the South such as Sena koma matenda a Maso ndi kusamphunzira. Nepotism is not new in Malawi and its not confined to Tumbuka’s. The other tribes are as guilty.
Simumwa nawo Madzi Atumbuka, they tell it as is.
Zayambika, tiyenazoni.
I told to vote for Puludzu but yopu could not listen. Ndiye ndizoona zayambika mukhaula. Madyera inu anthu aku mpoto. Nkhuli kwambiri. You will know Mulhako. Mulhako has come to stay next is Peter mutharika and mind you another ten years will come still crying. Puludzu will not contest in 2014 and there will be no saviour for you. Akakhala Chafukira anmwalira ndi Hule ku Joni. Goodall Gondwe akungodya maphwando oveka mafumu ndiye munthu ngati ameneyo angakhale Pulezidenti.Chinde sithani khalidwe anthu adyera inu amen mumafuna za bwino zonse zanu kumukana Puludzu choncho.
Azathu a FOND have lost track. Apa zikungowonetsa kuti bungweli liri ndi akumpoto okhaokha. Sorry ma northerners moyo wanu tsankhu ukuvutani. Even makampani a ugani mwakhala mukutengana nokhanokha ndiye pano mukuwopa quota system mumafuna muzikhale ophunzira inu nokha umenewo simoyo wabwino
aise atleast be serious now, ukuwona komwe nkhani iyi yafika tsopano?.ngati unapitapo ku Unima you will agree with me that the system the gvt wants to use for student’s admission is very painful to hard workers.You chewas r arguing without facts in here-why? chabwino can you tell me why and how the merit was favouring the north? mayeso amakhala osiyana?this is stupid indeed.
From a neutral standpoint, both sides are digging holes for themselves. I see no reason why the government want to introduce quota system and at the same time I find the language used by FOND in this article in response to the issue very unhelpful in harmonising the already volatile situation. Bingu has to be very careful because his back-stabbing tactics will bounce back to hit him in the face. He think he is in the confort zone at the moment and how myopic does that have to be? He is forgetting that Bakili was untouchable at some point and very few of us ever thought the ex-president was going to be what he is now. At the same time FOND is preaching messages which do not help situation. Surely, there has been an imbalance in terms of numbers of people graduating but that does not give FOND the right to snipe at the government using the rhetoric they are using. Their concerns are very genuine but the presentation has not been as sharp.
Fond is right the resent reserch has shown that on health workers crisis affecting mw currently the north is the worst hit-can u see now? but the gvt is prioritising tertially education on quota leaving the northen citizens with very high probabilities of dieing compared to their southern and central counterpats-ha? Bingu if this is the economics you are famous for then to me its useless-no wonder its a cheap programm coz there is little science which help people think humanly sometimes.
I totally agree with you, Chilipo. Apapa tisaname, presentation yavuta, though their point is valid. Vuto a FOND angolalatapo basi, kutha zakukhosi. This is not going to solve the problem, but aggravate it. How I wish they asked all malawians to quit DPP, not Northerners only b/c this issue is affecting all malawians not Northerners only.
You are joking, you think I can resign from Ministry position to please FOND? Are you going to feed me and my family? You can not ask me to resign, you go ahead and resign yourself. You are probably late, DPP won because of their votes they are in power? What are you going to benefit by resigning now other than enjoying the fruits of winning? Sorry try next door!
You are very right.
But that is why Malawi will not develop because we are ruled by poverty and many have no GUTS.
We claim to be a Christian country, is it not said ” do not be afraid of what you are going to eat because if God provides for the birds in the sky what more with you” You are afraid of what you are going to eat? rather than what will become of your children in the future if you eat everything now?
We are on this earth as trustees for future generations, and we are making a big mess of it, because of greed.
Democracy is about protecting the rights of the minority, otherwise majority rules with dictatorship. It is against international law to make a policy to single out and punish only the minority! Its like Hitler imposing a policy of ethnic cleansing against the Jews that led to their genocide!. What will be Bingu’s next policy against northerners? Its only Bingu who knows. SADC watch out you will have another problem you can not contain like Zimbabwe.
FOND is right to ask DPP members of parliament to resign.Staying on will be making them party to a purely tibalistic and dictatorial policies that the fake Ngwazi is introducing.Let the MPs resign so that they can better serve the people.They are not in Parliament to serve the egoistic policies of Bingu
The other option northerners have is to stay in DPP and support opposition in Parliament
FOND thats good coming. Go ahead. Let them follow your stupid emotional path. Go north up there. Build your empire there. Zonyengelerana znatha
But really bingu’s statement about quota to journalists was very tribalistic that i couldnt believe its from the head of state.Imagine now a gilr child from the noth at a CDSS with may be 23 points can not be taken to college while a male student at a conventional sec xool may be from mangochi with 30 points will easily go to college.This is what you call equitable distribution of resources? mulungu akulanganitu anthu inu? really? but Fond plz dont force these ministers and Mps to resign.When satan closes one door the LORD opens another one.