MCP's risky game: Kaleso for running-mate?

Next year's ballot papers might well have a bold 'none of the above' option so that if the majority of the electorate choose that option, all parties should be forced to go back and bring better presidential candidates. Probably not! The opposition MCP is said to be considering pairing its president, John Tembo, with Rev. Peter Kaleso as running mate for the 2009 polls.

On the surface, this prospect seems credible bearing in mind that Kaleso, who in the past served as deputy Speaker of Parliament, comes from the South where MCP has minimal support and thus, needs to persuade more voters.

However, the fact that Kaleso has changed several parties opens the larger picture of loose, opportunistic and un-principled politicians whose detrimental political effects the country continues to grapple with. Kaleso is among the band of politicians who have built the shameful legacy of serial political crossbreeding. He has strayed from AFORD, to UDF, NDA, and now MCP.

With such a background, any lay-person in Malawi should be beckoning MCP at the risk of getting the party's running-mate so haphazardly without proper political judgement. Enter Kaleso!

The presumptive line-up of presidential candidates is already based on the diktat of a narrow caucus of party activists, propagandists and kingmakers. The Malawi electorate must be prepared for the very limited choices that are bound to be forced down their throats come the next elections. The voting public will moan and groan, but they will hardly escape the dismal political competition among potential politicians within parties.

There is a well-built repressive infrastructure meant to purge anyone who happens not to be the chosen one, even one with the rare ambition and determination of America's Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

But do MCP nominations or those of any other parties have to concern us? Some people will say - No. But what these people will be forgetting is that the manipulation surrounding the nomination processes of presidential candidates and running-mates across the political divide is a fundamental political problem - one which is responsible for the decay of the country's democracy.

A case in point is UDF nomination misadventure in 2004 polls, which has made the country pay dearly. Untold damage has been caused by the Section 65 conundrum, and, in particular, the obstruction of parliament, not to mention the fight between president Bingu Mutharika and vice president Cassim Chilumpha.

The subsequent unending court cases, and the dysfunctional office of the vice president continue to drain tax-payers money. The country should have learnt that the calibre of politicians we vote for will affect the posture and nature of politics, the running of government and governance in general.

No one knows whether MCP will win the next election. But 'in case it were to do so' - if the nomination of the presidential candidate and running-mate is muddled up, the country is very likely to go through a series of political deadlocks and pandemics – similar to the ones we have experienced in recent years. The same thing would happen if the other parties jumble up their nominations, too.

And so, can Kaleso invigorate MCP? MCP is better placed to answer such a question. Nonetheless, does MCP trust that there is no invisible hand lurking in the political shadows, ready to pull Kaleso into the fox-holes of DPP or UDF, even at the time he has enjoyably made his entry into the MCP fold? What if Kaleso resigned from MCP just before the elections? It can happen.

If Mutharika could ditch UDF after becoming president, wouldn't Kaleso ditch MCP upon becoming vice president? Would then, the party hound Kaleso with constructive resignation or treason charges - the Bingu-way. Or the way Bakili Muluzi pursued former VP Justin Malewezi upon the latter's resignation from UDF?

In the event that MCP leadership were to zero in on Kaleso as running-mate, what comes to mind is the tendency by political parties to deny capable, long-serving and hard-working members from within, the opportunity to become candidates.

Instead it is the newcomers who are catapulted to the top echelons of power. Of course, the trend of catapulting novices from other parties, defunct they may be or not, is the tale of 'how… Once upon a time, UDF tamed a pet snake, which it did not realise was poisonous and could really bite.'

The country's democracy is currently suffocated by entrenched faulty systems and undemocratic nomination procedures at all levels. Right now the candidacy of the 'big men'and sole party financiers, is determined and defined by the bizarre fanaticism within the secretive inner circle and the fundamentalism of some core supporters. There is no sober debate and scrutiny of candidates, and neither is there any contest that is truly open or democratic, as is widely and loudly proclaimed.

Now, with the perception of conventions as a rubber-stamps, it is possible that MCP will be grounded in the presidential race by Tembo's political game-play. The UDF party apparatus, including the controversial convention, appears to be fixated on paving the way for a Muluzi's comeback.

But can Chilumpha become Muluzi's running-mate upon losing at the convention? Chilumpha might be destined, as a last resort, to helplessly run as an independent presidential candidate, in Malewezi's 2004 style. In the meantime, DPP cheerleaders have already tied the whole North as Mutharika's bundled constituency.

The likely consequence of all this is - more voter apathy, the propensity for recycled politicians, and indeed, the creation and glorification of political dinosaurs. Above all, the fragility and fragmentation of political parties due to mass defections, the 'buying' of MPs and politicians, as well as the appeasement and bribery of voters, are signs of political malnutrition. Unfortunately, our politicians, like gamblers at a casino, are investing wastefully, using the people's sweat.

The 2009 polls will, no doubt, bring about a cut-throat contest between 'old friends and new enemies' or 'old enemies and new friends' - a prospect for the cycle of anger, hate politics and vendetta in post-election era.

But, it will not help MCP to jump on loose and unprincipled politicians as candidates. Tembo, the supposed presidential candidate, is already facing mountains of dilapidating scepticism from various quarters due to his political background and his dreadfully long stay in politics. Thus, the party needs a truly fresh image – a 'New MCP' - and also, to develop an effective strategy to build inroads in the South and Central region. The country has had 15 years of decaying democracy, and the party would do itself a favour by learning from the mistakes of both UDF and DPP. It is high time that MCP embraced democratic practice and ensured the birth of new and young blood.

Any party wanting to win the next elections, including MCP, should therefore bring candidates with genuine credibility and a true sense of purpose. This cannot be done through a montage of party conventions and fake primaries, but via the establishment of democratic nomination systems and processes. Principally, the country urgently requires nothing less than a revolution in the internal workings and set-up of political parties if genuine democracy is to prevail.