There are many Zikhales around
I have little sympathy for Ken Zikhale Ng’oma after he has been left with an egg all over his face.
He was told in plain language that spineless nomadic politicians without any belief and principles like him are no longer welcome in the ruling DPP.
For many years now, Zikhale has shamelessly moved from one party to the other, a real rolling stone that has gathered no moss. He started from the original DPP with the late Bingu wa Mutharika where he rose to the position of secretary general.
After he fell out with the late Mutharika because he wanted to assume the prime ministerial powers he did not have, he joined forces with another spent force on our political scene, Gwanda Chakuamba, to form the New Republican Party that took them nowhere.
Zikhale then rejoined DPP where nobody took him seriously. When Bingu died in 2012, he quickly joined the new ruling People’s Party of former president Joyce Banda.
With the DPP back at the helm, he shamelessly announced that he wants to rejoin DPP for the second time, arguing it has similar ideologies with PP.
Question is: If PP and DPP are the same, why can’t he stay in PP?
But Zikhale should not cheat Malawians because they know the difference between PP and DPP and it is that the latter is now a ruling party while the former, where he belonged, lost an election on May 20 and sits on opposition benches in Parliament.
It is rough out here and it is survival of the fittest, rule of the jungle, and I am not surprised that Zikhale wanted to jump onto the gravy train that is government.
Unfortunately, no one in government or indeed in DPP is falling for Zikhale’s tricks and fortune-seeking this time: They do not want him anywhere near them.
If you ask me, Zikhale and his kind deserve this type of rough treatment and it has been long overdue if only to bring sanity onto the political scene.
But there are many Zikhales on our political scene. Independent MPs at 52 were the largest block that Malawians delivered to Parliament during the May 20 elections, but today you can count them on your hand as the majority of them have joined political parties.
The MPs that have joined the ruling DPP keep on repeating the crap that they did so because their constituents told them to do so but they do not say where and when such a referendum was held to decide their destination.
I know for a fact that as a voter, my own MP Allan Ngumuya has joined the DPP, but I had no say on it.
But I long for a day when parties will have ideologies and positions on the political continuum that will define and identify them and their adherents will follow it to the letter. I long for a day when voters will be given a clear choice between these ideologies and that these are what will decide elections.
At the moment, it is a mumbo-jumbo of gargantuan proportions and nothing makes sense that people such as Zikhale can decide to move from one party to another seeking political fortunes without shame.
But I retain some hope. DPP’s rejection of Zikhale could be the beginning of good tidings to come for there are many of them out there.
- The articles appeared in My Diary column of Weekend Nation newspaper
