Who let PP bark ‘dogs’out? Malawi columnist hits at Uladi on Atupele’s age
A seasoned Malawi newspaper columnist has asked ruling Peoples Party (PP) gurus such as Uladi Mussa to leave United Democratic Front (UDF) 2014 presidential hopeful Atupele Muluzi who they have recently been foul-mouthing at for his youthful age.
Writing in his ‘My Dairy’ popular column in Weekend Nation newspaper, journalist George Kasakula said Mussa, who is also Malawi’s Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, is goofing by telling Malawians that the young Muluzi can’t become president because of his young age when the Constitution is clear on it.
In this week’s entry titled ‘JB’s gender was irrelevant, so is Atupele’s age’, Kasakula argued that Mussa should stop angering the youth of Malawi, who form a big chunk of the seven million voters on the roll, by wantonly hacking at Atupele Muluzi not for what he stands for, but merely his age.
“PP should realise that this is exactly the same thing that DPP’s Noel Masangwi did when he put his foot in his mouth and peddled his full blown ignorance in the public domain by saying Malawi was not ready for a female president in an apparent reference to the then vice-president Joyce Banda.
“Malawians from all walks of life rejected this backwardness and, as we would have it, fate put the icing on the cake when Joyce Banda ascended to the presidency last year, courtesy of the death of Bingu wa Mutharika and the set constitutional order,” argued Kasakula.
He wondered:”Are they saying they are above the Constitution by the mere fact that they are in the ruling PP, a party that Malawians have not even endorsed in any election, but found itself in power as a beneficiary of death?”
The newspaper columinst said while PP is busy trying to decampaign Muluzi, little does it know that the latter is gaining ground for “conceiving ideas and secondly, crystallising them into concrete policy proposals for presentation to Malawians.”
Wrote Kasakula on ‘My Diary’:”If I were a PP strategist, I would not waste my breath attacking Atupele’s age but would want to see any sign of immaturity in the proposals, if any. In plain simple straight-forward language, what is the response of PP, for example, to free secondary education? Are they for it or against it and why? Why not ask Atupele to cost it and ask whether Malawi can afford it or where he thinks he would get the money from?”
Muluzi, son to former Malawi Head of State Bakili Muluzi was elected at his party’s convention late last year as UDF torchbearer for the 2014 tripartite elections. Muluzi, 34, will be 35 in August 2013, the age the Malawi Constitution has in place for anybody vying for the country’s top job.
Some quarters, however, have been claiming Muluzi, who has been seen attracting mammoth crowds during his rallies recently, saying he is not mature to be Malawi Head of State.
Kasakula argued that PP must know that we are in the 21st century when elections are supposed to be won on ideas not on senseless vitriol.
“Malawians are not just interested to see how Uladi Mussa foams on the mouth shouting out nothings about people’s ages and marital status. While it is good to hear, it adds nothing to people’s lives,” he wrote.
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