Chakwera should fire Jumbe: Malawi Congress Party

MCP president Lazarus Chakwera should stop molly-cuddling detractors such as Felix Jumbe in the party and instead should act decisively by firing them without qualms.

MCP is one of the few freedom fighter movements in this part of Africa that have been out of power and if it is not careful it will remain there forever and die into oblivion just like UNIP in Zambia.

Malawians will never give power to a party that they feel is not ready for it but is instead full of immature leaders and political nonentities like Jumbe who are causing unnecessary trouble.

Such leaders think they are ready for leadership when in fact they are still woodpecker novices who still have a lot to learn under the feet of those who have been in the business.

Jumbe is a first termer MP. If I were him, I would slow down and limit my ambitions to gain experience until such a time I am ready for leadership.

Yet, for him, even before he became MP and known to Malawians on the national scene, he was already up in arms looking for MCP leadership and candidacy in last year’s elections.

As luck would have it for him, he still made it into the MCP national executive committee. But that does not seem enough for him that he is all over the place backstabbing Chakwera.

Let me make this clear. Ambition is good and should be encouraged but at the end of the day, it is the organisation that matters.

Jumbe can be ambitious for all I care but if he loves MCP, there is nothing to be gained from back-stabbing and detracting its leadership.

MCP is supposed to be a government in waiting and should behave like one. But I am afraid at the moment this is a far cry.

There are so many problems that Malawians are confronting on daily basis and they need to hear the voice of MCP audible enough.

There is just something wrong with our kwacha that it is losing value against other currencies at a time when the tobacco season has just ended amid government insistence that we have enough foreign reserves.

What is the alternative and what would MCP do differently? There is deathly silence from MCP although there is somebody– I don’t know who—to speak to Malawians on economic issues.

There are debates raging on critical national issues affecting the future direction of this country such as homosexuality and abortion but again MCP is hiding its head in the sand like an ostrich when it is supposed to be making its position clear to define itself in the eyes of the voter and other interested groups.

The only noise is that of Jumbe castigating its leadership and talking highly of himself so much so that you would think he matters in our lives.

But Chakwera should be more forthright to impose himself on the party. People such as Jumbe should never be allowed to run the rule.

Merely shunting between portfolios was not enough. In fact, it was appeasing them and they are taking advantage of it to cause more trouble. What they needed was a boot.

MCP has a strict code of discipline and it should not tolerate dissent especially that which comes from sulkers who think they deserve leadership when they are not ready.

Unless Chakwera is firm, MCP will forever remain in the opposition and wilderness. Is the party not ashamed that it is one of only a handful of freedom fighter movements in this region that are no longer in power?

Founding parties in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe are still trusted with power in those countries.

What is wrong with MCP? Individuals like Jumbe should be put in their proper place and Chakwera should not be afraid to crack the whip.

• The article appeared in Malawi News under the column ‘Hitting the nail’

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