Joyce Banda advised it would be ‘unwise’ to run again for Malawi presidency: ‘Has king or queen-maker role to play’
Former president Joyce Banda, who returned to her homeland on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, has been advised against making another run for the presidency next year.
Greg Mills, executive director of the Brenthurst Foundation, who was part of the secretariat to Banda’s Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy from 2012 to early 2014, believes she would be unwise to run again
According to a report on Institute of Security Studies and also posted on Daily Marverick, as Banda and her People’s Party (PP) contemplate a possible run next year, they will be aware that although she has won elections to Parliament and has served as a minister under former president Bingu wa Mutharika, her track record as president “has not been stellar.”
Mills pointed out: “If she runs or signals her intention to do so, the gloves will come off. Given the state Malawi’s economy is in, this would probably be destructive, at least in the short term.”
The report says PP will, unfortunately, also have to contemplate other likely repercussions of a decision to run for the highest office.
But Mills believes Banda, 68, still has a role to play.
“If she plays a role outside or above politics, as a king or queen-maker, for example, then she could play a very constructive role,” said Banda.
Mutharika’s vice president, the capable and respected economist and former corporate executive Saulos Chilima, could be the king whom Banda could help “make”, some suggest, according to the report.
Mills gives Banda credit for floating the kwacha and stabilising the economy initially. Then Cashgate exploded and knocked everything off kilter.
Malawi Police issued an arrest warrant for Banda last July for alleged complicity in the so-called Cashgate scandal during her brief tenure as president between 2012 and 2014 and has said it is valid.
Anti-Corruption Bureau boss Reyneck Matemba has also insisted that Banda remains under investigations for corruption allegations and Cashgate.
Banda has always claimed that Cashgate took off under the presidency of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika – brother of the current incumbent – and that she had nothing to do with it, saying she has evidence that allegations connecting her to the looting are politically inspired.
Most observers believe her but acknowledge that the state looting probably accelerated on her watch.
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Let us not fool ourselves as Malawians that we are innocent, by blaming politicians for the poor state of the economy. These so called political leaders did not get elected via the barrel of a gun to our heads. They were duly and democratically elected by us Malawians. Even after they have shown huge appetite for running the economy to the ground, we still vote them back in. As citizens we also need to take responsibility for the state of the economy. We are complicit.
Malawians gave a mandate to Kamuzu for 3 decades and he failed us; we give a chance to Bakili for 10 years and he too failed us; we gave a mandate to Bingu and he failed Malawians; Joyce took over from Bingu for hardly 2 years and she too was a disaster. Now we have an incumbent president who is showing signs of dictatorship……..he also has failed in the last 4 years blaming every leader before him. Malawians have had a fair share of modern slavery in their own land. We can never recycle presidents for the sake of expediency… Read more »
its a wise advice to a wise person
It shouldn’t take a foreign adviser to tell Joisi Banda she has no hope EVER of getting elected President of this country. Stern reminder: she was never elected President in the first place. People don’t hate her as a person; rather they simply detest her performance as President. She dug a big hole for us, and just dumped most of us in it. It’s almost like she did this with derision, as she never looked back. In fact she metaphorically pissed on us while we were in that hole. And,as if to rub salt to the wounds, she left and… Read more »
funny enough she likes ‘foreignors Advice’
This is a very bad advice. JB must stand and oust APM kkkkkk
Musiyeni aime aidziwe Bangwe. If she was floored by DPP while she had all the machinery, what can she do this time? You think DPP ndi zocheza eti? Ask one Laza Kunkuyu Chakwera.
Kumopa mzimayi!
In Malawi whether you are thief or Savage ppl still vote for you
I don’t think the mistakes she made can overrun the positives she did to her country
Ayimamso!
Go and run again amai you have nothing to lose. You have already made history in Malawi and sadc as first female president so even a loss will never change that. Ngati tinakhululukira DPP about persistent shortages of fuel, sugar, forex, etc after only two years nde kacashgate nkachani?
Tamva nawo, Chilimaism ilipobe eti !
She, Che Jhumo, says she has an immunity from cashgate prosecution issued by Interpol…. kkkkkkk
Oh!!! mama, now New York style with heavy glasses!!! After four years out!!! the sun seems to be too much. Anyway,we are used to it some of us . You left us here at Domasi and have found us still kicking!!!!