Law scholar brands Chakwera a flip-flopping reverend who does what he preaches against
South Africa-based Malawian professor of law, Danwood Chirwa has condemned President Lazarus Chakwera as a master of flip-flopping, likening him to the behavior of reverends that preached one thing in the morning and did exactly what they had condemned in the afternoon.
In a strong Facebook post reacting to Chakwera’s defense of his faulted Cabinet, Chirwa said with every public act, the new President seems to undercut his own previously publicly stated beliefs at such an alarming rate that one wonders what value to attach to any words he so craftily utters.
“A few days ago he said, to international acclaim, that he would end the history of family dynasties; today he said family connection ain’t a relevant consideration in his appointment philosophy,” writes Chirwa.
He furthers notes: “In his inauguration speech, which has also received universal applause, he said he will end nepotism, today he defended a cabinet reeking of nepotism.”
Chirwa added that previously President Chakwera proclaimed his unquestionable commitment to combating corruption, but he goes public to justify a cabinet in which known and experienced looters and crooks congregate.
“The President has received praise for his acknowledgment of all Malawians for the role they played in bringing about change; today he cast aspersions on Malawians who have asked questions (exercising their full birth rights) about his decisions,” he wrote.
In summing up, Chirwa has defined Chakwera as a President whose notion of truth seems to change according to the demands of the occasion of his immediate speech.
“Today there can be no doubt about the true colors of the new man leading Malawi. He is clearly beholden to vested interests and incapable of breaking loose of the heavy bonds of indebtedness he’s wrapped himself in. That he professes not to know that he is so beholden makes one even more worried,” he wrote.
Chirwa also vilified Chakwera for the so-called transitional Cabinet, saying the move will keep the Cabinet enslaved to the President because you cannot expect any of these individuals to provide independent and truthful criticism or advice to the President.
“It is certainly unfair and inconsiderate to those who have been appointed as ministers and deputies to be subjected to an arbitrary so-called probation period when they have to divest themselves from all their existing business and other commitments in order to serve the nation, which requires that they commit all their time and energy into (re)conceptualizing their departments and bringing about the much needed change.
“To subject them to such a short period of probation is to exert undue pressure on them to perform, which will compel them to seek short-term results at the risk of neglecting medium- and long-term solutions,” he said.
Chakwera, 65, comfortably beat Peter Mutharika, 80, with 58.5 percent of the vote last month, marking the first time in African history that an election re-run led to the defeat of an incumbent.
The former evangelical preacher vowed to tackle corruption on his election ticket.
His victory had brought hope for change in landlocked Malawi, where around half of its 18 million people live below the poverty line.