Malawi profiles in dishonor: The sickening tale of Mutharika and Joyce Banda trading insults 

If ours was a functional democracy, President Peter Mutharika and his predecessor, Joyce Banda, wouldn’t have been making news today.

Banda lost elections in 2014. By that damning fact, she should have accepted, or be forced to accept, that Malawians don’t want her to be part of, or anywhere close to the country’s political leadership. If she were a woman of honour, she could have retired to silence and leave Malawi’s political space alone.

President Mutharika’s legitimacy ended with that February 2 Constitutional Court ruling. The ruling, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, clearly underlined that Mutharika was unduly elected. If Mutharika was a man of honor, he should have stepped aside by now and leave Malawi’s political space alone.

But because ours is a dysfunctional democracy, the consequence is that it gives us dishonorable characters such as Banda and Mutharika whom, even when the public rejects them, they cling on shamelessly.

There is no honour in them, the political grace flew out of them—they are just hollow humans, stuffed of anything; just emptiness almost.

They can steal from the poor without a pinch of remorse. They can lie, cheat, mislead and manipulate. And you get shocked when they go public trading insults against each other?

After losing the elections, and after having her image battered with Cashgate scandal, the least Joyce Banda could have done is to concentrate on rebuilding her legacy. I expected her to be touring across the country giving talks and lecturers about the need to honour and respect the dignity of a woman. Not frontline politics, again.

Even Mutharika. After the court declared him unduly elected, I expected him to leave the stage and retire to some corner where he would concentrate on rethinking how best his name, and that of his fallen brother Bingu, should be remembered, positively, in history. Not frontline politics again.

The reason Banda and Mutharika have not taken this route is because they are humans of dishonor. They had all the time to make life better for Malawians when they had power. Not now. Their continues stay in politics has nothing for you, Malawians; they are in this for selfish ambitions that is why they trade personal insults.

No woman, in her late 70s, would earn a mark of honor when, without remorse, she goes public calling a person a ‘drunkard’ just because of a political disagreement. You are a woman of dishonor, Joyce Banda.

No man, in his early 80s, would wear a badge of honor when, shamelessly, goes on a national television to call a woman ‘prostitute’ just for disagreeing politically. You are a man of dishonor, Peter Mutharika.

These two elderly people, the same people we all expect to look to for guidance, have chosen the path of dishonor and they must be treated so.

Those that follow Banda, even youths, are standing up for her, saying Mutharika has attacked the dignity of a woman. Those that follow Mutharika, even youths, are standing up for him, saying Banda has attacked the dignity of a man.

I think it’s high time we, Malawians, stop standing up for rubbish. Banda and Mutharika have disgraced themselves and they must suffer the whole loaf of pain. They must neither be defended nor celebrated.

In fact, I expect UDF/DPP Alliance to condemn the silly remarks Mutharika made against Joyce Banda. Similarly, I also expect Tonse Alliance to condemn the disparaging remarks Joyce Banda made against Mutharika.

If these two alliances don’t condemn their wayward leaders, then we should all accept that, among the current crop of leaders, none stands for honor. We are on our own, fellow Malawians.

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