Mutharika gets applauds from Malawi paper on delegating  Muluzi

President Peter Mutharika has been commended by Malawi newspaper giant, Nation Publications Limited through its Sunday title for delegating former president Bakili Muluzi to represent him at the 50th independence celebrations of Zambia in Lusaka, calling it “a step in the right direction.”

The Nation on Sunday in an editorial comment noted that Malawi has witnessed a lot of squabbling between incumbent presidents and their predecessors, citing the most recent protracted discord being between Muluzi and his successor the late Bingu wa Mutharika, a brother to the incumbent president.

The paper pointed out that while such fights are mostly seen as involving two incompatible leaders, they impact negatively on the whole nation “which loses out on the vital services and wisdom that retired leaders are capable of offering the country.”

The editorial comment lauded Mutharika’s gesture  to delegate Muluzi saying “ it heralds a new governance chapter that we have missed and yearned for so long.”

Reads the editorial, in part: “The gesture not only sends a good message that we can, as a country, look back and take pride in our statesmen, but also accord the office of the former president the respect and dignity it deserves.”

The paper said it hopes Mutharika will extend a similar gesture to the recently retired president Joyce Banda, who it said is another vital resource; and that she will take the offer.

“After all, Muluzi and Banda are public figures, with their names on government’s payroll, receiving taxpayer funded benefits; hence, the need for the Malawian taxpayer to reap all the benefits possible from such personalities,” said the editorial.