No Yao minister, 16 from South as North gets 2: A critique of Malawi new Cabinet
Political observers have noted that there is no person from Yao tribe as full ministers in the new 24-member cabinet in which President Peter Mutharika has included five women – two ministers and three deputies – with 15 new faces comprising 10 full ministers and five deputies.
The new cabinet has 18 full ministers and six deputies, a total of 24 and up from 20 in the last cabinet, according to a statement released by Lloyd Muhara, chief secretary to the government.
“There is no Yao minister in the new Cabinet which is dominated by the people from the Lhomwe belt. Those picked from the Yao-land like Bright Msaka and Ralph Jooma are not Yaos,” observed Atwel Kabungwe, a social –political commentator.
In terms of regions, the South, where Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) got a majority of their votes, dominates with 16 members, including the President while the North has two full ministers and two deputies.
The Central region has the Vice President; two full ministers and one deputy.
Governance and rights activist Makhumbo Munthali told Nyasa Times that on regional balance, Mutharika seems to have given in to the “perennial temptation” of largely appointing those from his tribe [Lhomwe] and Southern region who voted him in large numbers and punish the North and Centre for rejecting him.
“While some may argue that Mutharika is justified to do so because he didn’t have many MPs in the North and Centre, it is important to point out that Mutharika was not obliged to appoint only MPs. He would have reached out to other capable individuals outside Parliament across the three regions for such appointment,” Munthali said.
The social and governance commentator further told Nyasa Times that, certainly, Mutharika Cabinet cannot be said to have been merit-selected but rather largely based on “pursuing appeasement and nepotistic or regionalist goals, and rewarding those who campaigned hard for the party in the election.”
Said he: “This is not only seen in Cabinet appointments but also the list of additional advisors to the already long list he has. Certainly, we should expect more of such criteria being evident in the appointment of people into the Boards and Embassies.”
Mutharika has made his vice president, Everton Chimulirenji, minister responsible for disaster and relief management and public events, while Mark Michael Botomani has become the country’s minister of information and civic education.
By virtue of being information minister, Botomani will also be the government’s spokesperson.
Mutharika has retained five former cabinet ministers, namely Foreign Minister Francis Kasaila, Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi, Kondwani Nankhumwa, who is now minister of agriculture, Bright Msaka, now minister of justice, and Jappie Mhango, now health minister.
Five women appear in Mutharika’s new cabinet — three of them, Martha Chiuluntha Ngwira, Grace Kwelepeta and Esther Majaza, as deputies for the education, gender and local government ministries respectively.
The two other women who were appointed as full ministers are Martha Lunji as labor minister and Mary Navicha as minister of gender, children, disability and social welfare.
In his comment, Munthali said while there are some new faces, the Cabinet is largely a complete departure from what the President promised in the 2019 DPP manifesto and the Njamba victory celebration rally.
“The President promised the best ever developmental focused Cabinet that would be characterised by inclusivity, merit, and lean Cabinet of 20 amongst other factors. However, the President has not only failed to honour the 20 sized Cabinet promise but also failed to ensure there is regional and gender balance in the appointment.
“For example, the President has failed to adhere to the tenets of Gender Equality Act, SADC Gender Protocol and AU Women Protocol by appointing 20% of women in Cabinet,” he said.
On Deputy Ministers and Presidential advisors appointments, Munthali said: “As I have always said we do not need Deputy Ministers and Presidential Advisors as it’s costly. Besides, the the full Ministers and Principal Secretaries ably cover the roles these positions do, and as such they are unnecessary.”
He said the Principle Secretaries of relevant Ministries can ably be utilised as technical advisors to the President on matters relating to their Ministry
Notwithstanding, the governance expert said the President should be commended for maintaining some “star performers” from his previous Cabinet such as Bright Msaka and Joseph Mwanamveka whom in his view have also been rightly placed.
“In summary, Mutharika has sticked to the old script associated with second terms of Presidents in Malawi where appointments are largely based on rewarding patronage, appeasements and pursuing narrow political interests at the expense of public interest . It can be said beyond reasonable doubt that Mutharika’s Cabinet is not inspiring and a missed opportunity to unify the country,” said Munthali.
In an editorial comment, the Nyasa Times stated that apart from education portfoli, all the other key ministries—health, agriculture, finance and tourism—have been left in the hands of tired soldiers whose track record doesn’t inspire confidence.
“All in all, Mutharika is struggling with legitimacy issues and it is only fair for him to win that through strengthening his soldiers,” reads the comment.
Mutharika won a tight race in May with 38.5 percent of the vote which the opposition are challenging the outcome in court.
A panel of five judges will rule Friday whether or not to dismiss the case, as requested by lawyers for Mutharika and his DPP.
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If Muntharika was Tumbuka and he had appointed a cabinet with sixteen tumbukas, two chewas and two senas. Hell would have broken loose. He would have been called all sorts of names. Mwaona a Tumbuka ndiozikonda would have been the outcry. It is clear that Mutharika and the DPP are tribalist. This does not get mentioned because Mutharika is a southerner and the DPP is a southerner party
This so called analyst is very pathetic he and his tribe are on the forefront fighting quota system and yet here they crying for the same system in position, u can’t eat your cake and have it at the same time.
Bright Msaka,Machinga Raf Jooma ,Mangochi,what are you talking about fool
What kind of reporting is this?You need to go back to school and learn journalism..Who is Hon. Bright Msaka SC by tribe if you know? Zankutu! Za njeee!!!
More over the issue would not have been based on tribe but may be region i.e. how many ministers are from the South; East; Centre and North. Let is drop the issue of tribes for once. We are one Malawi. By the way, the writer needed to state the tribes Msaka and Jooma come from. Half-baked journalism from ma sukulu a ku Malangalanga.
TRUE, MSAKA IS NOT A YAO
A Yao kutengeka siizi or wamtundu wanu kusankhidwa unduna basi kukomedwa ndi sikono paja ayao kwakomera kudya masikono, pano atengana okhaokha alomwe inu muzikhala chomcho, kwa nonyera kulwa ayao kkkkk mukutipangitsa manyazi mwamva, kasalako ine ndisamuka ku Mangongochi kwanu ko ndikapeza kwina kokhala
why these yao people are complaining, have they forgotten that they gave PITALA mass votes , they were thinking that he wll be on there side, even muyao wina opussa ngati ATUPELE has been dumped, AYAO oganiza moperewera
please, please stop thinking in such a way
I am tumbuka uyu mwana wa Munthali wakulira pa karonga has nothing to offer amalawi mumango kweza anthu ena u analyst wake wakuti kkkkk
At times I fail to understand what we complain about. Already, we’re the same people complaining about the quota system in education and we want to practice it in ministerial appointments! That contradicts the whole idea. APM as the president looked at the credibility of the individuals irrespective of where they originate for the betterment of the country. If he had chosen based on tribes, it would be us criticizing him.
Let’s try to give credit where it’s due.
Well done APM 👍👍👍
Anyways, this second time it won’t be an easy one , many Malawians are already at boiling point, it’s like a time to ticking bomb!
Even Atupele is/was not yao. Shatapu! There also no Senga, Lambya, Nyachusa and aLikoma. Nonetheless, this kingdom is never to last. It’s temporary.
Kodi Navichayu ndi mbuzi imasesa ku chipatala ija kani…? Koma dziko lili mmanja mwagalu ili!
I hate this kind of reporting, what is so special about Yao to only depict them??
There are so many tribes who didnt got any ministerial position e.g Nkhondes , Yaos, Ngonis and etc.
Am not fun of Peter Muntharika hope u know Truth Pains by now, I always advocate fair share of all positions in government
Next time try to report much better, am not happy with his choice of ministers too
choka iwe ndi wa mtundu wa a lomwe iwe usatinamize apa
The writer is refering to what the Yao did on casting votes for these Lomwe, the Yaos is the ones who made these idiots to get back into power because of their votes, they voted as if they are lomwes that why the writer of this story was passionate to a Yao by tribe in the cabinet to thank them for the well done job, usayankhenso wamva!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Izi zogawana mitundu ine, sizikundisangalatsa. Malawi is one country one nation.Period
its not tribe but potential, all regions represented, why tribalistic
The article is written by someone with regionalistic and tribalistic mentalism. I would not go into that line of living, thinking and idealism.
Malawi is one… wether Lomwe , Yao Tonga and whatever
Yao minister?what’s that? Aren’t all of us Malawians.The media in Malawi is the one that makes our country poor because this type of thinking is shallow and divisive. No wonder u Malawian journals are local not international. Malawi music local not international, football local,music local,eveythingis poor!local now the fault is in presidents cabinet.right?we R poor people in everything.Its time we audit our Malawian Shit! Koz no one is best in Malawi.Its all local local local in the end u want to put blame on someone.To and hung
Just imagine, the writer goes to point of saying that the two who have been appointed from Yao land are not yaos. Serious?? Shame.
Si anthu? foolish, they deserve also to have a ministerial post, they voted, and they didnt expect that the yao voted in large number for these idiots
How about Ngonde then?
They voted fo Chilima and expect to get ministerial from Chilima
jooma might not be a yao, but he is representing part of the yao people,
Tikufuna weni weni olankhula chiYao osati representing Yao, because mumatishosha dala munthawi ya kampeni mwabwera mwabweranso ku mangochi mumafunako chani lero akuwinisani mwayamba kuwanyozanso – am not happy
This is pathetic and biased reporting, really, aimed at dividing the nation. If you have mentioned Jooma and Nsaka as being settlers only and not natives of Eastern region, what makes you think all those from Lomwe belt and Southern region are not settlers but natives?
By the way do you know we have Yao TAs in Dedza (Tambala), Blantyre (all except Kunthembwe – Chewa) and a couple in Chiradzulu and Mulanje?
You should have done a background check of all the ministers and tell us their tribes and where they call “kumudzi” not this half backed analysis aimed a making the Yaos shun Muthalika. Anthu akummwera, aise, we are different tribes but one people. We welcome everybody and never chase people with pangas because they can’t spell the natives alphabet.
Muntharika indeed failed to unify the country and more over am more qualified than Mchacha to be a minister .
Anya aona he presenting fragile mandate. It is to be changed anytime soon that Malawians did not vote for him therefore a rerun is a must for the sake of stability in the country and also legitimacy of president Malawians need.
What does the region benefit when it has a minister from its region? When I saw the cabinet list yesterday was to look at individuals, I didn’t even think where they came from until reading this article which I think is poisonous.
APM’s prerogative, alright.
And the appointments are appropriate selections based on realpolitik, rather than certain political theories critics are heavily leaning on.
Supporters and those with potential impact become the political stars; and there will always be the disgruntled bunch hiding in an allay, and waiting and waiting … to ambush the process, especially the official and well as the unelected oppositions, like some so-called political analysts and overrated NGOs.
APM still practicing politics of inclusion, and tolerance: Unfortunately, some Malawians, who do not wish the country well don’t realize how good we have it around here.
Bright Nsaka is not yao
Bright Msaka is not a Yao, ndimagulu odya mbewa awa kkkkk