One parable too many: Chilima should come clearly on Malawi situation
That Vice-President Saulos Chilima wants to become the country’s next president is the worst kept secret. And it’s not a crime to have such ambition either particularly for a sitting Vice-President. From that office, there is always only one position that one attains without the aura of demotion.
Quite a few people, too, genuinely believe Chilima has the credentials to make a good president. Some have put so much of their political careers at stake, for speaking, without any ambiguity, of the need for the country to make Chilima the country’s sixth president, and not in the future, but now.
Those saying so, are making the suggestion to the chagrin of an incumbent president and his loyalists who have made it abundantly clear they are not ready to relinquish power.
For Callista Mutharika, former first lady and President Peter Mutharika’s in-law, one can imagine the price has been greater; as she not only had to dispense with the ‘blood-is-thicker-than-water’ mantra, but also be the first person to break longstanding political taboo that an incumbent president is always automatic candidate for the ruling party.
For others, like Patricia Kaliati, the price has been actually greater than the cultural awkwardness Callista has been through. At a presidential rally, her husband, the publicity-shy fellow DPP lawmaker, Angie Kaliati, was summoned to stand up in the middle of the belligerent DPP governor for the South Charles Mchacha’s speech. After standing, Mchacha told the audience, “Mr Kaliati, a gentleman, married an idiot”.
Then he was asked to sit down without a chance to defend his family’s honour. Their daughter was, allegedly, immediately recalled from a diplomatic post—you see how cronyism works? There have been protests organised in Kaliati’s constituency; while campaign meetings she has been organising have been disrupted by unknown thugs. That all, not counting a social media campaign to slander her name.
A few others have suddenly become subjects of various law enforcement investigations. It’s no easy job playing Chilima’s surrogate.
All this brings us to this point, why is Chilima then opting for the easy way out. Why is Chilima opting to speak in riddles and parables when his surrogates are speaking so bluntly and clearly? Why is Chilima pretending that he doesn’t want to become the country’s President, when we all know he does?
While the last of those questions can be excused as due to political calculation, one struggles to find Chilima any excuses for failing to open up and say what is wrong with this government, which for four years he has been second-in-command. He is wasting time failing to make an argument on why Mutharika must go in 2019.
More worryingly, Chilima is limiting even those few speeches where he discusses the country’s affairs, to church gatherings and worryingly for someone seeking national consensus and national vote, to only Catholic Church events. He ought to go to the rural areas and meet the villagers who constitute the biggest demographic of voters.
He ought to speak clearly as many observers have in the past and now, about the abundant failings of this government—while mindful that as deputy leader, of course, cannot be separated from the failings of this government. He must hit the campaign road and drop this façade of still consulting when we all know he long decided that he wants to be our leader. Failure to do so will render Chilima to accusations that he is a coward and he is afraid to make pronouncements that will eat him if he loses.
Malawians don’t want a leader who is more concerned about winning than doing the right thing. Even the DPP can win elections, again. MCP, too, can win, but we want selfless leadership. And by calling a spade by its real name, Chilima will demonstrate that he is in it not just for victory or is concerned with the ‘what if’ question.
Chilima’s first line of defence, if voters were ever to be cast in military terms, are the progressive urban people who are not looking for platitudes but clear demonstration that his movement—which is not built on any ideology but hope that Chilima is the right candidate for the job—is the best bait.-Source: NPL
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
This Chilima and Roman Catholic Bishops Movement will do SKC more harm than sticking politically and purely to the Chilima Movement
THE REPORTER MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOW POLITICS. CHILIMA WILL COME OUT VERY SOONER. THATS ALL I CAN SAY. THE FACT IS THAT HE BEING STRATEGIC HERE
Chilima’s politics should move away from his personal catholic belief otherwise he will alienate the majority of Protestant Christians and Muslims. It just shows his immaturity. He should just stick to pure politics exactly as his supporters are doing without involving the Catholic Church.
My humble advice to you SKC.
I am MCP through and through!!!
The reporter is desperate to delve into SKC so as to divine his next step. SKC is free to comment on matters concerning his nation. Whether his podium is Catholic or rural people will listen to him with a critical sifting mind. The press will fault him delivering his pieces of information at the distribution of food items at Disaster Distribution Relief point not that the Church can give him adequate physical protection from the DPP hounds it offers him the relevant point of communication. Remember that the reporters of your type are just plants whose agenda and sympathies are… Read more »
Thanks for the elaborate analysis. In my view, Chilima knows he is still in Government. Somehow he is at pain to entirely come out in the open which is an apparent sign that he is not driven by clean conscious. He is somebody who has been ‘told’ to pursue the presidency by the bishops. Somehow knows that being second in command, one ought to be careful when talking. But then, he is too cautious, not suitable for a leader with a just cause!!!
Go on the ground Mr Chilima. Face the people there.
Chilima knows once he throws his hat in the ring he will have to face the humiliation of losing.
Mtima m’malo, parable are part of communication, Jesus used parables to teach important lessons. Do you want to tell me that you don’t get what Chilima is up to from these parables?
Right on. Had the same question. In fact parables are like riddles in form of stories that compares two things one of which you understand and the other one in which you are attempting to understand. Good parable will make one visualise the meaning of a hidden message or subject in order to understand it better. From his speeches, people should now deduce what Chilima is up to. It seems he has his own style of communicating with the masses, and is devoid of insults or threats or thuggery.
A well written article for sure. That is precisely what the nation wants to know, so come on the future
presidentof Malawi , tell us what your intentions are.SKC is introducing us to new politics. Honestly, politics of insulting each other belongs to the fifteenth century. Listen to what he says and decipher a meaning from it. He is the one who wishes to lead this country to Canaan and knows exactly how he will do this. KOMA AMALAWI PHUMA BWANJI?KODI MUFUNA RATIONGATE?KAPENA KALOSWE GATE?