Politics well played: Analysing Joyce Banda’s statement

I do not really like the former president, Joyce Banda, just because she does not appeal to my customized taste of political leaders. But when I read the press statement which she released recently on June 29 2015 where she was responding to accusations that have been levelled against her by President Mutharika and the DPP government, I was unfortunately very impressed by the tactical politics well played in the entire statement.

Joyce Banda
Joyce Banda

Though the statement is entitled a response to accusations of Mutharika and the DPP government, Joyce Banda is clearly targeting a broader audience and she is not just responding to Mutharika and government. Rather, she is pleading with interested parties in Malawi and especially the international community whose sympathy she values the most, that she is a pure victim of political witch-hunt. She is de-linking her questionably prolonged stay outside Malawi from rumors that she fears corruption charges, and instead presents herself as a possible defenseless target of an assassination or a political prisoner should she return home.

In order to legitimize her victimization and persecution, she has calculatedly, with facts and real incidences, presented Mutharika to the world as a desperate leader who is obsessed with causing her harm and or getting her arrested on fabricated charges. Joyce Banda has also presented Mutharika to the international community as a hypocrite who tells the world one thing reconciliatory about her and does the contrary vengeful thing the next minute. In this regard, Joyce Banda has successfully made Mutharika and the DPP guilty of plotting against her, and made herself innocent of running away from corruption charges.

But I am not surprised at the politics that Joyce Banda has played here. Banda is a political tactician, and a very good one. What she has done in this press statement is that she has gathered the weaknesses of Mutharika and the DPP and made them her strengths. She has just taken everything that Mutharika and his government have carelessly said and done and used these shortfalls against them to earn herself some legitimate story to escape returning back home. With such a story, even if a legitimate case is filed against her on cash-gate, she can easily claim political asylum among her darling Westerners who already enjoy her presence and interaction.

I know that some people may not agree with my analysis and assertion that Banda is a political tactician, who seeks the easier way out by exploiting weaknesses of her stronger opponents to build her greatness, or to position herself advantageously to secure quick and short-term benefits. But when you look at her presidency between 2012 and 2014, you will agree with my analysis and assertions on tactics of Banda.

When she became president in April 2012, she had less than 24 months to change Malawi which was on the verge of collapsing and face the ballot the same time. Banda, the tactician, made everything simple for herself by utilizing the weaknesses of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika, and made them her strengths just like she has done to young Mutharika in the press statement: Joyce Banda simply indentified what went wrong with Mutharika’s presidency and decided just to do the opposite of that.

For example, she knew that Mutharika had fights with donors over gay rights, extravagance, the presidential jet, and autocratic tendencies. She knew that Bingu had problems with Malawians over issues like bad laws, the national flag, fuel shortages, forex reserves and Zero Deficit Budget. And she also knew for certain that Bingu had problems with the IMF over the devaluation of the Kwacha and related economic policies.

To build her own strength, Banda simply reversed everything that had made Mutharika evil, whether it was right or wrong, important or useless: She simply promised the IMF she was going to everything they wanted. She told Parliament to repeal anti-homosexual laws, she repealed the infamous bad laws, reverted to the old flag, abolish the Zero Deficit Budget, floated the exchange rate regime and devalued the kwacha without even thinking. And soon fuel was back, forex reserves boosted, diplomatic ties restored and etc. And all the noisy CSO leaders were gagged and some of them like Undule Mwakasungula just retired and met with God.

As a matter of fact, another sign of her tactics can be evidenced by how she quickly commissioned an audit inquiry into the cash-gate corruption scandal soon after the shooting of Paul Mphwiyo, the Budget Director, and released the report so quickly. Banda knew that, whether she was part of it all not, she need do distance herself from Cash-gate with visible evidence before Elections and she managed to do that just in time. And her miserable loss of the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections were not because she failed to give substantial change or because of cash-gate. I think I will get sometime soon to share with hard facts, why Banda lost Elections, and why she could and will never be President through the ballot.

However, my point here is that Banda is becoming stronger, because DPP is becoming weaker in the manner they are pursuing her. The best way, is to stop pursuing her, and concentrate on governing the country. If it’s about her involvement in cash-gate, then just provide the evidence and request her to come home and defend herself.

But even if she does not return to answer to the charges, Malawians have worse problems than her. After all, such cases don’t yield anything. We already have Muluzi walking free even visiting the State House and maybe I am the only one who does not understand how his corruption case ended or even how his back got cured.

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teps
teps
8 years ago

oooo yes lets wait and see

Cashgate Basi
Cashgate Basi
8 years ago

Joyce Banda Anali Wopanda Chitukuko and there wz no leardership in her wht she dd wz jst nonsese kuba akachita….

LWD
LWD
8 years ago

This is complete nonsense! If JB had any substance to offer, Malawians at large would have been the first to acknowledge and retain her as president. The problem is that she has always appealed for sympathy to the wrong audience – the blind international audience which has often been misguided! Even if APM had not used other means to get into power, it remains clear that Malawians at large judged JB as a complete failure – a miserable failure! and it beats me that in their sanity one would use the very reasons people booted you out of a seat… Read more »

Tione
Tione
8 years ago

Sibande uli chindere chakufikapo nadi

Standwell
Standwell
8 years ago

Mr Lyson Goodwin, Your article is too long for nothing! Rumbling and u have nothing to say. She does not appeal to your foul-mouthed taste of political leadership because you are lomwe, very tribalistic and nepotistic! and that’s why you couldn’t see anything good in JB’s leadership. You are unpatriotic, egotistical, egocentric and good for nothing people – u have nothing in the head! Dull

gawaza
8 years ago

JB arrested APM then why not her? am not conviced with the analysis otherwise the analyser is just favouring Jb. I cannot stand aside & watch injustice is taking place, jb is connected to cash-gate & is running away from the same issue. Mthalika arrested on nothing. let me just appeal to Mthalika that should just burry the odds. jb also should apologise to a no sense arrest which she did on apm. malawi should learn hw to lead a country in a goodmanner, we are all malawians whether jb/apm.

akukonde akukonde nkhoma
akukonde akukonde nkhoma
8 years ago

Sibande, action speaks louder than words. even though you declared your dislike for Joyce Banda but your myopic analysis has just proved the opposite. I envy you for lacking analytical reasoning.

dadaboma
dadaboma
8 years ago

Mr Sibande looks educated, at least judging from his analysis. But if he says he “does not like JB”, then he is an educated fool. The reason he is giving for not liking JB – “because she does not look like one of my customised politicians” – is really foolish reason. Malawi has lost a true president in JB. And if an educated person like Sibande can’t see the loss Malawi has registered in not voting for JB, then the villager wouldn’t see it either. And this means Malawi is really finished. I cry for JB; I cry for my… Read more »

Kalusha
Kalusha
8 years ago

Mr. Sibande, these are sentiments of a cashgate sympathizer than an analysis. If I may ask, how much sympathy has she gained in Malawi after her claims of imagination? No amount of propaganda shall let her off the hook if she committed crimes here, government will not be cowed but do the needful with her. She is free to seek asylum wherever she pleases, Malawians don’t give a damn about it. What I pick from your sentiments is that government must ignore whatever she did while leading us? Did she do that with dead man Bingu when she accidentally rose… Read more »

Mulohmwe wa kwa Mendulo
Mulohmwe wa kwa Mendulo
8 years ago

Mayi Joyce Banda ndi katakwe pa ndale sizinazi ayi!!!! Mama yu r a Hero & we proud of yu

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