Talking Blues: Looking into the crystal ball, I see greed haunting Malawi
Without prejudicing the ongoing case in the Constitutional Court where Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima are rigorously disputing the results declared by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC); as a ranking citizen, I would be slipshod if I failed to advise on life after this marathon case.
Before I proceed, I want to be clear.
I don’t know about you but I personally would find it difficult to convince a non-Malawian that MEC has people working and drawing a salary from January to December, from one election to another, from its establishment to date.
From the concessions made by the MEC Chief Elections Officer which have effectively debunked most fallacies he had submitted in lieu of a sworn affidavit, I would say you and I are probably better informed of the goings on in MEC’s commission, corridors, polling centres and stations.
Remind me Blues’ Orators, why do we pay him? Anyway, since we don’t want to be sub judice, I will leave this at that.
The key outcome from the above and the rest of the chaotic mess coming into the open is that MEC will never ever be trusted again by Malawians.
Further, under its current composition and configuration, MEC commissioners and management may soon need armed escort because – let’s call a spade by its name – the presidential elections 2019 didn’t have an independent referee.
MEC stacked the deck against some contestants and as per its CEO’s testimony, its Chairperson shifted goal posts to give unfair advantage to whosoever had the wherewithal and devilish cunning to make the most alterations on the polling stationery.
This is why, even when MEC is hundred percent reconfigured, recomposed and reorganised, the new commissioners and senior management will need to do a lot of work to regain the trust of at least seven out of every ten Malawians who – right now – can eat them for breakfast, given half a chance.
The question you and I should grapple with is: where did we go wrong?
Note that I am not saying where did “it” or “they” go wrong, no. Where did “WE” collectively stray to land where we are today?
“As long as there exist stupid people supporting stupid governments in their countries,” Mehmet Murat ildan says, “people living in those countries will continue fluttering badly in the cesspool created by this utter foolishness!”
In our case, he is 100% right.
Look at the prevailing anarchy. Celebrated corruption. Thievery. Social services gone to the dogs. Societal decay. I could go on and on.
Where did we stray?
You see, pointers to MEC’s permanent incapability to conduct credible elections are not new.
In 1999, late Gwanda Chakuamba cried foul. We said he was a bad loser. I recall there was a court case which didn’t go far.
Thus Blues’ Orators, did we sow the seeds of impunity in the mishandling of elections.
In 2004, veteran JZU Tembo, citing various irregularities, also complained bitterly. He was vindicated by a departed former senior minister who following the UDF – Bingu wa Mutharika fallout openly said had he known that Bingu was an unappreciative ingrate, he wouldn’t have participated in rigging the elections.
However, we still ignored JZU Tembo’s complaints and thus we fertilised electoral fraud seedlings.
Worse, unlike now when the aggrieved parties have stuck together like a stamp and a letter pursuing justice, late Chakuamba dropped his petition once he and his Republican Party (RP) friends were given ministerial positions.
Thus did selfishness empower MEC to do as it wants in presidential elections.
Look at things this way: had late Chakuamba and Tembo collaborated like Chakwera and Chilima have done, MEC’s shenanigans would have surfaced in 2004.
By withdrawing his petition in exchange for a Cabinet position, late Chakuamba effectively sabotaged the case which would have opened our eyes way back in 2004.
Imagine that a case of this magnitude and its revelations had transpired in 2004. Would the MEC Chair, commissioners and CEO today be as intransigent in the face of facts as they are?
Unaware that dictatorships, the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery are aided and abetted by rigged elections; a few people’s greed lost us an opportunity to fix MEC in 2004. Today, whereas in a functioning democracy political parties win or lose based on performance, we are now in a vicious circle where our elections’ winner is the one most capable of bribery.
Anyway, since Mbuya is no longer with us to defend his actions, I will move on.
Looking into my crystal ball, I still see greed haunting Malawi.
Look here, the current case has come this far because the Chief Justice “forced” MCP and UTM onto each other. The two never intended to collaborate.
Now look at what the involuntary partnership has achieved: Malawi might just be on the road to fair and credible elections, thanks to the Chief Justice.
Having said that, I don’t see MCP and UTM sustaining and consolidating their partnership beyond the court room.
Why? Untempered greed.
Yet, when contesting as separate entities in the May 2019 elections, they ended on the wrong side of the results BUT working together, their lawyers are harmoniously working as tag-team partners and successfully cornering con men and liars; showing us, in the process, who Jezebel’s servants are.
How then can UTM and MCP working together lose the elections should a rerun or fresh polls be decreed by the Constitutional Court? I fail to see how.
Greed however is the barrier.
Unfortunately, this greed increases the chance for the election of another – to borrow Kamuzu’s adjective – “stupid” government.
Now, according to one Mehmet Murat ildan, when such a stupid government is elected in a democratic country, the only positive is that one learns the number of stupid people in that country!
Let me add a second positive: one also learns about the depth and extent of greed in that country.
Depressing stuff isn’t it?
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Kodi mtata anaiwalika ngati mmene anthu ayamba kuiwalira za chisankho vha 2019? Mcp, utm, pp and hrdc, this is how the human mind works. You are being forgotten little by little.
Reminding me of the udf party system where mbc during voting time were adding up figures to make muluzi the winner
Very depressing indeed!
Why do think they will fail to cooperate? ask them if they can risk another 5 years outside of government just because of greed. Time to walk separate ways is over…….let it sink in your mind that they will cooperate.
We made big mistak to give big Old fool as our head of state. As you can seen in his cabinet there is full of our grandfathers and the young people that we were think that, they will stand and help to develop this country! Now they sitting there and stealing money for the poor. I see there is no young people in DPP cabinet all of them are old and stupid they can not think.
You tell untruth very easily.
You are one of the few remaining prolific writers in Malawi Mapwiya Muulupale! You have written a well researched piece which exposes the greed amongst us as the root of our problems. I however feel it is not entirely greed that has fertilized anarchy, an important catalyst in my opinion is the hypocrisy within us! Look for example how gullible Malawians are praising Chilima and evening suggesting that he teams with Chakwera, was he not part of the 2014 rigging?
I agree that this can easily be a turning point, but our choices have to be smart. We should not make the ‘wakuba yemweyo’ choicea like we made in 1994 on Bakili Muluzi if we are to develop! My thoughts
This article has touched my soul. The reason why Malawi is failing up to now is because con men , liars, and plunderers have taken charge of the affairs of government and economy. We even have fake achievers who have accumulated fake degrees in order to strengthen their quest for undeserved wealth . These fake intellectuals are paid handsomely by Tax-Payers without any suspicion . If nothing is done to end this era of con men, I am afraid Malawi is headed to a deep and uncontrollable crisis.
The writer is biased and very desperate
He is not independent financially
He has never built a house
What has this got to do with writing…..your comment yet subtly proves the points he has raised.
Fatchness, What are you smoking?
Useless comment in the face of a well written and objective article
How is the writer bias on this article?You want him to praise and worship the con men and liars?
zikugwirizana bwanji zimenezo
The writer needs a cup of chombe tea (banja tea- if they still market this blend). And a chat with Jane.
Yes indeed the election of a stupid government really defines the stupidity of it’s citizens. Especially its educated citizens who demonstrate their failure to inform the masses how bad leaders can destroy their lives. Wait a minute do you know that lhomwes despite being current rulers have unknowingly ganged against each other. There are two groups of lhomwes. One group that are enjoying the fruits leadership. This group has no feelings for the other group. The other group is the poor lhomwes who derive pleasure by the fact that their own is president but live in abject poverty and are left at the mercy of Nyau dancers on the tobacco farms in Kasungu and Rumphi. Mbewa is the best delicacy they can hope for. One wonders what kind of leaders these lhomwes are. They can’t provide land to their own. They build schools in lhomwe triangle when the majority of their own are cane cutter in Nkhotakota and Nchalo, tenants in Kasungu and Rumphi. Dr Banda built these fools a caning factory and one would think that fruit farming would be encouraged to supply raw materials to the factory. Oho not these clueless leaders. They allowed Mulanje Peak products to die. Even when their own wanted to help his poor brothers to have some land to survive on they sent him to mental hospital. Yes foolishness grows in Malawi. It is processed and consumed in Malawi especially in the corridors of power. It describes our success.
Indeed , Malawi is full of stupid people who sell the future of their children and grand-grand children because of a loaf of bread. A few people in government can not destroy the country like the way it is today but it really only confirms the number of stupid people in this country who support such stupidity because they are receiving scrumbles from the high table yet the majority are sinking in dire poverty everyday. How can a few people rake all the wealth of the country not by hard-working but corruption, thieving and crooking while the rest are living worse than pigs?
Spot on Mapwiya, greed from our corrupt leaders is what has killed our hardly earned democracy…..and it is now or never that we need to settle this issue once and for all.
I remember Muluzi buying party cloth for MCP women after defeating John Tembo in a general election, how on earth did that happen…..from that day on, Tembo never mentioned again that the election was rigged.
Though I recommend what Chilima has done this time around to team up with MCP to bring light on electioneering that has been taking place after the 1994 elections, I would like to remind Malawians that this is the same guy who was part and parcel of the rigging regime in 2015 and he never said a word, why? well, your guess is good as mine, greed…..
Asking Malawians to register and vote, knowing too well that you will rig the elections to counter the will of the people is nothing less than treason……and when this case is over and a rerun is ordered it will mean that the country will have to find extra funds to run the election again because of those few greedy people who are in govt now. This is money that could have been used to do other important things if the general election was not rigged.
It is for this reason that we need to send Avery strong message to those unpatriotic Malawians who have been selling our democracy to satisfy their greed and their love for money.
We need to meat out very long and I repeat, we need to meat out very long jail sentences for those found in the wrong of rigging or orchestrating the rigging of the election gone. This the only way we can stop this from happening again in future.
You can say that again