Uncommon Sense: Of party cadets and the paranoia of power
It is easy to analyse a presidency and conclude that it is a failure.
President Peter Mutharika’s presidency, for instance, having taken the road of list resistance and failed to deliver on any of the many promises that he made in his manifesto and campaign speeches in 2014, is an easy victim of such conclusions.
Such a simplistic analysis, however, is incomplete, as it fails to address the question why such an accomplished academic, a constitutional lawyer with an impeccable professional record can fail so miserably to lead and manage a country as small as Malawi to the point of later resorting to rigging elections and betraying the legal profession that he had represented so well for so many years.
In analysing the political and policy decisions that ultimately have ended up being the cause of the controversy surrounding Mutharika’s presidency, it is important to investigate the “why” and to glean some lessons from his presidency that could be learned by future leaders and aspiring leaders. The real question is not so much one of discussing whether Mutharika has been a success or not, but rather why his presidency has been such a disappointment.
Upon close investigation, it becomes clear that it is Peter Mutharika’s detached approach to national leadershipand power and the attitude and advice of those who have been close to him that have conspired, perhaps inadvertently, to give him a Siege Mentality.
This siege mentality has then been carefully and deliberately maintained by those around the president (advisors, party cadets, supporters) because it secures their positions of influence and affluence and gives them some hope of continuity for the future.
A siege mentality is that state of mind or perception of an individual or a group that people or forces outside the group have intentions to do wrong or inflict harm on the individual or on the group.
In the case of Mutharika and the DPP, as soon as Joyce Banda took over the presidency upon the demise of late Bingu wa Mutharika, those close to the president, particularly those that had acquired affluence and become powerful and influential because of the rise to prominence of the infamous Mulhako wa Alhomwe grouping, particularly that clique within it that had the acquisition of wealth at any cost as its agenda, began to give him the wrong advice; advice meant to perpetuate their affluence and influence, and not the advice he actually needed to be given- the advice that was good for the country.
While originally Peter Mutharika, having arrived on the Malawian political scene with a United Mindset where he had spent most of his adult life, was more open to facts and dialogue,as DPP president he soon discarded this approach to leadership and politics in preference to Malawi’s prevailing politics of secrecy and innuendo.
While initially as Minister in his brother’s cabinet Mutharika was more willing to close his ears to gossip and rumour and to listen only to professionals and technocrats that gave valuable advice on how to implement his economic and development policies, Mutharika as leader of DPP relied began to rely heavily on rumours brought to him by his personal assistant and his valet as the basis for making important decisions.
Mutharika the cabinet minister in his brother’s cabinet wanted so much to perform and succeed that he was prepared at times to disagree with his brother, occasions that created rows and sometimes caused him to leave the country for the USA in anger to cool down his spirits. As a minister in his brother’s cabinet, and in spite of the many challenges he faced as a minister because of his being a novice politician, Peter Mutharika was so determined to help the country move forward that he entertained all kinds of dialogue and different views, and was willing to get expert help from many specialists in various issues that he encountered.
After winning the national presidency in 2014 however, everything changed.He started to relax. The siege mentality with its accompanying paranoia set in. And instead of pointing the president to the narrowness of the margin with which he had won the presidency and urging him to perform his duty as president in a way that would win the hearts and the minds of the nation and set him up nicely for a second term election, his advisers found it personally expedient to keep him focussed entirely and only on the siege mentality so that Mutharika as president has no focus and no grip of what the country’s problems were, why about 70 per cent of Malawians didn’t vote for him and what he could to do win their support. Instead of concentrating on the economic or development issues, he was and has been concerned only with the politics. The underlying reason for
Mutharika’s failure as president, therefore, is not that difficult to identify once a careful analysis is made. Mutharika has failed as president because instead of indulging rumour and gossip of succession plots and stories about those that are apparently jealous of his presidency and want to bring him down.
For Peter Mutharika, the ascendancy into power has brought upon him a paranoia that has completely blinded him to important leadership realities and caused him to make questionable leadership decisions. The reason why the DPP cadets notoriously known as “ana a adadi” have been allowed to terrorise political opponents and go unpunished, and sometimes even awarded with employment positions in jobs for which that are not qualified is the president’s belief that as he is under siege from political opponents, these are the soldiers protecting his presidential tenure.
The same reasoning explains why corrupt ministers, advisors and other officials accused of various acts of impunity have been allowed to remain in his government and in his administration.
In Mutharika’s state of siege, even the Inspector General of Police and the Army Commander must be appointed only on the basis of their willingness to protect his and his party’s political interests and not to do the jobs they were trained to do. The same, i submit, goes for all other influential appointments in government- heads of parastatals, government departments, and even parastatal boards.
The lesson to be learned is an important one for those aspiring to lead this country. Beware the siege mentality. It is the siege mentality that creates paranoia when one is in power, and causes a leader to protect wayward cadets and supporters instead of seeing the issues for what they really are and focusing on truly leading the nation to prosperity.
The siege mentality and the power paranoia it creates results in the establishment of party cadets and zealots that only work to make a president fail to govern, not succeed.
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..disgruntled piece of shit! Ntata.
Apwiya, Shonai & Others; You just get offended even with truth because you know you are being exposed. If there is nothing good about DPP, what then should one write? Allan Ntata is saying the truth & truth pains. He is not a boot licker to pretend things are okay just to gain favours when in fact they have gone hay wire! What you people don’t know is that you are betraying our nation poombera mfiti mmanja. The very same person who is responsible for our agonies & misery!
HEAR! HEAR! HEAR! MAU KOMA AMENEWA. Keep it up, Nzika, you have made me proud to be a Malawian with your cleverly crafted rejoinder to the senseless comments made by the DPP bootlickers! Aluta Continua!
I need an SUV. Damn!
It’s people like the author of this story that create political paranoia
You were once a cadet or a youth league
Yourcriticism shows given a chance you will do the same
You are the people who created the system we have
Ma lova ophunzira
Ex- cadet Ntata kulira chokweza. Bitterness and frustration….
Useless issues from mtata.
If this man is God and most knowledgable.What visible thing has he done where ever he stays.Moti akamagona amangolota zopusazi.Moti alibe zochita.Too much is poisonous.Showing off ngati CHILIMA mapeto ake sizimatha bwino.All Malawians are fools listening to him he feels.
Allan Ntata has never and will never say anything good about DPP. First when we worked together at Acb as prosecutors,/lawyers he became so ambitious to aspire the position of Director of Acb. He tried to convince some Coallegues to go on strike to force the then Acb Director our of office so that he may be appointed Director. The scheme failed . He resigned and went to Australia where he landed a teaching job. His wife from the same country. Later the guy who we divorced by the woman and he had no choice but to return to Malawi homeless . In 2014 when APM took power he tried to push himself to state house. He was chased at the gate of State house . The guy was in destitution and stayed at Capital hotel for a month hoping APM would rescind his decision to meet him. Just like in 2009 the guy wanted a position at Acb . It didn’t work for him . Since then he has been writing bad things about dpp. He is frustrated guy full of hate and dull. I hear he was employed as Legal staff by a Chinese company in Bt. Shame on you my workmate at Acb. Wait until chakwera or chilima comes to power . You will never test any government money
We don’t want to know where you are working or you worked.Allan is writing his opinion or what he knows about Peter Mutharika and you have got rights to do so.Besides,this Ntata has aticulated all circles about APM,the bad good and bad part of him.So why are you disputing about Allan point of view?
Interesting; even if the personal aspect of his marriage is not relevant.
Ntata has had an axe to grind against APM for so long; it must be dull by now. No effect.
Nthawi yanu inatha inu a Mtata ,azanuso adyeko money.Moyo odzikonda sukupititsani kulikose.mwadya idya ndalama za DPP nthawi ya Bingu pano mukunyoza APM poti sanakupatseni pokhala kkk azanuso adyeko malume inu muzichedwa ndkulemba zoipa za ena choncho.
Ndipo ku malawi kuno ndkovetsa chisoni,anthu omwe munapita ku school mumaganiza mopusa kuposaso mbuli
A very nice piece and I agree with you 100% that Mutharika’s leadership makes every important decision through the lens of advancing personal and tribal interests but I vehemently disagree with you that Mutharika is in any way an accomplished academic or constitutional lawyer and many people now question his claims of having attended prestigious institutions of higher learning!
too long… i did not read it
Zoonatu izi! Perfect analysis! Ali ndi makutu wamva, koma dikirani mumva as those who support Mutharika will take this with a pinch of salt as always focus on ‘Who has written the story but not the facts the story presents, That is why we are failing to develop as many people cannot disthnguish facts from fiction as they are blinded by greed for wealth.. Kaya zanu izo!
Ndikugwrizana Manu bwana mwana mwachimvemve molingana ndi mmene analysis yi yapangidwa present.Bravo bwana
Wise words. I hope future presidential candidates are reading them.
Your cry is now enough Ntata . JUST SHUT UP WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR NOSENSE WRITE UPS
Only if you are not a Malawian more especially the poorer
That’s true Allan , the president has been captured by his own making ie glorifying Party Cadets as Ana Anga ma Cadets. This simply means giving power/ Authority to these Cadets to abuse innocent people who are not Ana Adad while knowing in mind that Adad is behind us, we are protected against the Law as our dad is on the driving seat.
This kind of mentally has been demonstrated in different occasions such as at Parliament when group of party officials such as Kaliati and a team were harassed in the presence of police but no one was arrested bcoz it was Ana Adad.
We have many examples in this regard and truly speaking dziko lino lakhala tsonga kamba kavutoli – siege mentality.
He is not a president at all as he is to root and turnish the Malawians pockets.
DPP is a cartel organisation connected to all government treasury resource inorder to enrich o e and only tribe Aalomwe.
Malawians will realise too late that Malawi has been auctioned to foreigners.
Where was this guy Peter on pressure groups to oust one leadership of Mighty MCP?
Was this what we fought for to change Malawi politics?
From nowhere some where in America came to inherit the hard fought democracy and now he roots government resources which would help all Malawians regardless of their berthical race.
Malawi needs a zealous and strong leader to make this country rise from this nonsesical gangsters.
I swear to those judges if they were born from idle mothers not monsters to deliver a positive verdict then we can move forward with someone who has got alive vision for greater Malawi and Malawians.
God bless my mother land Malawi
A very incoherent article full of typos and grammatical errors!
For now let’s focus on the message that has been sent across and not the so called typos and what what.
Pls if the problem here is the typos rewrite it in a readable and understandable format then you will appreciate his contribution.
Failing to edit your simple sentence is enough to make us guess your mediocrity level. Go to an adult school and concentrate yourself on your spelling lesson…Mental deficit thus your big challenge and not the author or an article’s content.
Malawi is going through this way because of the small group of people we have in this country, this group is the same group that wanted this old fool to be re_elected so the can go ahead with their agenda of stealing and demolish this Nation. Peter Mutharika is not person we can call as president this guy is old his brain is dead long ago, he not think properly he just leaving like dead person. That’s why he still keeping these thiefs around him and listing to them. We must watch this Old Animal otherwise Malawi will keep go down because we let dead person to lead us.✊
mtata you are an idiot. Just becoz Peter refused to meet you you are full of hate.ndiwe chitsilu galu
Uh funny to get the hack out.Once upon a time you were critical of Peter when he was minister of education remember the academic freedom issue when you said he was quiet and out of touch qith the realities on the ground . Today you want us to believe that then he was getting special advise from your so called wider opinion of specilists and not cadets. If that was the case then I think he leanrt that the so caled academicians specialist etc in malawi are useless because if you go by the Kabwila saga yhe he was given wrong advise by your fellow brothers. In short Z Ntata is increasingly becoming paranoia if not insane see a mental specialist bro
I noticed that too. How does mutharika suddenly become a patriotic hard working minister with all his failures
Perhaps Ntata has forgotten that he told Malawians that Muthalika showed lack of leadership when he was Min of Ed.