Malawi not for sale

UDF might be on sale for Muluzi
to buy but Malawi is not. Word has it the 'life chairman' and 'sole financier'
of UDF (the democrat,15+ years as chairman) has yet again financed the coming
udf convention spending kwachas to the tune of 16 million.

What immediately came to mind
when reading that article was the urgency the ACB needed to put in the probe on
Muluzi and the Millions in USD he is suspected to have embezzled. Spending that
amount only shows how desperate the guy has become, it suggests how cornered he
is and what he is willing to do to bail out of his predicament....not
surprising.

However the use of money to
manipulate poor malawians for ones own good is what needs to change in our
politics. Chilumpha said it best when he spoke out against Muluzi's use of
money to get his party's support at the coming convention. Today, the UDF is
being taken for a ride as the 'sole financier' continues to have his way partly
because of Muluzi's hand outs to cronies who all hold key positions in the
party. Instead of focusing on the future and allowing change and new ideas to
its leadership to benefit the country, the udf has resorted to quick fixes in
the hope of getting back into government (mostly to serve themselves). However the
old saying "don’t choose the short end of the stick as it is the devil's
oldest trick" will prove how hasty the decision made today will affect the
party tomorrow. This once big party is headed for the abyss and nobody in the
party will save it for fear of reprisal. A web blog called Nyasatimes is not
helping in this regard.

What is also outrageous is Bakili
Muluzi's reason for coming back from retirement. The notion that he needs to
come back to put Malawi back on the path to democracy is laughable bearing in
mind his 15 year autocratic rule of the UDF party. His once staunch ally today,
the vice president is being demonized
for contesting for the presidential nomination he is also seeking raising
general questions on his democratic credentials. In one interview about his
plans for the future, Muluzi mentions how he will rule for five years just in
time to groom another person to rule Malawi. Now I stand to be corrected but I
thought the UDF was a democratic
institution and not a monarch. I would not be surprised if the 'anointed one'
happened to be one of his sons or perhaps daughters. It is quite humorous how
he thinks of himself as the 'almighty decider', a king if you like. This uppity
attitude is insulting not only to
democracy loving Malawians all over the
country but also to the UDF party itself. Bakili Muluzi is disillusioned into
thinking this country revolves around his decisions. Well he is about to find
out the hard way. I sure hope he gets
the nomination for the presidency at todays convention so we can close this
chapter once and for all come May 2009. We will prove to him for the last time
that “MALAWI IS NOT FOR SALE”.