Dictator in democrat’s robes

By James Mphande
DailyTimes - Malawi

Former president Bakili Muluzi is a man of contradictions, so
contradictory, in fact, one wonders if he reflects on his actions and
speeches. There are times when he wants to be recognised as a democrat
but this becomes questionable immediately one looks at his statements
and actions.



It is a fact, Muluzi is one -- and not the only one as others would
want us believe -- of those who fought hard for democracy through his
advocacy for multiparty politics. Muluzi cannot be wholly accredited
with bringing democracy to Malawi because if that was the case, then
the nation would have problems putting people like the Catholic
bishops, late Chakufwa Chihana and indeed numerous other Malawians in
their rightful places in as far as championing for democracy is
concerned in the country.



Muluzi will remain in Malawi’s history annals as the first
democratically elected president. His reign will also be remembered for
establishing institutions like the office of the Ombudsman, Malawi
Human Rights Commission, the Law Commission, Anti-Corruption Bureau,
whose common aim was to consolidate the country’s hard earned democracy.



But that will not stop us from recognising him again for some of the
undemocratic things he championed like bidding for unpopular third and
open terms, unleashing terror to people who had dissenting political
views through the Young Democrats (what an ironic name) and presiding
over a regime synonymous with economic plunder and corruption.



So when his time to retire finally came in 2004, people might have
heaved a huge sigh of relief. But Muluzi would not allow to just retire
peacefully, well documented political literature shows he handpicked
President Bingu wa Mutharika, then a rank outsider in UDF, to represent
the party instead of allowing the party to democratically choose his
successor. The way Bingu came into the UDF presidential candidate
picture had all the hallmarks of a dictator at work and no wonder some
party heavyweights like Aleke Banda, Justin Malewezi, Harry Thomson and
numerous others could no longer bear it and quit UDF. All this came
after Muluzi miserably failed to extend his stay at State House by
trying to effect an unpopular constitutional amendment and probably the
reasoning was that if I do not get it, then nobody does.



As if Bingu’s issue was not enough, Muluzi and his UDF imposed
parliamentary candidates on voters and the result was disaster as the
party came out of the polls scathed and was left licking its wounds.
Before that, apparently to ensure that he still has control over a
party he allegedly started, Muluzi bid for UDF chairmanship and made
the position, hitherto a ceremonial or non-existent post, the most
powerful in the party hierarchy. This made him more powerful than the
presidential candidate and some commentators argued it was a strategy
to rule through the backdoor when the UDF candidate finally makes it to
State House. Muluzi also ensured that Bingu the candidate is left with
no illusion on who he owes his ticket to State House so that he can
ably do his bidding on state and political matters.



Thanks to Bingu’s sudden and historic change of heart of this piece of
political engineering came to nothing when the President quit UDF to
form his DPP, now a self-acclaimed ruling party. Bingu cited corruption
in UDF for his resignation but commentators suspect some “remote
controlling” from his predecessor (Remember how long it took Bingu to
appoint his first cabinet?).



In fact, later Muluzi admitted his political mistakes to UDF supporters
in Lilongwe and accordingly apologised. After that, we all thought the
man had learned from his mistakes and that he would no longer allow
himself to make unilateral decisions for the party. Unfortunately, old
habits die hard as the saying goes, and Muluzi pulled a surprise, at
least to many people but not to some of us. He announced his desire to
come out of retirement and the strategy was similar to that of the open
and third term bids; test the waters through some district and regional
party leaders while he remains quiet as if he is not interested.



Of course, he later openly declared his interests that saw initial
hopefuls like Brown Mpinganjira, Friday Jumbe and Sam Mpasu withdrawing
their interest “out of respect”.



This brought divisions in the party with emergence of pressure groups
like the Taskforce. For Mpasu, his frustrations reached boiling point
and he could no longer hide them, a development that forced UDF to
strip him off his party spokesman role, accusing him of using it to
attack the party and its leadership. There is talk of discontent
between the other hopefuls although they have seized each and every
opportunity to refute this. We hope only time will tell.



Now there is this jazz about Muluzi ruling out holding primaries in
constituencies where the party has sitting MPs while other party
leaders like Humprey Mvula and Mpinganjira arguing otherwise. Mvula
actually sees no sense in this because some of the sitting MPs might
have not performed to the expectations of electorates and imposing such
MPs on voters could be tantamount to committing suicide. Interestingly,
Muluzi uses an alien understanding of democracy to buttress his stand;
that democracy is based on loyalty and that these MPs have been loyal
to UDF when others abandoned ship to join DPP and hence the need to
reward them with automatic qualification. Muluzi might be posing and
claiming to be a democrat in all this but his statements and actions
smack of dictatorship.



If UDF was not all about Muluzi and vice versa, we would have been
saying that we will wait to see how the issue of holding primaries in
constituencies with sitting MPs would be addressed but do we have to?
Isn’t the conclusion obvious? Only time will tell if Muluzi is the
democrat he claims to be despite clear signs of dictatorship emanating
from his statements and actions.

Muslims against Muluzi

Pressure continues to mount on UDF presidential
candidate Bakili Muluzi not to stand in next year’s elections with
fresh calls reportedly coming from the Quadria Muslim Association of
Malawi.
An impeccable source this week said some Quadria Muslims
have written a letter to be delivered to Muluzi asking him not to
stand. However, Quadria chairperson Al Haj Alick Likonde refused to
comment on the letter.
But a highly-placed sheikh said the letter is
circulating among some Muslims for signatures before being taken to the
former president.
“The letter is there and we want to take it to
Muluzi when he returns from the UK. We are asking him not to stand as
presidential candidate for the UDF because we feel he has done his
part. We are asking him and the national executive committee to choose
another candidate,” said the cleric.
On his part, Muslim Association
of Malawi (Mam) chairperson Sheikh Yusuf Kanyamula refused to give his
association’s position, saying they are not an affiliate of any
political party and it would not be in their interest to make any
comment.
“But what we want is to see that the rule of law is observed,” said Kanyamula.
The
alleged Quadria petition is circulating against the background of a
similar protest when Muluzi confirmed his interest to stand last
year—when the sect held special prayers against the former president’s
stand.
“We offered the prayers for him not to stand again. It will be a shock for him to stand after those prayers,” confirmed Likonde.
UDF
secretary-general Kennedy Makwangwala hang up his phone twice on
Wednesday when contacted for comment. He later switched it off.
But
the party’s director of research Humphrey Mvula trashed Quadria Muslim
Association’s position, saying the sect has been perpetually engaged in
an anti-UDF campaign for a long time and even during the 2004 elections.
Mvula
said there is little that the UDF national executive committee can do
to reverse the presidential candidature of Muluzi when the national
conference and supporters chose him.
Said Mvula on Thursday: “They
[the Quadria] have never supported our cause. How can we take them
seriously? Are they speaking with a voice of reason?”
But Likonde
maintained that Muluzi should not stand again because, he said, he
should be satisfied with the 10 years that he ruled. Likonde argued
Muluzi messed up the economy and that security was compromised during
his administration.
The Quadria chair also said Muluzi should have
learnt from his failure to advance the third term and open term bids as
a message from Malawians that they do not want him again.
During his time, Muluzi also made efforts to change the Constitution so that he could continue ruling after his two terms.
Asked
Likonde: “Why does Muluzi want to rule again as if there are no
educated people in the UDF? Why does the party not openly challenge him
and choose somebody who went to school to lead the party?”
According
to Likonde, Muluzi should not be misguided by the people’s choice of
him in 1994 because Malawians were simply tired of the one party rule
then and did not care whoever would take over.
“In 1994, people had no time to scrutinise him. They simply wanted change. Even a chicken could have ruled them,” said Likonde.
He also claimed the former president applied a ‘divide and rule’ approach among Muslims.
The
chairperson claimed that during Muluzi’s time, 15 mosques that belonged
to the Quadria were burnt down in the Northern Region and that he did
not compensate them. The mosques have not been rehabilitated to date,
according to Likonde.
Asked whether his position is being influenced
by the recent donation of two vehicles and K5 million for the
rehabilitation of the mosques President Bingu wa Mutharika made to the
Quadria Association, Likonde said: “I have been saying this before and
that has been our position. It is not because of the donation. His
regime was bad and simply put, he is greedy.”
But Mvula described Likonde’s remarks as “malicious”.
“This
is the work of persons doing a paid up job to damage the good
reputation of Dr. Muluzi,” said Mvula. “In life, religious leadership
should play the role of messengers of peace, unity and love even when
they have received  financial and material benefits from someone.”
He
also quashed Likonde’s statement that Muluzi messed up the economy. He
said in 2004 the inflation was at 8 percent, economic growth at 4.2
percent, the exchange rate at K109 to one US dollar and that the import
cover was at five months.
The figures, he said, are a sharp contrast to the economy Muluzi inherited in 1994 from the MCP.
“Dr.
Muluzi inherited an economy that was down on its knees with inflation
riding as high as 98 percent, a deficit of 22 percent of GDP and
exchange rates that had depreciated by 254 percent,” said Mvula.
By
2000, argued Mvula, the country had qualified for the Highly Indebted
Poor Countries (Hipc) initiative—with a debt cancellation of K1 billion.
The
Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi is the third group that has come
out in the open telling Muluzi not to stand in next year’s elections.
Early this year the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP)
also opposed the move.
In August, five UDF members met Muluzi at
his Lilongwe residence and asked him to convince them why he still
wants to stand again when, according to them, his candidature was
marred by controversy.
Section 83 of the Constitution stipulates
that a president can only serve for two five-year consecutive terms but
Muluzi and his lawyers insist the law does not affect him as he is
intending to come back after a five-year break. The Constitution is not
clear on whether or not one can come back after a break.

Bingu’s gesture to Chilumpha shows maturity, morality

Accept our commendations Mr President, Your Excellency Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, Sir.



We say thumbs up for a move long waited because we love our country as Malawians first, before being newsmen.



We are all smiles that time has now come when real men are coming to recognise the importance of being one.



Remember, united we stand, divided we fall.



The gesture shown through your congratulatory message to your number two is great and indicative of a promising future.



It is a rare moment in our rather cloudy political atmosphere. It is a
moment all peace loving Malawians would need to prevail. It is a
moment, real Malawians would love to see grow bigger.



And indeed, it is the moment that signifies two things to a fast
thinker: maturity and morality. It is a mature decision for both of you
to have remembered that you are the top two citizens hence Right
Honourable Dr Cassim Chilumpha now can talk development and Mutharika
saying “this is good brother”.



This is the spirit required as we draw towards the May 19, 2009 polls.
It is morally right, because it reminds all well wishing Malawians that
this is what it is supposed to be as endorsed at the ballot in 2004.



You know? Malawi is not only our country, but we are its blood. It requires us all for its growth and development.



But a word of caution to Mutharika and Chilumpha, we do believe that
this gesture is genuine because if it is just an icing on a rather sour
cake, then we are breeding rot.



As the top two citizens, Malawi looks up to you and expects nothing
less than harmony between you because it is your peace that would
translate into tranquility in this country. It is a chain.



We hope as political scientist Blessings Chinsinga has said, this is
not a political gimmick meant to win sympathy from both camps.



Chilumpha as Vice-President has not been able to offer all he could for
obvious reasons, but now is the time when the past should be left to
historians as we look forward as astronauts hoping for the highest. We
do hope that this gesture will not end on paper, but would soon hear
and see you two together again.



By the way, when did you two last dine together? When did you last
shake hands? When did you last address a development rally together?
When did you last talk on phone? And indeed, when did you last call
each other brother? Sounds sweet! What do you think?



Food for thought? Up to you, but history will judge you. We need you
two back on stage together in peace as we together dream in colour to
develop Malawi. We know the sky is not the limit, in your own words Mr
President, Sir.

Chilumpha gets Bingu’s praise

BY THERESA KASAWALA

The gap that separated President Bingu wa
Mutharika and his vice Cassim Chilumpha seems to be closing ahead of
the May 19, 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (PPE).



Just Thursday, Mutharika sent a congratulatory message to his deputy
for his (Chilumpha’s) recent sentiments, appealing to the public to
support government’s development agenda.



However, a Zomba based political scientist has described the move as a political gimmick from both sides.



“Mutharika wants to lure UDF supporters, as the candidature of the
former president Bakili Muluzi is uncertain while Chilumpha is just
looking for a political base as he has no party to represent in the
2009 polls,” observed Blessings Chinsinga of Chancellor College of the
University of Malawi.



In a statement signed by State House Press Officer Chikumbutso
Mtumodzi, Mutharika said he appreciated the gesture demonstrated by the
Vice-President.



“This is encouraging and the way things are supposed to be in Malawi for our country to develop further,” he said.



“I encourage the Vice-President to continue in his development meetings
as one way of sensitising the people of this country on their
development needs and programmes.”



Chinsinga, however, said the actions by both parties were beyond what meets the eye.



“I believe that the two have been holding meetings and what we are hearing might be the results,” he said.



Chinsinga observed that the elections were approaching and the involved
parties were trying not to leave any stone unturned to ensure that
votes were amassed come 2009.



The Vice-President has not been in good terms with the President from
the time the state accused him of plotting to assassinate the First
Citizen.



He is still answering treason charges in the courts.



Chilumpha, who has been a staunch UDF member, told his supporters at
one of his meetings in his home district of Nkhotakota to remove the
yellow UDF party cloth “because this is a government function”.



But the move angered UDF, which said despite seeing nothing wrong with
Chillumpha addressing development meetings where he sells government
agenda, it was wrong for him to be attacking the party and its
leadership.



Chilumpha lost to Muluzi for UDF presidential candidacy during a
convention in Blantyre, which many described as not being free and fair.



Since then, Chilumpha has openly shown and expressed his dissatisfaction with the party’s leadership.



The situation worsened recently when UDF supported Chilumpha’s former
lawyer and ally Fahad Assani to represent the party in Nkhotakota South
constituency at the expense of the Vice President.



Chilumpha though insists he will contest for the parliamentary seat in
the constituency but is yet to disclose the party on whose ticket he
would do this



While UDF would be represented by Assani, DPP, for whose ticket some
people suspected Chilumpha would stand, already conducted its primaries
and were won by Greselder Jeffrey.



Chilumpha recently told Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) that
there was nothing strange to tell people to support government, saying
he was second in command.



“People elected me as their Vice-President and there is nothing new by
serving them, that is my constitutional mandate,” Chilumpha said. The gap that separated President Bingu wa
Mutharika and his vice Cassim Chilumpha seems to be closing ahead of
the May 19, 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (PPE).



Just Thursday, Mutharika sent a congratulatory message to his deputy
for his (Chilumpha’s) recent sentiments, appealing to the public to
support government’s development agenda.



However, a Zomba based political scientist has described the move as a political gimmick from both sides.



“Mutharika wants to lure UDF supporters, as the candidature of the
former president Bakili Muluzi is uncertain while Chilumpha is just
looking for a political base as he has no party to represent in the
2009 polls,” observed Blessings Chinsinga of Chancellor College of the
University of Malawi.



In a statement signed by State House Press Officer Chikumbutso
Mtumodzi, Mutharika said he appreciated the gesture demonstrated by the
Vice-President.



“This is encouraging and the way things are supposed to be in Malawi for our country to develop further,” he said.



“I encourage the Vice-President to continue in his development meetings
as one way of sensitising the people of this country on their
development needs and programmes.”



Chinsinga, however, said the actions by both parties were beyond what meets the eye.



“I believe that the two have been holding meetings and what we are hearing might be the results,” he said.



Chinsinga observed that the elections were approaching and the involved
parties were trying not to leave any stone unturned to ensure that
votes were amassed come 2009.



The Vice-President has not been in good terms with the President from
the time the state accused him of plotting to assassinate the First
Citizen.



He is still answering treason charges in the courts.



Chilumpha, who has been a staunch UDF member, told his supporters at
one of his meetings in his home district of Nkhotakota to remove the
yellow UDF party cloth “because this is a government function”.



But the move angered UDF, which said despite seeing nothing wrong with
Chillumpha addressing development meetings where he sells government
agenda, it was wrong for him to be attacking the party and its
leadership.



Chilumpha lost to Muluzi for UDF presidential candidacy during a
convention in Blantyre, which many described as not being free and fair.



Since then, Chilumpha has openly shown and expressed his dissatisfaction with the party’s leadership.



The situation worsened recently when UDF supported Chilumpha’s former
lawyer and ally Fahad Assani to represent the party in Nkhotakota South
constituency at the expense of the Vice President.



Chilumpha though insists he will contest for the parliamentary seat in
the constituency but is yet to disclose the party on whose ticket he
would do this



While UDF would be represented by Assani, DPP, for whose ticket some
people suspected Chilumpha would stand, already conducted its primaries
and were won by Greselder Jeffrey.



Chilumpha recently told Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) that
there was nothing strange to tell people to support government, saying
he was second in command.



“People elected me as their Vice-President and there is nothing new by
serving them, that is my constitutional mandate,” Chilumpha said.

NBM in Visa card promo

National Bank of Malawi Monday launched “Pay smart
and win big” promotion in a move to enhance a culture of electronic
payments and purchases.



During official launch in Blantyre, the bank’s Public Relations Manager
Annie Magola said they would like to enlighten the public on the
benefits of electronic shopping and transactions.



“We want to encourage people to acquire goods and services using the
Visa system as no hard currency is involved since merchant debit the
exact amount from the customer’s account and at the same time their
accounts are credited. This would in the long term prevent
inconveniences of being given sweets for change,” said Magola.



She added that if the Visa system was widely used, it could reduce
production costs of currency, which could lead to massive savings by
government and the economy.



“The promotion is open to all Visa card holders who would transact
using our Point of Sale Devices from today up to January 16. We will
conduct weekly draws every Monday where cash prizes would be given
out,” said Magola.



National Bank’s Transactional Banking Manager Ellen Kumpukwe said it
would be better if shoppers during the season used the Visa cards to
avoid cash losses, which most of the time is not recovered.



“With the festive season, people would want to shop but on the other
hand thieves are also strategising on how they can steal from merry
makers and the best way to avoid that is through the Visa payment
system, which is simple and is done in seconds,” said Kumpukwe.



National Bank of Malawi introduced the Visa debit card and point of
sale devices this year in shops, hotels and other outlets in the
tourism sector to facilitate for faster and convenience transaction for
customers.

Government to use its own resources for electrification

Government says it would use its own resources to provide the country
with adequate electricity supply through short term strategies in
developing power generating projects.



Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said this in response to private sector
outcry that erratic supply of electricity was eating into the
industry’s production output.



In his presentation on 2008 Malawi Business Climate Survey, Chief
Executive for Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(MCCCI) Chancellor Kaferapanjira said for the past three years, power
failure has been the outstanding hurdle to business.



“We feel let down on electricity because the National Assembly is no
longer relevant because its members are not performing duties of
bringing forward government business as they only meet to discuss their
allowances and not matters of national interest,” said Kaferapanjira.



He made the remarks following revelation that the 18 months grace
period provided by the World Bank to Malawi parliament to approve the
Mozambique-Malawi Power Interconnection Bill had expired.



Under the bill, the World Bank was supposed to fund the power connection from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique.



However, Gondwe said government was moving in the right direction to improve electricity supply results.



“We have plans to add power generation but we will consult experts in
this field on better short term projects as we eventually seek for long
term strategy,” said Gondwe.



The chamber’s survey was conducted in several sectors that included
trading, tourism, mining, manufacturing, financial and professional
services plus transport and communications.

MCP legislator Njobvuyalema praises Bingu

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) legislator Joseph
Njobvuyalema nearly overshadowed national forestry season launch Monday
in Lilongwe when he showered praises on President Bingu wa Mutharika,
saying Malawi could have developed further if Mutharika took over the
reigns soon after former head of state Kamuzu Banda.



Njobvuyalema, MP for Lilongwe Mapuyu, is a fierce critic of Mutharika
and his government and was one of the opposition members of Parliament
who nearly rejected this year’s national budget in the National
Assembly.



Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango, who is also an opposition MCP
legislator, attended the official launch of the season in Chief
Kalolo’s area.



As soon as he arrived at the venue of the launch, which was attended by
cabinet ministers and their deputies, members of the diplomatic corps
and Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Bright Msaka, among
other dignitaries, Njobvuyalema freely mixed with Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) officials and shared with them jokes.



When the President arrived, Njobvuyalema sat in the front row with
Mutharika, number four from the President after Minister of Health
Khumbo Kachale.



In his speech, Njobvuyalema who is also MP for the area, said Malawians
wish Mutharika ruled the country soon after Kamuzu Banda, saying the 10
year gap rule by Bakili Muluzi (whom he did not mention by name) was a
waste.



“Sometimes it makes me think that if you took over power just soon
after the first Ngwazi, things could have changed for the better. I am
sure you could have sorted out some of the challenges the country is
facing. As you might be aware, in between the rule of the first Ngwazi
and you, we had a mess, it is good that your administration is cleaning
up that mess,” said Njobvuyalema as DPP women, supporters and other
dignitaries clapped hands.



Without directly saying that he was ready to serve Mutharika, he said
in Chichewa parable that “ngati ukumpatsa galu nyama, ngakhale kuti
galuyo siwako, akusatira,” which loosely means if you give a dog meat,
even if it’s not yours, that dog is bound to follow you.



Njobvuyalema, therefore, thanked government for launching the forestry
season in his area, which “is very important as trees are part of life
and the programme is one of the developments in this area”.



He also asked for other developments like roads, potable water and bridges, among others.



Mutharika gave Njobvuyalema special recognition at the launch and wished him merry Christmas.



He described Njobvuyalema’s attendance and speech as a sign of
political maturity and urged other opposition politicians to do the
same.



“We need to leave politics away in order to further develop the
country. We should all unite, both the opposition and the government,
especially this festive season of Christmas,” said Mutharika.



Commenting on criticisms by MCP president John Tembo on why the
President accepted the honorary title of Ngwazi, which the leader of
opposition said was reserved for Kamuzu Banda only, Mutharika said he
did not apply to be given the title and did not know in advance that
the Ngoni chiefs from Mzimba wanted to honour him with the title.



Commenting on the forestry season, Mutharika said he ordered the
extension of the season from a month to four months (from December 15
to April 15) because of the importance trees play in people’s lives.



The President said he has personally planted 6,000 trees, which include
masuku, mibawa, oranges, pawpaws and pine, among others on his private
land.



Mutharika, however, was worried that bushfires, especially in Chikangawa and Zomba, were destroying trees in the country.



“In 2009, we should ensure that bushfires are reduced. One day, on my
way to Mzuzu while I was in a helicopter, I counted 31 bushfires, this
is bad and must be stopped. Report to us those who start bushfires so
that we can counsel them,” said Mutharika.



Mutharika said bushfires do not only destroy trees but force animals to migrate and cause soil erosion if left unchecked.