By now, all those who follow me know that I sympathise with DPP and APM. Although there may be things here and there that I don’t agree or subscribe to.
Recently, I suggested that APM would have gone to school to tap from the Muluzi School of politics when I learnt, with dismay that APM has decided to sue Ntata and Nyasatimes. I added that Ntata is a manageable young man who can easily be handled by a graduate of Muluzi School of politics.
Contrary to my suggestions, I have noted that battles have been drawn. Clearly, the Executive seems so determined to reduce Ntata to size through legal redress while Ntata is also having none of it: He has gone into acceleration!
Just like in any fight, we will have to accept that we will have casualties. The larger picture will entail that our president will re-direct his energies to Ntata while denying Malawians his unwavering leadership at such a crucial period of our socioeconomic status. Casualty number one: Malawians.
For Ntata, he risks paying huge sums of money should our president become successful in the legal redress that he is seeking. He will be a villain and self-styled number one enemy of state should our independent courts determine that he crossed boundaries. His admirable following will doubt his credibility.
But there is this biggest casualty in this fight: Am afraid but I have to say it that our President will go away as the biggest casualty. And if the people that surround the president never foresaw that then APM is in big trouble. He needs some public sector reform right at plot number one!
Granted, the decision to sue Ntata and Nyasatimes was in itself damaging. In Zambia, one Michael Sata went about suing his citizens and the media. What he got in return were low ratings and disapproval from observers. As I said, the presidency need to absorb criticism and ridicule with executive resilience. One observer had this to say on Sata when he got on a similar path:
‘Close friends of Sata (Guy Scott, GBM, Kambwili) should pluck up some courage to advise their President that his Republican status does not allow him to behave like an ordinary man in the streets of Lusaka, Kitwe of Ndola where he can exercise the luxury of making money by suing perceived enemies to courts. A President must learn to absorb cruel and well-meaning criticism from the public. The Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park have preserved such a facility where the Queen can be criticised severely. If Sata is sensitive to honest criticism, then he must resign, declare to forego his presidential immunity and face his colleagues on a level playing ground. His lawyers will have to fight it out with other sharp-shooting talented legal minds’.
It is clear that Allan Ntata is enjoying throwing mud at the presidency. But if the presidency will decide to engage him in a war, I am afraid the president will not be helping matters. Ntata will not lose as much as the presidency will do.
At which point I will suggest to the presidency to engage the young man through dialogue. Executive egos will only damage the presidency. Muluzi would have simply invited one Kamlepo Kalua to plot number one. And Kamlepo would come back a changed person! Isn’t it said that when you fight a pig in the mud it enjoys the fight? Believe me, we can get a solution to this war without involving any legal battles and salvage the little we have. I, Matilda Mwale, offer to mediate….
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Maravi Post
