By Mwai Nkhoma
In his statement reacting to the cabinet reshuffle President Peter Mutharika has effected, the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera has missed the point and failed in his attempts to circumvent the truth.
As usual, he the same man full of emotions with a penchant for high-sounding that mean nothing but show his emptiness of mind.
At no point before has he ever demonstrated he has the personality of a head of state he craves. He is no different in this statement. What he has maintained is his full-of-hot-air language.
To begin with the cabinet remains lean. Mutharika and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has maintained a 20-member cabinet. This is something Chakwera has failed to acknowledge. Chakwera in his jealousy cannot applaud for being the first Malawi leader since 1994 to maintain a lean cabinet for a period of over four years.
And he talks about tribalism. There is only one member of the cabinet, who is also a deputy minister, who comes from the President’s home district of Thyolo. In addition, not everyone who comes from the Southern Region is from the tribe where Mutharika comes from.
There is tendency by small minded people like Chakwera to think cabinet is the government. Here is a little lecture: the executive is only a small part of large entity we call government. APM has worked hard to ensure a good representation of Malawians from across the regional and gender divide in senior public appointments. And he has achieved a lot in this respect. This is a fact Chakwera doesnt acknowledge. Or choses not to see.
Mutharika has appointed woman to various senior positions in government and in the public sector. Chakwera does not see that Address Malata, vice chancellor of Malawi University of Science and Technology.and Jane Ansah MEC chairperson are women. Mutharika has appointed women for senior roles in the judiciary, in the parastatal boards, in embassies and in many other government departments.
Needless to say, his executive is not even to the things that he is accusing APM of. His excutive committee is dominated by Central Region and his Lilongwe District in particular. The representation of women is vert poor.
This fallen preacher preaches what he does not practice. Such is Chakwera’s hypocrisy.
We know that Chakwera has a small mind. He does not think like a political leader but an executive director of a briefcase organization.
I wish he could rise above pettiness and show himself as a man capable to run an entity as big as a nation.
Throughout the period he has been MCP leader, he has come out as a man not made for political leadership. MCP has imploded on his watch.
Lastly, I urge Chakwera to focus on the mess he is causing in the party where he is imposing MP candidates leading to the worst divisions and disgruntlement MCP has ever suffered in years. He should leave government business who can manage.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the Publisher or the Editor of Maravi Post
