By Burnett Munthali
According to the Britannica Dictionary definition, “Popularity is the state of being liked, enjoyed, accepted, or done by a large number of people.”
Background
What is the reason for popularity? Like most things in life, popularity is more complicated than it looks. Some people are popular because they are likable—their peers like them, trust them and want to be with them. Others are popular because they somehow gain a certain status, and use that power to wield influence over others.
Argument
Arguing that political speech‐making can have a significant impact, a study surveyed 416 members of the audience at appearances by four presidential candidates during the 1976 primary in Illinois. The researchers concluded that rallies attract a large percentage of persons who are not members of the featured candidate’s political party.
From a uses and gratifications perspective, audience motivations for rally attendance were complex, and, while the strongest motivations were of a cognitive‐orientation nature, reasons related to the excitement of the event were surprisingly prominent. The same reasons are still true today.
Why Was Tonse Alliance Chosen? What are the main reasons Malawians voted for Tonse Alliance Government?
Many Malawians thought that leaders in Tonse Alliance had the ability to inspire, to take the people along on their journey, and to be credible. People wanted higher salaries in the civil service and not peanuts, loans from banks and MADEF so they could buy cars and houses and not challenges, jobs and not joblessness, cheap fertilizer and not farming without fertilizers, employment based on merit and not nepotism, transparency and not corruption, infrastructure development and not digging in the same place for three years without any tarmac road to show within a short distance.
Turning Point
Leadership in Tonse Alliance started failing when they appointed family members and friends to a cabinet and failed to reshuffle the cabinet when it was failing to tick. When they could not consider merit to direct them, leadership focused on church members in advisory positions giving the president misguided and misconceived goals which are quickly leading them to their downfall.
Political Rallies: There are many reasons people attend political rallies today
First, they attend public rallies because of music entertainment that is brought to play at such functions. Music has become part of political meetings because leaders know for sure that many people wouldn’t attend a meeting without any entertainment. Some people attend political rallies to watch musicians that are hired to perform so they can listen and dance to their music.
Secondly, some people attend these meetings because they would like to receive party regalia. Party regalia can be shared with both true and fake members for different reasons, genuine members would like to show loyalty and be proud of their party while for others it’s a free shopping venture to dress themselves.
Some people attend MCP rallies because they are paid by some party leaders so that good-looking videos are produced and shared with the top leadership. This is more like a mind game to pretend they are gaining ground at the same time just to create a scarecrow for opponents.
Thirdly, people today would attend a political rally in an effort just to compare ideas being spoken by the party on the podium yet they belong to different political parties.
Fourthly, people may attend a political rally as a way of passing time. They have nothing serious to do on the day so they would prefer loitering around where politicians are sweating to drive their message home.
Fifth, it must be noted that there are some people who attend political meetings simply to get paid a little something at the end of the day. Mostly, this group comprises genuine members but a small percentage of non-members can easily find their way just to alleviate their poverty just for the day.
Conclusion
Rallies attract a large percentage of people who are not members of the featured candidate’s political party. The strongest motivations are reasons mainly related to the excitement of the event
Therefore, Malawi Congress Party leadership should not believe those huge numbers of people attending their political rallies today because many of them get there just out of excitement. Chakwera should not listen to lies being reported to him by party leaders. Fake advisors are there simply to misreport in order to keep their jobs for the time being. The other reason they tell lies is because they of self-denial that Malawians have spoken their mind against the ruling party very clearly.
If they wish, MCP leadership should conduct a proper survey so that they read the accurate mindset of the people on the ground. The President should assign people who are experts and good at this job, neutral and non-partisan to do this research for him then he will learn something. The videos and pictures circulating on social media are fake and fast away from the truth intended at misleading the President. If MCP had other winning strategies they ignite this opinion.
Otherwise, I would say Malawi Congress Party has lost its steam and relevance and it’s not popular on the ground!
