“One mistake
does not have to rule
a person’s entire life”
Joyce Meyer
For the record, I thought the idea of having 12 presidential candidates debating for three hours was kind of crazy for want of a better word.
I still hold that view.
Granted, this was a first for Malawi but someone should have realised that 12 was going to be an unmanageable crowd. Of course, by some form of not-so natural selection, the figure dropped to eight, still a crowd, if you ask me.
Four candidates were ‘no-shows’ for all manner of reasons. Joyce Banda, for example, was too busy on the campaign trail to debate with her challengers. Peter Mutharika, too, could not show up in the Chinese-built edifice named after his late brother because, ostensibly, he got questions for the debate too late. So these guys were given the questions before hand? Strange, but let us not touch that for now.
But another ‘no-show’, Davies Katsonga, had an embarrassing reason for not showing up. He needed allowances for himself and his supporters from Mwanza. Mmmmh! You mean a party seeking the national office cannot scramble ten supporters in the capital? And he needed the organisers of the debate to help him ferry his supporters from wherever? Cry my beloved country!
As for George Nnesa, we understand he is in some sort of a crisis. His running mate fled the ticket for the yellow camp. He was obviously still haggling with the Malawi Electoral Commission to see if he could be allowed to replace his runaway mate.
The Commission, as it turned out, did not entertain his request and is forcing him to pair with the guy who does not like him any more.
Well, well, well, it will be interesting if the Balaka guy wins the national vote on the other side of May 20 and a reluctant Sylvester Chabuka becomes vice president. But that is fodder for another muckraking day.
So we had eight wannabes in front of us discussing – they were not exactly debating – national matters.
For all its imperfections from the crowded panel to the ‘no-show’ of two key candidates, the debate brought to the fore one thing: Malawi is not short of people with ideas only that we tend to misallocate our resources.
The two available serious contenders did not disappoint. Lazarus Chakwera proved his wizardly at the spoken word both in English and Chichewa. He couched his message in perfect English and spotless Chichewa. His stint in the US and his long years on the pulpit did him a world of good in terms of delivery of speech.
Atupele Muluzi, too, was presidential through and through. Well, the moderator forgot to acknowledge his presence at the start of the debate, but the young man made sure his presence was felt whenever he took to the microphone.
But it was the ‘also-runs’ that made the night. If truth be told, for the majority of people who attended, listened to or watched the debate, the night belonged to Helen Singh.
Despite her oriental-sounding name and skin colour, Abusa – I prefer calling her Angoni – from Bilila proved she is a true Malawian through and through.
Look, you just had to love her way with words and imagery. And I think the best line of the night was her ‘mbatata’ analogy. “You do not straighten a mature potato,” she said in flawless Chichewa.
And, with that, ‘mbatata’ entered our political lexicon, just like the other derogatory word ‘madeya’ (literally, maize husks, but in Malawi politics ‘useless people’) did the other day when President Bakili Muluzi went for a rank outsider, Bingu wa Mutharika, as successor overlooking loyal UDF members.
Helen Singh made her case with a passion, a true concerned Malawian tired with the ‘business as usual’ politics that has stagnated us in a time-warp half a Century after we started calling ourselves a nation.
James Nyondo, too, made sense. He could not understand why agriculture extension workers should be given push bicycles while kabaza or dampa boys are given motor cycles.
‘The guy with a hat’ had some interesting ideas. Mark Katsonga Phiri is a true disciple of decentralisation so much that he hates ‘Account Number One’ with a passion. He believes that the consolidated account at the central bank is the genesis of national cancers like cashgate.
And Kamuzu Chibambo promised to frame the Oath of Office and hang it in his executive office once we elect him to the high office so that he is reminded all the time of the sacred commitments he made to the nation. Great stuff!
Friday Jumbe, too, had some interesting views one wonders why he could not implement the same when he was Finance Minister.
John Chisi, him of the 12th Century feudalism politics, also had some interesting views about the health sector. Well, he has to convince us how this fits in our world today, but he is still a fine guy.
The point is: Malawi is poor by choice (and greed). If, as a nation, we had a proper plan how to allocate resources (especially human) we could not be borrowing basic things like lamps from a failed state like Zimbabwe.
Imagine we had a cabinet comprising the likes of Helen Singh, Mark Katsonga Phiri, Kamuzu Chibambo, James Nyondo or Lazarus Chakwera. Imagine they lived up to their Tuesday night commitments.
Most of these folks will obviously stumble on May 20, and most of them will not even make it to Parliament. But whoever emerges winners on the other side of May 20 should tap into this well of wisdom.
There will only be one tenant in State House and only 193 seats in Parliament and 462 places in district, town and city halls.
But, in the end, Malawi is still enough for all the 15 million of us. Surely all of us can contribute something to unchain our beloved nation from the 50-year time warp.