By Falles Kamanga
As if his flamboyant pledges, grandiloquent fantasies and oneiric logorrhoea were not enough, the VP and UTM’s President (an oxymoron in itself) Saulos Chilima, now appears to be ‘secretly’ working with Sepherd Bushiri…really?
Well, it is no secret that Bushiri has managed to make a name for himself by allegedly curing people of HIV, making the blind see, changing the fortunes of the impoverished and -well at least one occasion- appearing to walk on air.
Prophet Shepherd Bushiri keeps stretching his popularity graph upwards by claiming that he is not only imbued with the power of prophecy, but also with the ability to heal the sick and assure one’s prosperity in life.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BUSHIRI
Even though there is no readily available record of his net worth, he is known to have interests in several mines and owns four private planes and a number of hotels through his investment company Shepherd Bushiri Investments. He is known worldwide for his excessively lavish lifestyle, although questions over the manner in which his fortune was amassed are not exactly welcomed.
It is worth reminding that the government of Botswana shut down Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECG) in Gaborone recently, due to concerns over his “miracle money”, which contravened the country’s financial regulations. Bushiri is also reportedly making considerable profit from his so-called ‘faith products’ -specially designed merchandise on sale at stalls dotted around his large church complex – (anything from “miracle oil”, calendars and wrist bands, to branded towels, T-shirts and caps, all emblazoned with his face). The vendors tell patrons that all the wares have been prayed over by Bushiri and so have healing powers.
Additionally, Zimbabwe kept mocking his prophecies, while Namimbia labelled him a con artist and Zambia threatened to close his mines. Bushiri also came under fire last year after it emerged he was charging between 1,000 and 25,000 rand ($80-2,000; £60-1,500) to attend a gala dinner with him; in other words, the closer you wanted to sit to the prophet, the more you had to pay!
Faith-healing celebrities don’t come cheap, fellas. This, paired with colorful allegations regarding his multimillion money-laundering scandal in Malawi, and other spicy controversies ranging from blatant lies to sex scandals, paints a rather unflattering picture of the so called “Prophet”. One thing is for sure: he has most certainly come a long way from his upbringing in Mzuzu.
Why is all that important, however? Why should anyone care about a “prophet” who has amassed wealth by preying on the vulnerable (and who- accessorily- has been involved in unsafe practices including making congregants eat rats, snakes, grass and drink petrol, all in the name of proving their faith)? Well, according to numerous reports, Bushiri is secretly working with the United Transformation Movement (UTM) of Saulos Chilima. More specifically, Bushiri has allegedly donated the (now defunct) DEPECO structures to UTM -on top of asking some of his ECG pastors who are working in Malawi- to contest on UTM ticket in 2019. As if this was not enough, the forth coming evangelism rally organized by Bushiri at the Bingu National Stadium is meant to be an indirect endorsement of Chilima’s presidential candidature.
SO?
Well, for starters, there is no denial that Chilima’s candidacy will be overall tainted by the people that have surrounded him. The formation of UTM has brought together people of questionable characters. Not only is the party a collection of disgruntled, frustrated politicians who are desperately trying to resurrect their political careers, but it is also an assemblage of individuals with -admittedly- dubious pasts (to say the least).
Now it appears that Chilima has directly or indirectly associated himself with Bushiri. Do not underestimate the ‘Prophet’, people. Despite our apparent failure to appreciate his glaring brilliance in tirelessly spearheading empty, foolish and laughable theories to explain his fame and fortune, the man has his art of the deal. He is a master of his trade with a calculative thought leadership and intuitive wisdom, a shrewd strategist, fearlessly bold at implementation, which makes him unpredictable if not dangerous; not to mention full of ulterior motives.
Chilima should be extra careful regarding who he is associating himself with, because a person that he may initially consider as ‘manna from heaven’ could turn out to be a poisoned chalice. One could argue that this actually bears witness to either Chilima’s lack of critical thinking or to his manipulative stratagem. Or both. Well, as proverb 1:32 goes: ‘For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them’.
