Huh? So we have a record of twelve people, including two women, who want to lord over us after May 20? Of course we have only four ‘wannabes’ while the eight are ‘also runs’ who have a million kwacha to waste.

I do not know whether had the Katsonga brothers formed one party they could have wangled at least two seats between them – one in Mwanza, one in Neno. But two brothers? Two parties? Wow! Chester Katsonga must be a political legend to sire two presidential hopefuls!

Then there is Mai…Ooops! Pastor Helen Singh. My!

Oh, Friday Jumbe too presented his nomination papers? Hey, where is that dude who cycled all the way from Zomba? Damiano was his name. I like his bike; simple, no frills, I guess he is the transformational leader we need, not these rich buggers in gas-guzzling Hummers!

By the way, why is the obsolete military vehicle the vehicle of choice for our presidents-in-waiting? Is it a sign of opulence? But the Hummer is one ugly vehicle even the Americans stopped fancying forcing General Motors to stop manufacturing it! But, hey, even Abusa scrambled together one, a blue one at that! Whew!

James Nyondo, him who ‘also ran’ that time, is also still in the running, so is George Nnesa. I do not know about Nyondo but Nnesa should have concentrated on defending his Balaka seat. He did a good job in calling Ken Lipenga his bluff on those sexed up MRA collection books.

But the presidency? Does he really believe even his wife can vote for him? This Tisinthe Alliance is a joke in these elections.

What do politicians see that we, the ordinary mortals, do not? I do not know what happens to good people when they have dalliances with politics.

But, seriously, Malawi needs not have 50-plus political parties. I hate to say this but the only parties that have a realistic chance of producing a president in these elections are four: Tate’s DPP, Ama’s PP, Bebe’s UDF and MCP for Abusa. (Do not stone me, I have not arranged them in any particular order of preferability, the quartet – I think – has an equal chance given the present fundamentals and variables).

But, somehow, even Prof. John Chisi thinks he has what it takes to be His Excellency the President of the Republic of Malawi come May 22, 2014, with his archaic 18^th Century feudalism politics!

C’mon, good people! Granted, Chisi is a good man, a good family doctor, my friend Seodi White tells me so!

But if he has a million kwacha to waste – devalued or otherwise – he should have wasted it on treating patients at his good clinic for free!

Of course, all I can do is to laugh at these pretenders and jokers but I do not envy the job of the veritable judge, Maxon Mbendera…he who had to spend the whole week looking at these people’s sweaty faces, listening to their high-sounding dreams and reading to them his prepared speech knowing too well they were just wasting his honourable time!

Funny things, politics, as one British editor used to put it!

“Politics is war

without bloodshed

while war is politics

with bloodshed”

Mao Tse-Tung

Why is the vice presidency a poison chalice in Malawi? Check how all the vice presidents we have had since the dawn of multiparty politics have ended up. All spectacularly fell out with their bosses.

Look, Bakili Muluzi mocked Justin Malewezi with the ‘32 tablets-a-day’ jibe while Bingu wa Mutharika reduced Cassim Chilumpha to surviving on Fanta.

Joyce Banda’s failed ‘romance’ with Bingu, too, is well-catalogued. In fact a lorry was planted to ‘accidentalise’ her somewhere in Kanengo the other day.

Ama herself may try to coat in niceties her fall-out with Vice President Khumbo Kachali. But, if truth be told, passing the running mate mantle over him is a vote of no confidence.

I have criticised Khumbo for following his boss everywhere, even on some real mundane junkets like distributing a cow per family. But his conspicuous absence during the unveiling of Sosten Gwengwe as her choice of vice presidential running mate speaks a million words.

If the ‘divorce’ was mutual as Ama would like us to believe, Khumbo should have been the one welcoming Gwengwe at SanjikaPalace last Thursday. His unexplained no-show means he is not amused by the snubbing.

I am not a soothsayer or prophet of doom but I can see Khumbo not going down without a fight. He will adopt a nihilistic mode of ‘if I can’t get it, you won’t get it too’ and fight Ama in the North.

He already has ready and willing suicide bombers for that jihad. The Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP has not hidden its displeasure at the snubbing of Khumbo. Your guess is as good as mine on what the synod will do next.

Of course, if truth be told, Khumbo did not acquit himself well during his short time as Citizen No. 2. The Mponela bedgate affair and the careless pakhomo pa anyoko rants will remain asbestoses around his neck.

But, be that as it may, retaining Khumbo was a safe bet for Ama. It could have made political sense if she seriously wants to renew her tenancy on Plot Number 1.

Look, her People’s Party is still a rag tag motley crew of political refugees bound together by the fact that she controls affairs at Capital Hill. Save for the incumbency factor, PP was still struggling to find its real stronghold. That is why when she is in the Eastern Region Abiti raps in Yao to remind us she is a girl from Malosa.

While as whenever she crosses Jenda she plays mtengwa as she fumbles her lines in Tumbuka to legitimise her NkhataBay claims.

To be frank, the fickle politics the North plays could have advantaged Ama. While the Central and Southern regions vote in a straight-jacket manner, the Northern Region responds to emerging issues. ((Bingu’s 2009 national landslide was an exception). For instance, in 2004 the region massively voted for Gwanda Chakuamba’s émigréRepublic Party to punish the regional ‘god’ Chakufwa Chihana who had gone rogue.

This time around the region was Ama’s to lose until the Khumbo affair. A healthy percentage of the region’s one million-plus votes could have voted orange had Khumbo partnered with President Banda.

This is how I mean: it will take a generation for the region to forgive the UDF. The North believes Chakufwa Chihana should have emerged president in 1994 but Bakili Muluzi somehow played hanky-panky with the votes.

Besides, Muluzi snubbed Aleke Banda for the national No. 2 position despite being No. 2 in the party.

And, although the DPP has pockets of support here and there owing to the Karonga-Chitipa Road, Bingu’s Mzuzu Corner diatribe and the quota system of public university selection make the blue party Satan re-incarnate in the region.

The MCP, too, was not an alternative owing to how the region suffered during the party’s three decades in power.

So Ama was an acceptable choice for the North. But the dissing of Khumbo will make the region re-cast its net. Khumbo might have his own issues but sticking to him made political sense.

By throwing Khumbo under the bus, Ama has opened a new and unnecessary battle front. As my ‘loudmouthed’ colleague across the street Gracian Tukula puts it, not all fights are worth fighting.

Rev. Dr. Lazarus Chakwera must be smiling from ear to ear with these developments. Despite its chequered history in the region, with the new leadership the MCP just may be an alternative for the region. After all, Abusa’s wife hails from somewhere in the idyllic mountains of Rumphi.

Ama says she prayed and consulted widely over her choice of vice presidential running mate. Did her strategists not consider these obvious variables and fundamentals?

It beggars belief how she could settle for one Sosten Gwengwe who is still finding his ropes in the murky world of politics.

I must confess the young man impressed a lot as the MCP finance spokesman. But he dug his political grave by defecting from the MCP to the DPP. His onward migration to PP reduced him to become as ordinary as they come.

I am not sure how much votes he might bring to the ticket for, if truth be told, he is nowhere near a force to reckon with in the Central Region. He might even struggle to retain his Dedza seat with a re-born MCP breathing down his neck.

By the way, who is telling these candidates that since the youth constitutes the majority of the population they are a factor in these elections? Yes, the total population is projected at 15.8 million in 2014. Those aged between 18 and 40 comprise 68 percent of the population, according to 2008 population projections by the National Statistics Office. But this age-group is not as excited with voting as the older generation.

While I agree with her that the mantra ‘the youth are leaders of tomorrow’ is hackneyed, she has gambled big time on Gwengwe, that is my honest opinion. 

The Vice President is an assistant, a delegate and a counsellor to the President. Most importantly, the Vice President succeeds the President and completes the President’s term in office if the President dies or becomes incapacitated. The most important quality to look for in a Vice President, therefore, is the answer to this question: can he or she be President?

The choice of veep candidate says a lot about the person making the choice. It is the first major executive decision the main candidate makes. The question today is: among the veep candidates announced by the four major parties in Malawi for the May elections, which can credibly become President without sending the stock markets crashing down and the defence forces going on a high state of alert?

The answer to this question is an unequivocal endorsement of Dr. Godfrey Chapola, veep candidate with Austin Atupele Muluzi, President of the United Democratic Front (UDF) party. Chapola’s maturity and his experience with Malawi’s most important industries, agriculture and tobacco, are qualities that enhance the presidency and place him well to succeed the President seamlessly if the need arose.

The field of candidates

This is correctly recognized as the election in which the youth vote will play an important role.

With the notable exception of the MCP, the remaining parties – the DPP and the PP — have chosen their running mates with the intention of countering Muluzi’s youth. They have offered their own youthful veep candidates as alternatives.

The difference, however, is that Muluzi is the presidential candidate whereas Saulos Chilima (DPP) and Sosten Gwengwe (PP) are veep candidates. If the youth want one of their own to become President this year, why would they elect the tickets featuring Chilima or Gwengwe who are not presidential candidates?

The time to have a youthful President is this May, not afterwards. Malawians are yearning for new, youthful and vigorous leadership to urgently tackle our country’s profound problems and bring about change for the benefit of all. That change is needed now, not in some distant future when, and if, an incumbent President dies. What if a President does not die in office?

Saulos Chilima Has No Chance in DPP

At 41, Saulos Chilima is indeed youthful. Moreover, his experience as Chief Executive Officer of telecommunications giant Airtel would stand him in good stead with voters as a person owning appropriate experience in an economic portfolio. However, he is not the candidate. He is only the running mate. If the DPP wins, we will either have to wait for Arthur-Peter Mutharika to die in office or up to a maximum ten years, when Chilima will be 51, before we see a President Chilima. Do the Cashgate-exhausted youth of Malawi have the patience to wait that long?

Even that succession is not guaranteed. The DPP has a history of chewing up and spitting out its state veeps while in office. For reference, look under Cassim Chilumpha and Joyce Banda. In both cases the man who did the damage was none other than President Bingu wa Mutharika, brother to the current DPP presidential candidate, Arthur-Peter. Bingu committed atrocities against Chilumpha and Banda with the acquiescence, and for the benefit, of Arthur-Peter! So Chilima is youthful, yes. But this history bodes ill for the prospects of a future Chilima state presidency even if the current DPP ticket were to win in May. The odds are against it.
A more attractive DPP ticket would have Saulos Chilima at the head of the ticket. As it is, and if DPP political history is anything to go by, Saulos Chilima is in the most precarious position as Number Two of any of the four major parties’ veep candidates.

Sosten Gwengwe’s Political Infidelity

At 37, Sosten Gwengwe also qualifies to be called a ‘youthful’ candidate. But his political background as a legislator is marred by his defections, first from the MCP to the DPP and now from the DPP to the PP. Malawian electors do not want just any youthful person to be their President or Vice President. For discerning electors steadfastness to principle, and some political fidelity in the candidate, are pre-requisites.

Political prostitution, a practice in which legislators switch parties to always be with the ruling party and thus get appointments to cabinet and/or other favours, is partly to blame for the abuses that ruling parties have visited upon the population of Malawi, including the youth, for years. With this practice, the legislature ceases to act as a check on the executive and becomes, instead, its accomplice. People who switch parties for this reason are corrupt, and certainly are not positive leadership material. They threaten Malawi’s political and economic future and should neither be presidents nor veeps if we have the best political and economic interests of Malawi at heart.

Richard Msowoya a ‘safe’ Choice

The middle aged Msowoya, 52, was first elected to Parliament in 2004 as an independent MP from Karonga. He later joined Bingu’s newly formed DPP after Bingu ditched the UDF. Msowoya then became minister but later resigned and joined MCP, allegedly after being promised a running-mate position on an MCP ticket with Hon. JZU Tembo in the 2009 election. Sources say he was later ignored for that post by Tembo who chose BJ Mpinganjira, instead. Msowoya evidently remained in MCP although he later lost his parliamentary seat. He sought and won the veep position unopposed at the party’s convention last year.

In choosing Msowoya as his running mate, Rev. Chakwera has demonstrated an aversion to political risk. He has chosen from inside, rather than from outside, the proverbial box. Political timidity has its advantages and its disadvantages. The state of shambles that Malawi is in today requires a leadership that is not afraid to take some political risks and strike out with political novices to reform the system. The old faces and recycled politicians have already shown us what they are capable of: chaos, political prostitution and Cashgate. We need new faces that will bring in a new thinking and approach – faces that will work to truly repair and improve battered Malawi.

Chapola the best choice

Austin Atupele Muluzi has won the contest regarding the best choice of a running mate. This is an election in which Malawians are looking for transformational leadership which by-passes and transcends the old squabbles about regions of origin and the ‘change goal’ politics of opportunists. The professionally accomplished Chapola has no history of dirty political involvements, let alone political prostitution. In fact he is completely new to the political game. That is what Malawi needs: a new beginning with new, capable faces. Not another start with the same old faces who only know the politics of opportunism, regionalism and Cashgate.

This round has gone to Muluzi, hands down.

• The author, Ambuje che Tom Likambale, is from Balaka Township, Malawi

Well the week’s carnival is over, so too is our sheer love of pomposity, gluttony and admission that our politics need a lot of fresh thinking. I wrote somewhere how the opposition keep criticising Government wastefulness on Presidential convoys and ferrying of people, and this week, they fell right into the same trap. I have very little optimism of seeing these blitz loving leaders changing, if at all they make it to State House.

Gwanda Chakuamba as Minister of Agriculture in 2005 spent K10 million of a BMW X5 and when chided that Malawi was experiencing food shortage he answered bluntly: “Even if you asked Kamuzu, that’s the car I love, a BMW” later there was an attempted purchase of Maybach and finally a jet, whose controversies seem not to die, even when it is no longer in our possession.

Bakili Muluzi left us many vocabulary to last a century, one of it is that the opposition first agenda is to go into State House. Look at speeches made by celebrated new comers, they seem to make the former president look like a prophet of politicians.

Enough of the past, let’s look at this week for starters. Since everyone has presented nominations papers, I will start with big losers this week. Next week we will look at pairs, in March we will examine manifestos and in April we will analyse the campaign period, in May we will do constituency by constituency predictions before we vote. In June we will review the electoral process.

Of course this is a fantasy outline of this blog, I have two exams in May to prepare, voting and full time job, so I need to re-work my life time table to ensure that I am available to fulfil all the commitments.

Let me welcome in a special way Atupele Muluzi, Sosten Gwengwe and Soulosi Chilima to the new scrutiny platforms. We will deal with the question of youth participation versus ma Cadet, Morale or Young Democrats or Young Patriots and their exclusive ideas of youth empowerment.

It is funny how our politics plays out, after noticing how Atupele was drawing youth crowds, every major party is rebranding from being gender sensitive to Youth-Friendly. As a youth worker, I welcome the drastic in change, by other parties, though it confirms our lack of ideology. Next time a Bishop of Catholic Church runs, hope we won’t see defection to the Catholic Church by all parties. Anyway, we [have] gained as Youth.

Now who are the big losers?

Of course the biggest loser of the week is Malawi’s State Vice President Khumbo Kachali, who has been left out as runningmate by President Joyce Banda and her Peoples Party. The others in Peoples Party include Uladi Mussa, Henry Phoya, Brown Mpinganjira and Chris Daza who were speculated to have been possible candidates. I am reluctant to add Fahad Assani because he is only new in mainstream politics as having been known mainly in legal circles.
The other is Ken Kandodo who was a subject of gossip caught on tape by [Peter Mutharika], that alongside Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda, [Kandondo was] unsuitable material. Remember the MIJ reporter who went into hiding?

Do I blame the President? That’s the question this article will seriously tackle.
Before we talk of Peoples Party, lets add the Democratic Progressive Party. DPP President unlike President Joyce Banda opted for an outsider, outside his National Executive in the name of Saulosi Chilima. The losers in the DPP include Vice Presidents Hetherwick Ntaba, Nick Masebo and Yunus Mussa. Others are Secretary General Jean Kalirani (the only powerful woman outside the circle) , Goodall Gondwe and Henry Mussa. They have been singled out because they were mentioned as possible runningmates in the media and social media at large. How they react after Chilima came is not part of this article.

But you see in 2009, President Bingu wa Mutharika opted for Joyce Banda leaving people like Goodall Gondwe and Henry Chimunthu Banda who were being touted in the media and public circles. The same happened to then State Vice President Justin Chimera Malewezi, late Aleke Banda, Harry Thomson, Sam Mpasu and Friday Jumbe in 2003, when President Bakili Muluzi opted for Late Bingu wa Mutharika, an outsider to lead the UDF.

UDF President Atupele Muluzi has equally dumped his unknown Vice Presidents who include Iqbal Omar, a Mr. Chituwo and a Mrs Mponela and Secretary General Kandi Padambo, and opted for Godfrey Chapola, who has not been an active politician elsewhere.

The trend continues. The Malawi Congress Party provides lessons on intra party democracy, electing right Vice Presidents at convention and the power of the National Executive over their leaders if Malawian parties will move from being personal properties of their leaders to democratic institutions.

However two casualties in the Malawi Congress Party are Lovemore Munlo and Jodder Kanjere.
The other two losers outside the political parties are Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda who was forced to make a tactical withdraw after failing to find a platform to enhance his political ambition and the same fate that former Transport and Public Works Minister Mohammed Sidik Mia faced after dumping the Peoples Party.

The failure by Chimunthu Banda who became 50 years last year was the final blow that only one of the three branches of Government will appear on the Presidential ballot in 2014. Chimunthu Banda is the head of Legislature, a very influential political platform while Munlo was the head of Judiciary until 2013.

That leaves only President Joyce Banda as a Head of the Executive and former deputy since 2009 to have tactfully played her political cards and claim the top prize. It is however sad we could have measured the power of Executive, Parliament and Judiciary over Malawian population had the three stood as candidates and running mates. A delayed lesson for our political scientists.

Who is to blame? Now that we have this background dating as far as 2001 when people like Brown Mpinganjira were forced out of UDF to form the National Democratic Alliance for opposing Bakili Muluzi’s third term.

Is it coincidence that Vice Presidents in Malawi rarely last to the next election and cannot go up the ladder save for Joyce Banda’s unique circumstances? Will the young ones survive the turbulence or will they be dumped at next election?

There is a political lesson to be learnt that in 2019 we should not see angry people, shunning public events for being left out nor resigning from their parties in a haste if they have never to make it on the ticket.

It is important to start in 1999, soon after Bakili Muluzi won his second term.
Muluzi by the time he won, the UDF face had radically shifted from founders to new comers. Strong characters who started UDF like Sheikh Shaibu Itimu, Edward Bwanali, Collins Chizumila, Alufeyo Chilibvumbo and others had died. People like Arthur Makhalira had lost in Zomba, only praise singers remained and had gained power. These include late Dumbo Lemani, Davies Kapito nd others.

Late Aleke Banda was shifted from the powerful Ministry of Finance to Agriculture and later Health, Brown Mpinganjira was being accused of setting parallel structures while delegation to Vice President Malewezi was limited cartoon activities of opening workshops and attending funerals on behalf of the President. One should have wondered why we needed the office after 1999.

However as much as everyone in UDF was aware than Muluzi was setting himself for a third term, Mpinganjira, Lemani, Speaker Sam Mpasu, Finance Minister Friday Jumbe and all others failed to form a United front and force a declaration from their President that he will respect the UDF constitution and retire. Even gurus like Malewezi and Aleke Banda were quite in their silence.

The fall of Brown Mpinganjira in December 2001 alongside Peter Chupa and Cassim Chilumpha, the open fight with Mpasu in Parliament indicated the greed among most of our senior politicians. Quickly they ganged together and fought BJ until he was ousted.

The political joke was they were still too many left. Malewezi, Aleke , Mpasu, Thomson and even Lemani among others, all hoping to succeed Muluzi.

When he pulled a third joker, they loved their positions more than Malawi and by now Muluzi had a good spokesperson Speaker Davis Katsonga to do his biding in Parliament. Even when Malawians cried against the UDF young democrats and the third term, all senior Ministers in UDF pretended they never heard it.

In the end it was Reverend Daniel Gunya, Father Constantine Kaswaya of PAC and Anglican, Reverend Peter Kaleso sacked from Cabinet for opposing the third term, Cassim Chilumpha and Jan Jaap Sonke who moved and joined a coalition led by Opposition parties including Chakuamba, BJ and others to oppose the third term.

In other words people like Aleke, Malewezi, Jumbe, Mpasu and others waited Malawians to fight on their behalf. Well MCP was split and Aford went further to even move a motion for third term.

Muluzi did a kamikaze on all their political lives, he opted for an outsider Bingu and paired him with the rebel Chilumpha. It was a classic political comedy as people left UDF in a hurry to look for new platforms, suddenly being aware of UDF evils when they could not speak weeks before thinking they will be the chosen one.

This is a classic example of how most of our politicians have found themselves left out even today.

Fast forward to Bingu, by 2009 Cabinet Ministers were busy gossiping each other to Bingu than building solid political bases. Joyce Banda managed to get grassroots poplar bills like Wills and Inheritance Bill, sealed the Chinese deal and earned praise on her charity work, others went to report each other daily and were nowhere near public causes.

Of course the gossip between 2005 to 2009 included reports to Bingu of Ministers such as Ken Lipenga, Henry Phoya and others being sighted at Bakili Muluzi’s BCA house. How these other Ministers spotted others has always been a source of fun in my mind, they themselves might have been hiding in Muluzi’s bedroom when these other Ministers arrived. That’s the only explanation I would give to any question of myself being sighted at some strange place.

Bingu opted for a popular name and face among the poor. They cried. I don’t remember who resigned but many failed in their elections.

Joyce Banda only enjoyed her term for a year, then back were the the gossipers that a bridge was quickly built and two people JB and Khumbo Kachali were isolated. The battle lines were drawn when Peter Mutharika was pushed to the front and finally when Bingu married Callista, hell broke loose for then Vice President.

The Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda could have made history if he spoke against abuse of a fellow DPP founder, but everyone went quite. And it was Ministers again, insulting her walking difficulties in public, while jostling to become Peter Mutharika’s runningmate.

When the flag was changed, it was Ministers justifying the hollow “we have developed mantra” others jumped and justified the banning of government adverts on newspapers which criticized Bingu’s autocracy and unpopular laws such as section 46 formed to silence the media and the injunction bill which limited people’s rights to hold demonstrations.

When Malawians were tired sleeping at filling stations, forex shortage, insulting speeches, many of the losers today including the Speaker protected their positions and could not speak with the suffering Malawians. No Malawians do not need leaders who cow down when they are in comfort zone and only speak when they are out.

President Joyce Banda and Atupele Muluzi were the only political faces daring Bingu during his extreme days. Many preferred to keep quite and let Malawians sought their anger.
Transition came, they had no shame of joining the new administration and swallowing their vomit just a week ago.

Today when they cry that they have been left out, send angry social media messages, some of us look at their contribution to mother Malawi.

If our National Executive Committees of all political parties did not specialise on hero worshipping, gossiping and fighting among themselves, they could have approached their party Presidents a month ago and tabled the issue of running mate, lay a criteria and task a special committee to bring up CVs which they can scrutinise and agree upon.

If our perceived politicians want to make it to high position, selfishness and self-destruction mode of gossip and internal fighting should be replaced with open discussion, confrontation and strict internal systems that allows intra-party democracy.

Everybody should be committed to finance, support and develop the parties and speak when Malawians are crying for their leadership. Keeping quiet and hoping Presidents will pick you is not a strategy.

Some went for players on mountain praying and fasting the whole three days, I hope they are not cursing God for being left out. It is lack of intra-party democracy, love of money and selfishness that has seen people being left out since 1999.

Unfortunately, quitting parties is not a right decision now. It is rethinking your strategy, reaching out to more Malawians, developing your political strength through networking, humbleness and being for the people than for the President that one will be able to build his future political base. For those above 50 its time to retire, the running mates this election have shifted one of the qualification to include YOUTH and it will be so until 2034.

The unnecessary fights among those below the Presidents, gossip and selfishness today has cost majority of our experienced politician their progress. We can learn from the past, or we can continue doing nomadic politics of dumping one party to another, and fade like the Alliance for Democracy into a shadow of itself.

I will therefore, not blame Joyce Banda of PP, Atupele Muluzi of UDF and DPP’s Peter Mutharika for their choices of runningmates. Chakwera tabled the running mate issue in their executive and the executive decided. The experienced politicians should come down and start examining their roles in strengthening intra-party democracy before coming down and crying to Malawians. Fighting each other leaves strangers to take over your positions! Bitter lesson to all!

Tell Friday Jumbe, Mark Katsonga, George Mnesa, Helen Singh, James Nyondo, John Chisi and Davies Katsonga if they love Malawi, they should not make the ballot paper unnecessary long, it costs money to print longer than shorter 8 million ballot papers! Can they not learn from Kamuzu Chibambo!

Next Friday: Gwengwe, Chilima and Atupele and the dancing youth at party rallies?

Disclaimer: I am a Malawian citizen with equal rights to comment on my country’s future and opportunities. I believe my compatriots can take into account of such fundamental right before screaming our party loyalties. I write in my personal capacity.

Rakka, Syria: A young girl was stoned to death by sunni-militant groups in Syria for operating Facebook account.

Fatoum Al-Jassem was taken to a Sharia court after she was caught using the social networking website, in Rakka, Syria. The Sharia court declared that using a Facebook account amounts to adultery and the girl should be punished by stoning, according to a news report published in Iran’s FARS news agencywhich quoted a report published in Arabic-language Al-Rai Al-Youm.

The members of the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were behind the incident.

The ISIS, or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is an hardline Islamic group present in Iraq. They have been fighting an active war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the government forces in Iraq.

The group’s ideology is based on extremely strict interpretation of Islam.

Ironically, the Al-Nusra Front operates a Facebook account of its own.

A new dawn of hope and inspiration has risen in “the warm heart of Africa”. Honourable Sosten Gwengwe has arrived at the right time when there has been a public outcry amongst people of his generation and even older for new blood in the Malawi political leadership. Thus, it came as no surprise when Her Excellency Joyce Banda, a leader who advocates youth empowerment, diversity, and rewards hard work chose the 36 year old as her running mate, shattering the high hopes of many seasoned politicians to become the second in command in the government of Malawi come the fourth tripartite elections that will be held on May 20, 2014.

There may be a number of theories as to why Her Excellency Joyce Banda picked this young man. What is clear is that Honourable Gwengwe is a well-educated, self-motivated, charismatic, yet humble, and a true technocrat. His resume paints a true picture of how brilliant and what an over achiever he is. Until the time of his appointment, not only was he a Member of Parliament for Dedza Central but also the Minister of Trade and Industry; positions he held since 2009 and 2012 respectively. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Finance) from Oxford Brookes University, he is a Charted Accountant (CIMA 2005) and he is an alumnus of the University of Malawi (The Polytechnic) where he graduated with Bachelor of Accountancy. He is also a family man with a wife and two children.

One of his defining moments was when he accompanied HE Joyce Banda to the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama in March, 2013. What was supposed to be a 30 second introduction turned into a 12 minute conversation with the President of the United States. Honourable Gwengwe later admitted that he was star struck being in the presence of President Obama; but the young man held his own in what seemed to be a long conversation as he impressed the leader of the free world so much that President Obama asked HE Joyce Banda “how is your Minister of Trade doing” when the two leaders met at Mandela’s funeral in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In a nation where most college graduates are finding it hard to find employment, Honourable Gwengwe brings hope and reassurance that education and hard work can gain someone recognition and open tightly closed doors. He is a perfect candidate who can relate with the struggle of the youth of Malawi. Like HE Joyce Banda, Honourable Gwengwe believes in empowering the youth that he founded the Alice Gwengwe Girls Academy in Linthipe, Dedza, Malawi in his efforts to promote the education of young girls. In the political arena he has delivered in the National Assembly, chaired informal networks of young parliamentarians, and has inspired many to stand as councillors and parliamentarians in the upcoming elections.

As he moves to the top of the ladder, he leaves really big shoes to fill, but his appointment to become HE Joyce Banda’s running mate and potentially be the Vice President is a great gain for the Nation of Malawi.

“The time is always ripe to do right”

Dear Honourable Ministers of Justice,

I humbly submit this letter to you at a time when our region is at peace and when hope for a better future  is  flowering  in  all  our  countries.  The  people  of  our  region,  for  centuries  the  victims  of  violence, oppression and exploitation, are standing in this the 21st Century as global citizens ready and  willing  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  labour.  We  stand  together  at  the  door  of  a  new  and  prosperous age.

Permit  me  to  acknowledge  your  efforts,  individually  and  collectively,  which  have  contributed  significantly to our common and shared optimism for Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community.

Yet we know that the greatest storms can erupt without a cloud in the sky.

As a representative of civil society in our region, I must warn you Honourable Ministers that a storm is brewing for our region. The clouds of injustice are gathering at the very moment we, and indeed our  continent,  are  at  an  historic  crossroads:  one  road  leads  to  lasting  peace  and  sustained  development, the other to authoritarian “democracy” and unsustainable greed by few at the expense of the many.

I find myself compelled, Honourable Ministers, to address this letter to you and the people of our region on a most critical matter of justice and its institution in our region – the SADC Tribunal.

You will recall that the SADC Tribunal was established under Article 16 of the Treaty of SADC to advance and ensure the rule of law. The SADC Tribunal and its corresponding Protocol are among the  central  institutions  and  mechanisms  that  advance  regional  integration  and  development.  According to article 16 of the SADC Treaty the Tribunal’s main mandate is to interpret the provision of the Treaty and subsidiary instruments and to adjudicate upon such disputes as may be referred to it. Its jurisdiction has been outlined in detail in Article 15 of the Protocol. Therein it is specified that the  scope  of  the  Tribunal’s  jurisdiction  was  to  hear  and  adjudicate  on  disputes  between  states,  between natural or legal persons and States once the natural and legal person has exhausted the legal remedies available at national level.

Unfortunately, the SADC Heads of State and Government suspended the Tribunal at its Summit in 2010, agreeing at that time to complete a review process of its role, function and terms of reference within  six  months.  Four  painful  years  have  passed,  in  which  time  the  Tribunal  has  remained  suspended and effectively rendered defunct.

The  SADC  Treaty  is  the  legal  instrument  which  binds  us  all  in  this  region.  It  is  also  a  statement  of  intent, a visionary document outlining the responsibilities and duties of governments in the region towards  each  other  and  towards  our  people.  It  is  a  commitment  to  “enhance  the  standard  and  quality of life of the people” in Southern Africa, including a respect for human rights and dignity.

As a passionate and eager observer of the region and its institutions, I have come to the conclusion that your efforts over the past four years seem to have been directed in the opposite direction of those set out in the SADC Treaty. It is now apparent that a new draft Protocol governing the scope and operations of the Tribunal will limit its application to disputes between Member States of SADC. The intention and consequence of such will be to prohibit citizens from accessing the SADC Tribunal.

A bitter injustice Honourable Ministers is being brewed!

Honourable Ministers your actions and those of the Heads of State and Government in SADC caused us great alarm and grave concern. Despite our best efforts and those of highly regarded professional bodies, it seems that the voice of the people and citizens will not be heard by you. It is obvious that your actions undermine the rule of law and subvert the principles of justice, as well the spirit and intent of the SADC Treaty. As Africans we have fought and died for our freedoms. We know that the light  of  freedom  must  burn  most  brightly  for  the  one  without  dignity,  without  material  power  or  political influence.

Our  system  of  governance  must  not  be  constructed  like  a  dam  wall  of  laws  which  frustrate  the  aspirations and desires of our people. When the storm comes in the flood of anger borne of injustices,  large  and  small,  which  can  no  longer  be  endured,  the  dam  of  “law”  will  burst  to  nothingness. Let me state this clearly: the people will not submit to a “legal” system which is unjust!

As civil society we are mindful of the words of Halie Selaise:

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

It is my duty to speak out in the face of the miscarriage which you have been directed to carry, and are  consequently  preparing  for  our  people.  It  is  my  duty  to  defend  SADC  from  those,  within  and  without our region, who seek to undermine it.

As late President Nelson Mandela said: “the time is always ripe to do the right thing”

It is my duty to call your attention to this humble, and yet incontrovertible fact and appeal to you to use your time wisely. Honourable Ministers please heed our call:

Resist the temptation to derail our region! Resist the folly of plunging us into an abyss of the rulers’ law! Resist the desire to be complicit in injustice! Rise to a greater cause and plant your feet firmly on the side of history, justice, freedom, peace and equality. Let the 21st Century record your name on the wall  of  heroes  who  gave  all  the  people  the  gift  of  permanent  peace  held  safe  in  the  arms  of  permanent justice!

We call on you, quite simply, to do the right thing. We assure you of our collective support and our unstinting  determination  to  help  birth  a  new  and  untarnished  Regional  Court  of  Justice,  a  beacon  and custodian of justice in Southern Africa! In this regard Honourable Ministers, I must implore you to take the following actions:

• In  the  first  instance  it  is  vital  that  you  delay  the  decision  on  the  revision  of  the  Protocol governing the Tribunal.
• We  call  on  you  to  refer  the  matter  for  wider  consultation  with  non-­?state  actors  and  the SADC Parliamentary Forum, amongst others.
• I urge you to submit your proposal for discussion with SADC citizens to arrive at a decision, which matches the aspirations of all our people and our respective governments.

In  our  collective  wisdom  we  can  surely  break  this  impasse  and  craft  a  legal  instrument  and  institution which is befitting our history and our aspirations!
Yours in the Struggle for Justice for All!

A luta Continua

Mr Boichoko A. Ditlhake
Executive Director SADC-­?CNGO

Khumbo Kachali was one of the few People from northern region that enjoyed massive support from UDF followers. No wander he was entrusted with the party finances in the run up to 2004 General elections. He was one of the two candidates to have defied all the odds by becoming the first ever UDF parliamentarian from the northern region in 2004 together with Dr George Nga Ntafu. He was appointed Minister of Sports by the Late President Professor Bingu Wa Muntharika in 2004.

When Professor Muntharika decided to resign from UDF, he followed suit and enjoyed Ministerial positions in the DPP govt. Towards the 2009 elections KACHALl was elected the Second Vice President of the DPP at the convention in 2008.

With the landslide victory that Professor Muntharika in 2009 general elections Kachali became a dominant character in the party. However internal political squabbles surrounding the automatic successor of professor Muntharika with public declaration by some DPP officials that Muntharika’s brother was the man to mantle KHUMBO’s fall from grace was imminent. The climax of was his expulsion from the party together with Dr Joyce Banda in 2010.

Together with Joyce Banda they formed the PP.

However with the passing on of professor Muntharika in 2012; Kachali’s political fortunes were back to life. Ascendancy of Dr J Banda to power Kachili was entrusted with the Second highest in the land. However his office was marred with high profile scandals not befitting the high office. The VP directly involved in the bed scandal that rocked Mponela hospital. The VP was also on the airwaves declaring that he and the President would not stop enjoying visiting different parts of the country because ‘samayenda pakhomo pamathu.’

That was not all that Kachali could offer to the nation. He was strongly linked to the plundering of public resources in the infamous Cash-gate scandal. Large section of the public believes that he was the main character in this scandal. This wind might have reached the President. The VP’s fortunes began to fade. He was dropped as cabinet minister and some duties were taken over from him.

The year 2014 was dually expected to be a year of change in almost all sectors. Political changes were expected, some key PP gurus began to defect from the party amid reports of favouritism by the President. It was later reported by ZBS that Joyce Banda was likely drop Kachali as her running-mate in the May elections.

And today 13th February, 2014 has marked the down fall of Khumbo Kachali, the man who dreamt of ascending to the highest office on the land.

My advice, there is still life after vice presidency.