Although some have argued that the diarrhoea-mouthed DPP Secretary General, Griselda Jeffrey wa Jeffrey is entitled to her opinion regarding the possibility and the chances of the President of Malawi ever coming from the North, it is the hero-worship and presidential ass-kissing context of those remarks that make her comments disgusting.

Malawi’s rotten political framework has now created an environment where those having no opportunity to demonstrate directly the kind of servility and sycophancy required of the prevailing political order must resort to taking to the public podium and making statements that are designed to show the president that they, the ones making the speeches, are good and loyal supporters. This was exemplified definitively by Griselda Jeffrey wa Jeffrey’s unguarded remarks last week.

Their merit or lack thereof not withstanding, Jeffrey wa Jeffrey’s comments were nothing but hero-worship designed to flatter President Peter Mutharika’s ego and make the DPP leadership feel good about themselves; and look at her favourably as the kind of tough-speaking Secretary General that their party needs.

Those of us concerned with the well being of the whole country and not just of the DPP or its president, however, must point out that the consequences of this rabid hero worship are unfortunately all-consuming, all negative and all unwanted.

Hero-worship of politicians breeds polarisation of the masses. By aligning yourself unquestionably to one politician – or political party – you narrow your worldview, strengthen your echo chambers, and see politics and patriotism as a question of “us vs. them”. A polarized electorate is one that is ripe for political vendetta and vote bank politics.

Hero-worshiping entertainers and sports personalities is one thing; hero-worshiping politicians is a whole other ball game.

It is indispensable for us to critically analyse our leaders or else an atmosphere of disunity will be established. As Aldous Huxley once wrote, “So long as men worship Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable.”

This frequent hero worship of politicians, or standing on the podium to castigate other tribes just so you can score points with them is – there is no other word for it – stupid.

Politicians should be subject to logical criticism and wary applause – not put up on a pedestal or prayed to in churches. Hero-worship blinds the electorate and fosters a sense of entitlement among the political class. Only by judging all politicians and parties from the same benchmark and the same logic can we build the conditions for a healthy, constructive democracy.

The place to make comments that a leadership of the country will never come from the north was not at a political rally podium but perhaps in an academic context with evidence to demonstrate why this opinion is held, and proposals that can help change that status quo.

On the other hand, to make such statements at a political rally is to demonstrate the kind of tribalistic   mind-set that suggests that one tribe shall forever be lesser citizens of the country than other tribes, and to ignite the early embers of tribal conflicts that can grow into serious ethnic problems as those that were seen in the Rwandan genocide.

Admittedly, Malawian leaders’ disposition to personality cults and politically unethical practices makes them grossly sensitive to criticism. They see the slightest bit of lampooning or satirising in insufferably irreverent light.

Our country’s political framework operates in a socio-economic and political culture mired in patron-client relations. This encourages unvarnished sycophancy and blind loyalties, which are duly rewarded. Invariably, even when governments change they come into pre-existing structures dominated by neo-patrimonial relations and political boss-rule. The net result is to deepen corruption from the top-down, and with time and a trickle down effect, the whole fabric of our society has been infected. We will continue to hear noises about corruption clean-ups, but all we will really get is a recrudescence of corruption, kleptocracy and arbitrary rule.

Thus instead of talking about corruption and policies that her party needs to put in place to develop the country, Jeffrey wa Jeffrey, knowing that the President, and those around him, will not praise her for that, decided to castigate the north, or Northerners to be specific. IN this way, she hoped to strengthen her position as a strong “Mutharikan”

In agreeing with and promoting this kind of thinking in the manner we have commented here and there as a nation, however, it needs to be said that we are all as much to blame for the frequent travesties of Malawian politics as the delinquent Jeffrey and all our leaders.

As expected, Peter Mutharika will of course not react to the misguided and careless comments made by his Secretary General. It is up to us to react to what we consider to be unacceptable political behaviour.

So, if the charge against me is that I am disloyal to ruling regimes and that I cannot be trusted to always tow the line or sing praises of the leadership from the political party songbook, then I accept such a charge gladly.  I do not believe that hero-worship, bootlicking and sycophancy are tantamount to faithfulness or dependsbility.

Unfortunately, many that find themselves working in the political sphere and close to leaders soon begin to believe that one of the conditions of employment is servility or obsequiousness, and thus tell the leaders to be suspicious of anyone who criticises or tries to offer objective advice.

There is a popular adage that societies get the sort of leaders they deserve. The simplicity of this axiom masks the fact that it carries more than a kernel of truth. Leaders are thrown up by socio-structural factors embedded in their respective societies and represent, in no small measure, the crystallization or convergence of these factors. Malawian leadership is no exception to the import of this aphorism.

It is important to remember that legitimate political leadership, no matter how dynamic and visionary, must work and operate within the structural parameters demarcated by the interests of the majority within the society in question.

Without the implicit or open support of these stakeholders in one combination or the other, the leader will not reach the position of power in the first instance, and once in office, he still cannot afford to transgress on the tacit understanding he or she has established with the stakeholders from whom he/she derives support.

Call me untrustworthy or undependable, but I will not stand by in silence and not raise a whimper, nor will I make ego-massaging speechesor write leadership-glorifying articles when the leadership of this country is clearly failing us in so many ways,just so that I can be considered loyal to the president or the ruling powers.

Sycophancy is not loyalty.

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