Written by Patseni Mauka
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cadets also called ‘Ana a dad’ (President Mutharika’s children) who were employed as Malawi Police Officers have started coming out. They have come out of the respected police uniform and have put on full DPP colors to campaign for DPP candidates. In a shocking video circulating on social media, police officers are seen doing door to door campaign for DPP parliamentary candidate for Nsanje Lalanje Gladys Ganda.
The officers have been identified as Inspector Harriet Khwengwe, a nurse based at police headquarters in Area 30, Lilongwe and Inspector Modester Msuku based at Police Training School in Blantyre. The fact that they recorded their DPP campaign activities shows that they don’t fear anybody because they are politicians of the ruling party. Their Commander in Chief President Mutharika is also the DPP presidential candidate.
There is everything wrong with the despicable behavior shown by the police officers. Firstly, the police officers are supposed use their time doing their duty of protecting the country not wasting it on political campaigns. The country does not have enough police officers and when these ana a dad officers spend time campaigning, the country’s security suffers. What we have witnessed is one of the reasons why the police are failing to stop murders and violence on people with albinism and many other crimes.
Secondly, police officers are supposed to be neutral and independent. They are supposed to treat all citizens equally. Police officers who double as ruling party politicians can not treat citizens equally because their loyalty belongs to the party not the country. These same police officers are the ones that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) wants us to believe that they will independently help the commission to deliver free and fair elections.
Such police officers can not arrest ruling party hooligans. That is why DPP terrorists always get away with anything including murder. Few months ago, Malawians saw a video of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cadet, Isaac Osman, also known as Ntopwa One, suffocating a young man just for wearing opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) regalia . Until now, the police have not arrested him despite the fact that the video is still circulating on social media. But those ‘acting suspiciously’ are quickly arrested, especially opposition party members.
Some of the things cadets do using the name ‘ana a dad’ are mind boggling. Just using the name Ana a dad, you can go to a police station and demand release of your friend, harass police officers and get away with it. It happened a few months ago at Kawale Police Station in Lilongwe. Everyone was shocked to see the video on social media.
It is now obvious that the police officers that were harassed are those that are trying so hard to be independent and do their work without considering political membership.
As rewards for notorious acts, DPP gives party cadets jobs in different public departments and companies. One of them is Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA). Illiterate blue painted cadets work at MRA Inland Port in Kanengo as manual laborers. These cadets are so powerful that even MRA officers can’t touch them. When Ana a dad speak, the officers say, “amenewatu ndi boma” (these people are the government).
It’s shocking to note that the rewards for party political activities have now reached the extent of employing party cadets as police officers. To get fast promotions, these cadets don’t stop their political activities. While some government officers are fired for mixing public jobs with politics, you can work in government and do politics as long as your forehead has the words Ana a dad.
DPP cadets are untouchable. Unfortunately, in Malawi, the president is too powerful such that as long as he tolerates such behavior, things will never change. Malawians need to fight for a system where ruling parties should not abuse our laws. The system will never change on it’s own.
The first step to change the system is to vote DPP and Mutharika out of government and bring in a president who will bring change. Among the presidential candidates available now, only UTM’s Dr Saulos Chilima can bring that change. He has already demonstrated that he stands for new ways of doing things.
Chilima has stopped the culture of women dancing for a party leader in UTM. Chilima has also banned politics of castigation and immediately rebukes those who don’t follow this rule. He has told UTM youth not to be involved in violence despite serious provocations from DPP. He has also promised to trim presidential powers. He is the best chance for a complete political revolution in Malawi. Vote for Dr Saulos Chilima.
