Akanakhala Mtumbuka: Wandale’s freedom not a sign of APM’s tolerance

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Peter Mutharika

Arthur Peter Mutharika is not a weak character, he is not a tolerant character either. He is a lomwe by tribe who also suffers fro the nepotic regime of his brother.

Peter Mutharika
Mutharika shielding his Lomwe brother

Recent remarks and letters and declarations of Thyolo and Mulanje being a sovereign republic by one Vincent Wandale are not rants of a mad man as others in government want us to believe. They are remarks of a man bent at causing civil strife who is only surviving in the free streets of Malawi owing to his tribe.

Sometime back people in the Northern region started making a case for federalism and before long, the government was up in arms rallying together chiefs and whoever they could afford to dismiss that idea. Rumours also indicate that the proponents were threatened with arrests and bankruptcy declarations that they decided to keep quiet.

Compare with how the claims of a separate state by Wandale were met. Vocal information minister Patricia Kaliati simply dismissed Wandale as ‘wachamba’ and instead of rattling Wandale, she went ahead to rattle the journalist who was asking her questions. Talk of barking at a wrong tree.

Malawi Congress Party MPs were once caught on the social media dreaming loudly. What happened next was that the APM machinery went to town grilling them, arresting them and persecuting them. You would think the members had decide to declare Lilongw and Salima separate countries for the calls of their punishment were louder than the calls for the forgiveness of Wandale.

Now I did not want to stock tribal tensions but I have mused over the decision by government to keep quiet and dismiss Vincent Wandale when the latter is busy designing currencies, designing flags, hijacking Universities and writing the UN. I have tried my best bit in thinking and I am sad to report that I have not found a much better explanation than that it is simply because Wandale is Mutharika’s village folk.

My explanation to all the kid gloves that Wandale is being treated with is that simply because he is Lomwe then Mutharika cannot stretch the government machinery to crush Wandale. I can even say that Mutharika thinks that Wandale is a joker on a stage with Mr Jokes each time he declares other parts of Malawi a republic.

Granted, Wandale has no resources to force Mulanje and Thyolo cede from Malawi. However what he is doing is setting a bad and dangerous precedent. By letting Wandale go free with chants of separatist movements, it is not only casting a bad light on the Presidency of Mutharika, it is also telling every other person who can afford to assemble five guns and hundreds of disgruntled youth that it is possible and not criminal to have for yourself a part of the country.

This is dangerous and suicidal