As the country prepares for the verdict on the historic presidential elections case heard at the Constitution Court sitting in Lilongwe, Malawi is at a crossroads right now.
The 3rd of February, the day judgement will be announced on the case promises to be a make or break moment for this broken country.
It is no longer business as usual, everything is at a standstill due to political instability that has engulfed this country since 21 May, 2019.
Violent demonstrations from all quarters of the society have plagued the country and are becoming the way of life.
From the no longer go zone at the self-styled Benghazi in Msundwe where residents terrorise the streets of Lilongwe, the list is endless. The disputed presidential polls have just fueled people’s anger with the echelons of power in the country.
We have a time bomb ticking in our midst which needs absolute leadership to escape it!!
This case has simply opened a Pandora’s Box we have been sitting on for a while. It has given people a chance to vent their anger and frustration they have been holding for years. They feel democracy has failed them, big time.
Let it be said, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) led protests were not only about forcing Jane Ansah to resign as the electoral body’s Tsarina.
The demontrations also tackled issues like rampant corruption, public maladministration, nepotism and saying no to a seemingly out of touch with reality leader who seem not caring for ordinary Malawians.
The protests were also about holding the authorities accountable for their decisions.
The country needs a reset button and everybody must have a share of the national cake regardless of one’s political affiliation or region of origin. The promotion of people in the civil service based on tribal/party colors must end forthwith.
Either way; the judgement goes next Monday, it represents the once in a blue moon opportunity for people to demand change for a better Malawi.
The unison citizens have displayed by turning out in thousands to protest in the HRDC led demonstrations must continue. Malawians must take to the streets to demand the electoral reforms be tabled back in parliament and passed as a law before any future presidential election. We need a president accepted by all and enjoying the mandate from the 50+1 voters.
The citizenry must demand statutory corporations like MBC, ESCOM, ADMARC, water boards, MACRA and MERA to be freed from Government armpits.
There is need to separate the ruling party from government business for it is this very thing swallowing our economy like a python. There is no meritocracy in the awarding of government contracts, job recruitments and distribution of resources. Party colors comes first.
If we sit back and do nothing post ConCourt verdict regardless of the way it goes, then we can forever hold our peace and watch this impunity thrive. For it will be about replacing one devil with another but just different face in 2024 if the system does not change.
After all, these politicians are all cut from the same cloth.
Malawi’s problems are bigger than Peter Mutharika and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), they won’t just go away by removing them from power for experience has shown that the cycle of problems keep going regardless of who is on the driving seat of power. We can’t claim to have been better off in the past before the DPP came but one thing is certain, we are worse off now and need to start afresh.
This a well balanced opinion commentary that, in my opinion, sums up facts as they truly affect the masses as Malawians. I remember the first multiparty president advising most of colleagues in the political ‘job deployments’ etc. that they had better make the most of their rare opportunity to accumulate wealth within the five year term that he would be in power. It is said that he would also warn them that ‘they must do it at their own peril–i.e. the wealth gathering, because, should they be caught in the act, he would not ‘defend’ any one. The difference between APM and Muluzi is that the former has the guts to defend his ‘reneged’ cadets even when they are clearly caught in the act. It is indeed the political belief system and motives that need extreme scrutiny. Remember how our esteemed MPs gratefully accepted their share of the 4 billion Kwacha dangled before them as a ‘carrot’ to shoot down the then proposed change in the presidential electoral law to the safer 50+1 system? It’s going to be very difficult to make 99.9% of our politicians to have a paradigm shift in their quest to ‘get rich within five years’ syndrome.