By: Qeko
The death of Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika has created a political shift in Malawi politics where Her Excellency Joyce Banda has assumed the Office of the President and her party the People Party has become the ruling party replacing the DPP. The PP Government takes over power in Malawi politics in a time when the nation is going through various forms of social, political and economic challenges which need a workable strategy and action plan to have them solved within the shortest possible time. In this article, I have proposed seven specific action plans that would help the new administration quickly consolidate power in and help instill trust in the lives of Malawians.
ADDRESS THE ECONOMIC ISSUE IN THE COUNTRY WITH URGENCY
The first action plan is that the PP Government need to address the economic problem the nation is going through within the shortest possible time. Malawians main expectation is that her coming into power will bring an end to the economic situation. The Malawian leader need to restore the lost donor confidence in the country and she need to visit the various European Capitals. In this regard, the President has to travel to Brussels (European Union Headquarters), Washington and New York (USA and UN) and possibly London to talk to the British so that the nation normalizes the diplomatic mess. However it would be suicidal for the new administration to take long before they address the economic question in the country because this is the main issue that every Malawians is expecting to be address within the shortest possible time.
PROMOTE THE GOSPEL OF NATIONAL UNITY
The second action plan is that the new administration should promote the gospel of national unity and love amongst all Malawians mainly this time around when the nation is still mourning the death of President Muthalika. This is the most critical moment for the new administration because they have to show that they care more about Malawi in that they should ask Malawians to work together as a team. In this regard, the new administration should not accommodate and entertain any form of division because such actions would create the party’s downfall come 2014 since Malawians are watching to see how the PP government would handle and deliver these two years. It has to be noted that the PP administration has taken power in a time when the nation is basically divided due to tribalism and nepotism and this then means that they have to demonstrate and rise above nepotism and tribalism and unite the nation and make it a home of all. However we need to mention that it is not easy to promote national unity since this involves forgiveness and accommodating those who once persecuted them. In this regard, the new administrations need to demonstrate maturity by showing love and kindness and not bring pain in retaliation to how they were previously mistreated. What we mean is that God is looking into how they will use the power so given to them. That is why the PP victory in the coming elections depends on how they will handle and address the current situation the nation is going through. The new administration has to demonstrate maturity and forgive just as Jesus forgave those who persecuted him. Now if Jesus forgave those who persecuted him then who are the new administration not to forgive those who persecuted them?
AVOID POLITICAL RETRIBUTION
The thirdly action plan is that the PP Government should avoid political retribution and witch hunting of whatever kind so as to create good political trust in the lives of Malawians. Ofcourse the President made mention on her inauguration that there shall be no revenge or retribution which is a positive step to take. However we are yet to see if this promise made will be sustained in this political journey as the road takes the nation to 2014.The PP Government have two years to prove to Malawians that they can be trusted with power. The success of the PP Government depends on how they will handle the question of political retribution and witch hunting which basically is common in African politics. The PP government should promote love and forgiveness amongst all Malawians. Also the success and political trust for the new administration depends on how they will handle and address the various sensitive issues in the country between now and 2014. So if the new administration wants to win the 2014 election then they need to begin playing the political game of promoting oneness and love amongst Malawians right now. Crucial to the PP Government is how they would handle the Lomwes who are holding key positions in both government and private sector. Malawi political tradition shows that every President tends to appoint specific people into key office to help drive their agenda. Dr. Banda, Muluzi and Bingu wa Muthalika all had specific men and woman appointed into key positions to help them have their visions and agenda realized. Unfortunately many of those appointed happened to belong to these former Presidents place of origin. We were all witnesses to how Muluzi removed those Dr. Kamuzu Banda appointed and also we saw how the late Bingu wa Muthalika removed the Muluzi royalists from the strategic positions of both government and the private sector. All this categorically was referred to as part of political retributions which many commented that it was unacceptable. However we are yet to see how the PP Government will handle those Lomwes appointed by the late Muthalika and how Malawians will look at this.
IDENTIFY AND UTILISE THE GOOD FROM THE FORMER REGIME
The fourth action plan is that the new administrations need to identify and utilize the good out of the Muthalika’s regime so as to properly consolidate their power and nature transition. In as much as the Muthalika administration is labeled as having caused the economic chaos, there are still some good things which the new PP administration needs to use and utilize in their wisdom. The PP administration should avoid what Muluzi did in 1994 when he could not utilize the good out of Dr. Banda and instead went on dismantling everything that Kamuzu Banda had put in place during his 30 years rule in Malawi. In politics, it is wise to identify the good from your enemy and be wise to utilize them for your own success. Some of the successes of the late Prof Bingu wa Muthalika was due to the fact that he did not cancelled or dismantled what Dr. Muluzi established but that he picked up the button from where Muluzi stopped and moved on which was wisdom. So in the spirit of nation building, the new administration needs to build on what the previous administration foundation. Dismantling and breaking what the previous administration instituted as did Muluzi in 1994 would be suicidal as the PP government looks forward to 2014 elections.
AVOID POLITICAL APPEASEMENT AND PROMOTE PROFESSIONALISM
The fifth action plan is that the PP government should avoid the politics of appeasement. Political appeasement is one of the major challenges in the life of any political system where people are appointed into the decision making offices to appease them. They should set up a standard on how politics has to be done in Malawi. Political history of Malawi shows that all the three Presidents who have ruled used this appeasement policy to reward their party royalists with position of power in both the private sector and government. This appeasement policy has become a political tradition in Malawi in that Dr. Banda, Dr. Muluzi and Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika all had people whom they appointed into various positions. However the drawback of this appeasement policy is that many times those appointed into such critical decision making position lack expertise and are not able to deliver. Having looked into this, we are yet to see how the new administration of Her Excellency Joyce Banda will handle this issue. However we are hopeful that Her Excellency will not appoint people to appease them but that her administration will be exemplary and set up for Malawi politics.
AVOIDING NEPOTISM AND TRIBALISM
Sixthly action plan is that the PP Government should not accommodate nepotism and tribalism in their administration. Tribalism and nepotism remains the two greatest disease and enemy of the land that continues to cause divisions amongst citizens. This is a spirit which refuses to die in the nation’s social political and economic life. During Dr. Kamuzu Banda tribalism and nepotism was the main cause of divisions amongst the people because Dr. Banda promoted his Chewa tribe and gave out key portfolios’ to those from the central region of the country ignoring the other regions. When Multiparty came in 1994, Malawians were mistaken to think that this wind of political change also meant the death of tribalism and nepotism. Surprisingly and at their shock, when Dr. Muluzi came into power, he went on promoting his own Yao tribe and those from the southern region which was tribalism and nepotism of the highest order. So we may as well say that Dr. Muluzi did the exact thing that Dr. Kamuzu Banda did by promoting his Chewa tribe. We are all witness of how much Malawians cried out and begged the UDF and the Muluzi administration to stop their tribalism and nepotism but things never changes. What pained many Malawians during the Muluzi era was the way the UDF smartly sidelines other tribes in sharing the nation’s economic cake because those terrible days, promotion and access to any economic opportonities depended on you being UDF or your place of origin which gave the central and northern region people not effectively have access to similar opportunities as those from the southern region respectively. Of course we need to remember that during his inauguration in 1994, Dr Muluzi vowed not to work with the MCP remnant of Dr. Banda.
When the Muthalika came into power in 2004, peoples’ expectations were that both tribalism and nepotism was to die a natural death. However like Kamuzu and Muluzi, Muthalika concentrated on promoting his tribe the Lomwe at the expense of other tribes in the country. Just like Kamuzu promoted the Chewa and Muluzi promoted the Yaos, Muthalika promoted his Lomwe tribes who share more opportunites than the rest of the citizens of the country. The Kamuzu Banda and Bakili Muluzi tribalism and nepotism extended to the Muthalika regime in that one tribe the Lomwe became a super tribe than the rest of the others in the country. This is what caused resentment amongst the rest of the citizen of the country. Those in leadership in Malawi need to realize that the reality of Malawi is that Malawians are by nature tribal people and that they need to be sensible in the way they handle issues that affect people in the country. What Malawians would want to see is that they should be no tribe which should be sidelined or denied opportunities in the sharing of the national development cake. Now the coming in of the PP government, with this whole history in their heads, Malawians are watching to see if there will be a change in the way the new administration will take care of business in the country. Malawians are not expecting any tribalism or nepotism but the application of the doctrine of accommodation for all in nation building.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST MISTAKES OF OTHER LEADERS IS WISDOM
The seventh and final action plan is that the PP Government needs to avoid political mistakes done by the previous administration. Politically there are mistakes that the previous administration made as they took charge of the nation. The PP Government need to identify such mistakes and keep records of them so that they should can strategize on how they could deal with a situation of similar nature. History is there for the PP government to learn from and the future is there for them to manage. It is wisdom if you utilize and learn from the past mistakes. So the PP Government is blessed in that it would be easy for them to govern Malawi because they have a huge data base of information from where they could learn from and avoid the past mistakes by the previous regimes.
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