67 days of a Binguless Malawi

It has been a roller coaster ride for the warm heart of Malawi in the past 67 days since the demise of the mighty Ngwazi Professor Bingu wa Mutharika. Alot has been done and undone by the 'new' regime that took over from the fallen African son. Things have been moving too fast to the extent that this blog could not keep up with he pace of events. Information flow was and is still not stable yet as it was in the past months. Fancy you can hear of a purported change in government positions from mere people even days before the official announcement. Rumours have been in constant supply in the past 67 days even more than the nearly 8 years of Professor Mutharika's rule. What is worrying me most is that most of these rumours prove to be true. Somebody ought to tighten the grip on the information flow!

However there are several issues worthy mentioning on this blog. It took me time of compile these issues because of their sensitivity and how they keep on changing with the pasaage of time.

Exit Bingu, Enter JB

This was long overdue! Most of us wanted this to happen early last year but fate had its on way of playing out the power card. Not that i joined those who celebrated Bingu's departure but the guy was gone, no amount of grief would bring him back. Much as i dint like the way he was eliminated, change was necessary so i had to look to the new leadership. However there is need to clear out the gray areas surrouding his death. He was the President, right, so we all need to know what happened to chitsulo cha njanji when he died whether on 5th, 6th or 7th. The family can sit back and wait for the findings or they can even contribute to make it easier for those assigned to make the findings.

Midnight Six

I watched the senseless press conference these former ministers held on this night and i have been replaying it several times on youtube to get the understanding behind the statement. I have come up with one conclusion, you can still be a political underweight even after playing politics for a long time. If the midnight six and company wanted to play out against the vice president, they needed strong brains and great thinkers to be able to twist the law in their favour. The crap they gave us that night could not hold any water. Even a layman like me could not bring that argument. What baffles me is why these people are still walking scot free! By the time the commission of enquiry will bring out the results, mercy and forgiveness will have taken over our President's heart!

Cabinet, Lipenga, MRA, defections to PP and stuff

Why is Lipenga still heading the Finance Ministry. If we hated the past regime is because of its financial performace and poor gorvanance and human rights record. So to retain the man who was at the helm of Mutharika's economy is not only an insult to Malawians but also a recipe for failure! No wonder the guy had the audacity to stand tall and expose some of the things they were using to sex up budget figures!

The cabinet is fine but we all know that it was not chosen on merit but based on party lines to beef up support for the People's Party. Some of the people chosen were put in right positions but lets wait and see how they will perform in the two years they have. We have seen well qualifed ministers behaving akwardly in the previous cabinets because of pressure from their political masters.

Sometimes i think like am the only one who has not joined the PP! Everyone is like PP, PP, PP. Men we have over 40 political parties in Malawi cant you support these others? A healthy democracy needs strong parties and strong parties needs strong players. One other reason why Mutharika and company grew wings is because of the majority we gave him in 2009. I remember Bingu used to brag about this in most of his rallies. So we make the mistakes of heapig the same majority on PP.

Greed is one reason almost each and every MP is dishing his party to join the PP. Yes, they will say my constituets have told me to join PP when in actual sense they are protecting their business interests. Worse still some of these dumped their parties a few hours after the death of Bingu. I laughed whe i heard one former cabinet minister who had just come out of the nocturnal 'cabinet' meetings, went straight on air to say his consituents have sent him to join PP. I was like when did he consult his consituents!

Bold President or Western Puppet?

Madame President have made several bold decisions in the 67 days or she has been forced to make these decisions depending on which side of the coin you look at it. It is good for any country to have a position on international issues but these positions should be carefully scrutinised before announcements and proper consultations should take place. The previous leaders (some are still there) acted like they were more Malawian than the rest of us. They liked to play god in every situation even those regarding the masses. So in making these decisions make sure we are heard.

Madam Preident and company need to be reminded that they will be judged by how their decisions will affect Malawians. They may make bold steps which will make westerners happy by have effcts on Malawians. I have also to remind the readers that Professor Muntharika was in good books of these donors before things lost track. I remember how he convinced them to forgive our debts in 2006!!

I like the way the hosting of African Union and the purported arrest of al Bashir summit has played out. I cant hide the fact that i badly wanted to see the drama of arresting al Bashir at the Kamuzu International Airport and detaining him at Lumbadzi Police Station and later at Maula Prison waiting for Louis Morino Ocampo and the ICC crew to send the chartered plane. But the effects of all these could have been devastating to the Malawians than the few millions we have lost in missed businesses opportunities.

By the way whats the position of the new government on our relationship with China?

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