Perhaps Malawians, some of whom are gullible, trusted Lazarus Chakwera too much.
Maybe Malawians, as gullible as some of them are, were myopic to trust such a man.
I mean the pre- June 23 2020 Lazarus Chakwera. I am talking about the Chakwera who burst onto the political scene wearing the cloak of the servant of the Most High.
This one—the one I am talking about— is the Chakwera who replaced my long-time parliamentarian [Dedza South Constituency], veteran politician John Zenus Ungapake Tembo—may his soul rest in peace—as Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader.
The Chakwera I am talking about—the one some gullible citizens trusted “too’ much—is the one who failed in the presidential election of 2014, when he, having left active pulpit work, decided to have a go at the State presidency.
He succeeded at his first attempt as aspiring MCP leader but then tumbled at the first hurdle when he stood as presidential candidate in the 2014 poll, which culminated in the then opposition [and now-opposition] Democratic Progressive Party usurping power from the then untested People’s Party. The rest is history.
Chakwera had a second go at the presidency in 2019, before the High Court sitting as a Constitutional Court ruled that the election had been marred by irregularities, such that it would be foolhardy to declare the elections as free and fair.
In April 2019, Chakwera—who was eyeing the State presidency—told us that, once elected into power, he would change civil servants’ work start time from 07:30am to 08:30am. He described the move as viable.
Of course, there were skeptics.
However, like a man possessed with the idea, Chakwera stood his ground, saying this would accord civil servants time to, for instance, drop children at school, do one or two things and, then, head for work. That way, it was hoped, problems such as those of civil servants pitching up at work late would be bygones.
Well, ask me if, once the heavens smiled on him, Chakwera—a man some citizens felt, being a reverend, would live up to his words—lived up to that campaign promise of shifting civil servants’ work reporting time from 07:30am.
The truth is, like many of the promises he made on the campaign trail, Chakwera the President has failed miserably— and shamelessly so—to live up to that promise.
And, instead of being ashamed of failing to live up to an obvious promise, Chakwera visits churches, mosques, prayer houses and temples, joins congregants in prayer and asks them to “pray for this country”.
My foot! How can our prayers be answered when the one asking us to pray for the country has been failing to live up to simple and straight forward promises he, on his own volition and using his own mouth, made to us in broad daylight?
Thing is, we joke too much in this country and the one who cracks the most perplexing jokes is the President himself.
Why am I saying so? What State Vice President Michael Usi did on Wednesday this week, when he ‘cornered’ innocent civil servants in Chikwawa District. Apparently, the civil servants had reported for work “late”.
Late? My foot!
They were just ‘living’ by the campaign promise Chakwera made prior to the May 2019 presidential election, a promise he made again when he was standing as Tonse Alliance presidential candidate. Of course, there is nothing like Tonse Alliance in Malawi Electoral Commission books, for Chakwera used MCP symbols when he contested in the June 23 2020 court-ordered presidential election.
I, therefore, find Usi’s grilling of innocent civil servants out of place. Usi was using a hammer to ‘kill’ hapless individuals when he— Usi— knows pretty well who is to grill.
Usi should be grilling his boss Chakwera on time management and not wasting the time of the honourable citizens of this country with out-of-place public stints.
Malawians want politicians who live up to their words, and not showboating ones.
