DPP must avoid regionalism
Reports are coming from the Northern Region that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary General, Greselder Jeffrey, has declared that no politician from the Northern Region will ever rule this country.
This is unfortunate, to say the least, and the remarks show the levels of desperation that the DPP has sunk to. The Alliance for Democracy (Aford) has embarked on an exercise to revive itself. It is reaching out to its former members and also wooing new members.
But the panic by the ruling party is not surprising. During its heyday, Aford used to sweep almost all parliamentary seats in the region. Its detractors have been happy with the divisions that have for long rocked Aford and costing it votes.
The DPP knows that if Aford is strong, the DPP will not be able to penetrate the North.
It would have been expected that the DPP, as a ruling party, would have been excited to see that the country is getting back to having vibrant political parties. Instead, the DPP has clearly demonstrated that it thinks and operates on regional and tribal lines. The DPP derives a lot of pleasure in ensuring that other political parties are weak.
But the tactics being employed by the DPP will soon backfire. Malawians in the North cannot be happy to be told that none of their sons or daughters can make it to the top seat. This is as good as telling people in the region that their only role is to help people from the other regions to ascend to the driving seat.
The remarks by the DPP Secretary General deserve to be scorned at by all well-meaning and democratic Malawians. Such kind of remarks have no space in a democratic dispensation such as the one Malawians opted for in 1993.
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