Herd mentality affects Malawian politics
Mdzukulu, there is nothing peculiar about our politicians to effect their mediocre leadership and treasonous larceny.
They are not smart either except for totally relying on herd mentality.
Mdzukulu, it is such herd mentality which has culminated into our unpatriotic willingness to look the other way as the raping of our country is consummated with our eager assistance.
The swell of verbal diarrhoea or Freudian slip that emanates from faulty thinking in the country’s recent politics, among others, serves as a pointer that our politics is overwhelmed by herd mentality.
Mdukulu, herd mentality here should mean flat thinking driven by greed, opportunism, nepotism, regionalism and so forth.
So, despite being preoccupied with pretences, once we lose our sense of connectivity and legitimacy to the aspirations of our communities, we are caught in a web of flawed reasoning that manifests itself in a form of Freudian slip.
Mdzukulu, with herd mentality, we become such a poor lot at reasoning not just that we always follow our emotions but even when we intend to deploy the full force of their rational faculties, we are often as ineffectual as eunuchs at an orgy.
For example, mdzukulu, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary General Greselder Jeffery Saturday challenged the party’s membership in the Northern Region to produce a DPP presidential candidate in 2024.
The call was thought to be a clever U-turn from her earlier remarks on the region.
Jeffrey, you remember mdzukulu, said Alliance for Democracy and its leaders failed to lead this country when then party president late Chakufwa Chihana was alive, hence Northerners, in short, should forget about producing a leader for the country.
If, however, mdzukulu, there is one thing that a leader must have, then it is character.
Now, uttering a line such as Jeffrey’s asking Northerners to produce a party president in 2024 looks more risky even to a brainless automaton and unquestionably confirms that Jeffery looks down upon the Northerners.
Malawi is stuck in out-and-out poverty almost 50 years after independence because its leaders have lacked some cornerstones of a functioning democracy; that, among others, its leadership has character, good judgement, integrity, and all its public offices be transparent and accountable to the populace on the premise that ‘public power’ is conferred on trust by the citizenry and that it must be exercised solely to protect and promote the interests of the citizenry.
The remark reflects badly on the thinking of DPP. One, mdzukulu, would like to think that DPP candidate is elected by the convention without looking at which region they come from.
Jeffery has already committed many a classic case of verbal diarrhoea that at times is a product of creativity that runs amok. Unfortunately, such slip-ups may loom large in her legacy.
An examination of Freudian slips of the DPP general secretary reveals that she is taking pride in regionalism, sectarianism, nepotism, tribalism and parochialism in the pursuit of democracy: a typical case of herd mentality.
As I said, mdzukulu, herd mentality, manifests the poverty of mind.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Malawians, including leaders, have no vision for the nation, only personal selfish ambitions to ascend to positions of political influence and enrich themselves on the backs of the millions of the poor.
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