Our finest hour
Discourse this time around is about the monumental decision the judges presiding over the presidential elections case have made and is expected to be delivered tomorrow.
Both the daft and the bright have turned into legal experts and have given their judgements on the “unregulated” social media platform: Well, who imprisoned their conscience? In a country that allows idiocy to flourish even starting from the top, we think it is normal for anyone to touch on sensibilities with an air of reckless expertise.
Fanatics from either side of the case are all over the place wearing masks of confidence that the case has gone their way. We can excuse them, again, because some do not have anything meaningful to do in life other than being political, so all they do is being political busybodies and noisemakers.
What this lot does not understand is that after all is said and done, power shifts and the most dangerous one is the turn that happens suddenly. Since independence, this country has had Malawi Congress Party (MCP), United Democratic Front (UDF), Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) and People’s Party (PP) lording over us. Despite their cultural predilection of power, abuse and mismanaging the nation there is something that is another constant that they have not deleted: Malawi.
My Malawi is bigger and more important than all the parties that are in court in their grand hustle of who should have a better advantage to loot our resources. Many have been prophets of doom shouting from the mountain tops that Malawi is tilting towards apocalypse. But as Niyi Osundare defends the Earth in “Our Earth Will not Die” with presumed arrogance—which of course is a deep expression of hope—my Malawi will not turn into a Syria after the announcement of the verdict.
Despite all our differences, we have, as a nation, come a long way. We have suffered together and rejoiced together. Of course much as our name is spoiled with stinking corruption, rotten tribalism, and all of the vices promoted by politicians and their cabal, we are still known as the Warm Heart of Africa and that is the moniker we all must be proud of as we maintain our peace after tomorrow.
Whichever way the election’s case will go, we should be happy that this country has been a beacon of civility. Elsewhere, some dagga-puffing politician would have gone rogue and call for arms. But we have, this far, shown that we still have a culture of peace as Malawians. The legal route taken must be appreciated. I expect this to continue and all of us must never allow anything to disturb our beautiful and beloved country.
Messages coming from political parties encouraging their followers to observe peace have resonated well with those from development partners. This is commendable. We must accept that being a country that is so slow in matters to do with response to emergencies; we do not have the luxury of fighting each other. Right now, we are still struggling to recover from floods that happened five years ago, and we should not sink ourselves in wells of misery.
But by the end of the day, our hope is that justice has been delivered and our country will remain as best and peaceful as it has always been. The long and arduous legal battle in the court about the elections results should be something we all must celebrate in terms of maturity of our nascent democracy. Whichever way the case will go, we must be happy that this has been our finest hour
