Stop the hallucinations

Tom Sangala February 10, 2018

484 3 minutes read

There was a day last year which the ruling DPP wished it never happened.

October 17, 2017 will go down in the annals of history as the day when the electoral invincibility of the DPP was punched with serious holes that left it leaking as a faulty

carburator.

On that sunny day, Malawians in Lilongwe, Blantyre and Nsanje who went to vote in by elections, told the ruling party and President Peter Mutharika, in no uncertain terms, that they should never ever think that Malawians will always maintain them in power, regardless of the incompetence they have decidedly exhibited in handling governance.

Talking of invincibility, not many of the pundits gave DPP a chance after fate booted it out of power, through the death of the late Bingu wa Mutharika, in 2012.

Some thought that incident, which brought to power Joyce Banda, signalled the end of DPP and were quick to pen the party’s epitaph.

But whether through hook or crook, the DPP cruised to power during the 2014 elections and the rest is history.

But such an unlikely electoral success has had one by-product as it has given birth to unprecedented form of unbridled arrogance, resulting in incredible incompetence in handling public matters.

For the past four years, we have seen corruption levels rising, to a status never seen before. We have seen public service delivery go to the dogs. We have witnessed polarization of the country where all that mattered was the voice of the DPP in our endeavours. Indeed, we have seen nepotism and tribalism reaching unbelievable levels never seen before.

We have reached a point where those who did not subscribe to the ideals of the DPP and Mutharika felt like they are foreigners in their own country.

But all this ended on October 17. Since then, we have seen a contrite DPP going all the way to win back voters’ confidence and in the course of doing that, desperation is written all over the faces of the party’s gurus.

It is my considered opinion that such desperation would, in the long run, be the party’s own undoing if it is not careful.

The DPP is using everyone and everything just to gain votes for 2019.

It is common knowledge that Paramount Chief Lundu from Chikwawa is loose cannon that any sensible organization would not even allow him to open his mouth, especially on a campaign trail, as that would signal disaster.

But for whatever reason, DPP thinks this is the person to turn to, in a bid to savage its image among voters in the Lower Shire to counter the weight of MCP’s Sidik Mia.

The result is one blunder after another. It is clear Lundu does not know even the dynamics of the country he lives in, that he ignorantly thinks he has powers to force his subordinates and subjects to toe his line, for fervent praise and support to the present administration.

He has got a big ego that he even thinks he is the ultimate authority to chase an international NGO by calling it stupid when it is helping Malawians.

This is a chief that can speak politics at a funeral of a fallen colleague in the heart of Lilongwe without giving a damn of what audience he is facing and repercussions of his words.

This is the person that the DPP thinks it can use to woe voters yet he ends up upsetting them by feeling big and talking nonsensical gibberish.

Does the DPP really think someone can vote for President Peter Mutharika in 2019 because Paramount Chief Lundu says so?

My foot!

Equally showing desperation is the idea that talking about MCP’s dirty past through rallies or on MBC can win the DPP some votes.

This is a tired political gimmick that ruling parties have employed during times of elections and it is beyond its sale by date. It can even backfire on DPP.

Here is why. DPP knows that the composition of the present MCP has got nothing to do with the atrocities that were associated with the party during its 31 years of rule. On the contrary, DPP has lots of individuals that served in the MCP government during its long rule.

How then does the DPP think associating the new leadership of MCP, who have got nothing to do with the dark past, can affect a young voter born after 2000 and knows nothing about it and does not care?

How do characters such as Hetherwick Ntaba and Nicholas Dausi, who were part of the bad legacy in MCP, think we will think of them when they castigate the very same things or system they were part of?

In the end, DPP is embarrassing itself, but most importantly, subjecting the voters to the hallucinations of characters such as Lundu which they can do without.