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| APM man in charge |
Last Sunday president Peter Mutharika returned to Njamba Freedom Park where he took time to sell his agenda for Malawi now that he is operating from State House. He had to do this as way of saying “thank you” to his supporters for working tirelessly to bringing the DPP back into power.
For the duration of the rally
President Mutharika touched on a number of issues and reminded the people some
of the DPP’s campaign promises and how he intends to fulfil them within the
next five years.
What even caught the attention of
many was his statement that in DPP there is no plan B or C for the 2019
elections and the declaration that he will be contesting for presidency. His
statement was in bold “I will be contesting. If some of you thought otherwise,
sorry wait for 2024”.
This statement seems to have been received
with mixed reactions if what was reported in the media is anything to go by.
The Daily Times of Tuesday, 2nd
September, 2014 carried a story under the headline “APM’s 2019 candidacy
declaration questioned”.
The paper quoted a Chancellor College
based political analyst Josephy Chunga who faulted Mutharika’s declaration of
his ambitions for 2019. Chunga says such an interest is bad for democracy as
the party’s convention before the elections in 2019 will only “rubber stamp the
position already secured”.
Reading through the story I thought I
would come across some moaning voices within the DPP but no, it was some two
analysts who were only expressing their views and I wonder if these voices
should be treated as representative questions that should query that 2019
proclamation by President Mutharika. It could have made much more sense if we
heard the reaction of the party as well. Anyway, that’s the topic for another
day.
This is not the first time I have
heard people speaking like that. Even before the DPP’s convention last year
people thought by declaring his interest to contest for the presidency in 2014
president Mutharika will only be rubber stamped. But no, there was former
speaker of parliament Hennery Chimunthu Banda who challenged him in an open
contest.
It seems like some individuals like
drawing suspicions where there is absolutely nothing bloodcurdling. By the way, who faults people’s ambitions
anyway?
I am of the view that President
Mutharika as a politician just like any other politician would do has
ambitions. Its only human to wish for the better in life. Firstly he wanted to
become the president of Malawi by contesting in the May polls. That was an
ambition and it was achieved.
Secondly he hasn’t hidden his wish to
work towards transforming this country by lifting it up from where it is now to
some greater standards where we all have aspired to reach. That is an ambition that
he would want to achieve.
Thirdly, what will stop him from even
aspiring to contest in 2019 especially knowing that the constitution doesn’t
bar him from doing so? Any other politician who is aiming high would gladly
harbour such ambitions. Besides, in his declaration the president did not say
he is an automatic choice all he was doing was simply making a declaration of
his interest to contest.
By saying there is no plan B or C
that means as a party they haven’t started planning for that yet. The party
doesn’t stop individuals from contesting at the convention even challenging for
the presidency. It’s the party’s convention that will decide on whether to come
up with plan B or plan C at an opportune time, but now there is no such plan.
Therefore the question of president Mutharika
imposing himself doesn’t even arise anywhere in his statement.
Reading deep into this statement all I
could see was a president who was urging his supporters to join hands and work
for the betterment of the country other than spending much of their energies in
some political machinations and planning for 2019 with only 3 months after an
election and with almost five years to go before we cast the ballot again.
This was a reminder to the people
that time will come for campaign in 2019 but meanwhile he is the man in charge.
Time for politics is gone; this is time to talk development. Not only that, but
even if the DPP has individuals that are eying the presidency in 2019, he will
be the man to beat and I see nothing wrong with that.
I find this declaration so
transparent and helpful for the party as it parries away any form of
speculation.
This is where I agree with one of the
political commentators Timothy Mtambo who says people will be better placed to judge
President Mutharika in 2019 as to whether they would want to give him and the
DPP another mandate or not depending on his performance.
This declaration is also good for
democracy because now we know the president’s ambitions therefore as a nation
we shall be closely monitoring his performance.
The president himself will also be
cautious in the execution of his duties because he knows people will be
assessing him in keenness for 2019. This will spur him into action and help him
perform for the betterment of Malawi.
I am of the view that as a nation we
shouldn’t be spending much time debating about 2019 but rather let’s focus on
what President Peter Mutharika is offering us.
Democracy does not mean that one
shouldn’t make his or her political ambitions known as long as it’s within the constitution. It calls for transparency and accountability at all
times.
President Mutharika is being
accountable and transparent to his people by not hiding anything from them.
They should know what his wishes are now.
It will be the people of Malawi
deciding as to whether they would want him to continue or not because by
standing on a DPP ticket, a party that is in government it’s not automatic that
they will carry the day in 2019.
Evidence is there that even a ruling
party can lose in an election. Therefore any undemocratic tendency that will
cripple in the party will be dealt with by the ballot which speaks more words
that the voice and power of any sitting president.
