President Joyce Banda’s
one year in power, which over the weekend coincided with the recollection of late
president Bingu wa Mutharika’s legacy, has historically heralded the beginning
of what is going to be one of the most treacherous elections. If Mutharika’s
repressive record was the only determinant, Banda should at the moment be
having a slight advantage over the other presidential aspirants. She doesn’t.
The euphoria that greeted her rise to power has been shrinking fast.
Asked to grade her
one-year performance in a recent BBC Focus
on Africa interview, Banda did not want to just ‘ponder’ but rather
highlighted Malawi’s dire circumstances when she took office and the difficult
decisions she has had to make. Her hesitation when pressed further on her score
was enough indication of how things have turned-around within one year.
Though many people
would want to frame Banda’s opaque performance through gender prejudice, it is
fair to say that the decisions and actions she has taken this far have not been
influenced by her femininity. She has made them as any ordinary leader and politician.
And that is where her problem lies. Whilst Banda inherited immense economic
problems, many people are beginning to doubt if she really has answers to the
country’s challenging problems. Banda has in short failed to usher in a ‘new
era’ of clean politics and dynamic interest and approaches to transform Malawi.
In the emerging
cut-throat campaign, Banda faces four serious challenges: a perverse political environment
from which she graduated; an economy still haemorrhaging and needing pragmatic
and quick-witted solutions; as well as enigmatic tribal politics and gender
bias.
First, although her
People’s Party (PP) government has touted an austerity budget, the gist of her
economic framework, the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) is already tainted by acute
wastage of tax-payers’ money. Her government’s expenditure of K1.6 billion on a
new fleet of four-wheel-drive, Toyota Prado TX models for 35 ministers and
their deputies is one of the insults poor Malawians cannot bear when they are suffering
from the pangs of her bare devaluation and floatation of the Kwacha.
But equipped with the
usual arrogance of politicians, Finance Minister Ken Lipenga has defended the imprudent
purchase saying the cars were budgeted for. Of course, we just need to believe
that Banda is cutting all corners, at least, when we hear that she’s looking
around for empty seats in foreign presidential jets in order to carry the
country’s begging bowl in her never-ending trips abroad. For sure, after previously
misleading the country, no-one trusts Lipenga when he claims government will
recover the cost of the soon-to-be-replaced Mercedes which
have been used for less than 5 years.
Banda might be thinking
she is buying patronage from the team of recycled politicians in her cabinet.
But these are the mistakes which are making people have a favourable look at opposition
political parties which should be struggling on life-support. More importantly, many people are infuriated
by allegations of corruption in the PP government. All of a sudden ruling party
cadres are getting richer and the party is awash with costly paraphernalia.
Besides, PP officials have become the latest untouchables who are priding
themselves in pursuing arbitrary actions.
But having fallen under
the armpits of the west, there is another whip on PP’s head flung by donors forcing
their diktat down government’s throat. The
European Union (EU) recently threatened the country with suspension of around
K9 billion of aid irked by government’s decision to decrease the road levy on
fuel by about 63%. Does that ring any bells about Mutharika’s hostility towards
the west? Banda’s
assurance though is that Malawi is calling the shots - the country is not being
run from Brussels or the shadows of Bretton Woods’ debriefing rooms.
Nevertheless, some analysts
might say that the economy will not really matter in the 2014 polls, because in
essence, the campaign will not be issue-based but rather a personality contest.
As another power struggle, the electioneering will be driven by retribution and
desperate character assassination. That might be true. But people in towns and
villages nationwide are seriously thinking about the financial woes they are
experiencing.
If late Mutharika’s repressive
regime mishandled the economy leading to shouts of regime change from the
rooftops of anti-DPP conferences then the mammoth crowds at Peter Mutharika’s chala m’mwamba whistle stop tours indicate
that something has gone horribly wrong. Of
course, it has become convenient for many scholars, political and media pundits
in and outside Malawi to dismiss DPP’s ‘resurrection’ and isolate Mutharika’s
dictatorship from the country’s defective political context which continues to
prevail today.
And yet, that is the
major hindrance to the consolidation of democracy, the realisation of good
governance and economic development. As a fertile ground for the nurturing of Malawi’s
chronic dictatorships, it remains one single obstacle to the emergence of progressive
and good leadership. The critical question Banda should be asking therefore is:
how different is PP from DPP, UDF and MCP?
The most honest answer
is simply - there is no difference. This is why politicians can casually defect
from one party to another. It is certainly not cynical to conclude that since the
multiparty dispensation, Malawi has had one political party broken into various
factions. It explains why Banda hired her first cabinet from the vestiges of
DPP.
Furthermore, does it
surprise anyone that the three party front-runners for the presidency were
handpicked? Joyce Banda and Peter Mutharika by Bingu, and Atupele Muluzi by his
father, ex-president Bakili Muluzi who imposed Bingu. For some people who are
yearning for young and fresh blood in Malawi politics, Atupele is possibly the
best representation. But his ‘Agenda for Change’ is a familiar cliché
dressed in rudimentary clothes. When Atupele recites his plan during his rallies,
it is the political sins of his father that are causing many Malawians develop
fever.
This takes us to
another potential problem for Banda. In the 2009 polls, Mutharika ‘broke’ the
regionalistic voting boundaries even though he used nepotism as a tool for
enhancing political loyalty and mobilisation. He ignited and left behind simmering
‘tribal grievances’. Critically so because ethnicity has been a defining factor
in modern African politics and political manipulation of tribalism a toxic factor in elections. Banda needs to be careful
to avoid ‘inflaming’ tribal passions as they have the possibility of working to
her disadvantage particularly when there are fears that she is favouring people
from one region.
Having broken the hard
walls of male domination in politics Banda should be aware how the notion of
gender can be harsh for women. For instance, there are still those who continue
to nurse the myth that ‘Malawi is not ready for a woman president’. This cohort
is creating scepticism about women leadership, depicting it as weak and incapable
of managing the rigorous demands of the office of president (chanamuna bambo!). Already unpleasant sexist
innuendos are being thrown at Banda. ‘She is suffering from confidence crisis’
some detractors have concluded, as if Muluzi or Mutharika never pinched
themselves upon entering the gates of state house.
Which means Banda needs
to play the ‘gender card’ wisely and avoid giving ammunition to chauvinists who
have the potential of putting doubts about her candidacy into some voters. She
needs to show that she is strong but also level-headed and pragmatic. The best
weapon is to distinguish herself from her predecessors (the country’s three male
presidents who led repressive and corrupt governments) by formulating a progressive
manifesto for a ‘new Malawi’.
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