Veronica
Maele
Probably Chilima’s
HARDtalk interview is not so much about his dismal performance nor balancing
his integrity, populist promises and political reality but a call for Malawi to
reflect on how political opportunism is eroding the country’s democracy and economy.
Vice President Saulosi
Chilima’s BBC HARDtalk interview (19 October 2018) has provided insight into the contradictions that are tormenting his presidential bid. It is
these contradictions the host, Zeinab Badawi, seized upon very effectively and managed
to force the VP to walk a tight-rope.
What constrained Chilima was not a sudden lack of instincts to rebut the
barrage of interrogation from Badawi but his quest to defend his integrity and populist
policies within the ambit of the political realities he faces as he journeys
into the May 2019 elections. Even by the standards of his ardent supporters,
the VP’s waffling was not a helpful political strategy - the exchange was
excruciating due to lack of substance, poor presentation and a debilitating inability to seize opportunities.
Until the HARDtalk interview, Chilima had excelled on vague responses and
innocuous talking points - thanks to Malawi media’s
failure to significantly challenge him during interviews. When Shaka Ssali of VOA’s Straight Talk Africa
interviewed him in August, he noted though that the VP ‘danced around just like
all politicians.’ All it took therefore was Badawi’s meticulous questioning for Chilima to falter.
Badawi’s opening statement which alluded to Chilima criticising
a government of which he is a member as corrupt and running against the man he
stood with in 2014 carried enough overtones of ‘betrayal’ to disorient the VP.
Instead of recapping his usual bromides, he lurched into self-justification
saying, ‘times change’ and it is my ‘constitutional right’ to contest for the
presidency.
Such unconvincing and labored responses were in
sharp contrast to Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson
Chamisa, who despite being harangued by Zimbabweans, put
a persuasive case when he appeared on HARDtalk in May. With impressive
eloquence, the youthful MDC leader faced up to the unrelenting questioning of Stephen
Sakur. He outlined his vision with strong arguments and contested Sakur’s assertions
whilst denouncing ruling ZANU-PF presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa as a remnant of Robert Mugabe’s tyrannical rule masquerading as a ‘change
agent.’ But Chamisa did not carry the same burden that weighed Chilima down.
On integrity, the VP struggled to explain whether he is part of ‘collective
responsibility’ and does not feel uncomfortable standing against President Mutharika
who is not delegating duties to him following his departure from the ruling DPP.
Again, Chilima sought refuge under the constitution, of course, because framers
rightly intended to shield the office of Vice President from being adulterated
by short-term political interests. However, the unspoken truth is that Chilima like his
predecessors is holding onto the position out of political expediency than a
belief in the constitutionality of his office. Without it, he has no real power.
Ironically, the aggrieved DPP is itself an offspring conceived out of
infidelity. Incumbent president Mutharika was an advisor to his brother, late Bingu
wa Mutharika when the legitimacy of his presidency was questioned following his
resignation from the ruling UDF and subsequent formation of the DPP in 2005. That
would qualify Chilima as a student of ‘political debauchery’ - a culture that has
allowed political opportunism to flourish since the fall of Dr Banda in 1994. One
that has, for example, rendered Section 65 of the constitution impotent. During
the interview, Chilima reluctantly acknowledged enjoying the trappings of his
post (security, salary, etc.) whilst denying absconding from duties. He further
poorly shrugged off the suspicion he is using taxpayers’
money to fund his political outfit - the United Transformation Movement (UTM),
saying:
Well, maybe yes, maybe. No. Look, I don’t think that, um, it is
entirely correct to say that I am using government money to support, uh, the
UTM activities. That’s not correct.
However, questions about Chilima’s decency are not new. In July, a caller
on Times Radio phone-in programme
hosted by Brian Banda expressed misgivings over the timing of the VP’s resignation
from the ruling DPP. Mr Chipwete (from
Thyolo) queried Chilima’s 4-year silence and contended that Leader of
Opposition and MCP leader Lazarus Chakwera has ceaselessly spoken about rampant
corruption in the DPP-led administration. He went on to doubt Chilima’s ability
to fight corruption arguing his UTM is full of people who are implicated.
Badawi, who did not pin Chilima over his associates’ corruption
allegations still forced him to balance his integrity and populist platitudes
against some political realities. Though the VP’s promises of rooting out
corruption and creating one million jobs have resonated well with many people
and rattled the ruling DPP, his responses on these issues were self-contradictory.
Apparently, he will create jobs in the agro-sector which is idle but employs 60
percent of the people and target existing vacancies in the private and public
sectors where people are being laid-off.
On
corruption, the VP denounced the tendency of suspects escaping the law because of
their connection with government and added ‘if we are going to selectively
pursue corruption cases then we are not living our promise.’ Chilima observed ‘everybody
that is suspected must be brought under investigation …if the case is proven, prosecuted
and sent to jail.’ This response was followed by his vociferous defense of former
president Joyce Banda who presided over the 2013 Cashgate scandal.
Chilima claimed
to have a ‘similar vision’ with Banda - that ‘she is not a convict… and to say
her corruption record was poor is unfair conclusion.’ Following their meeting last
month, this seems to be the clearest indication yet that the VP’s electoral strategy
might lay in his UTM forming an alliance with Banda’s People’s Party. In other
words, if Chilima was to win next year’s polls, Banda like current DPP cronies will
join the bandwagon of UTM acquaintances suspected of corruption who he will shield
in lieu of their support.
Would that be surprising? No. Chillima has learnt key tricks from Bingu
wa Mutharika’s school of politics. Bingu conveniently used the anti-corruption
crusade to justify his resignation from the then ruling UDF but also to mobilise
support for his newly formed DPP. Subsequently, he unleashed a ‘witch-hunt’ on
his political enemies whilst shielding those who joined the DPP, among them,
Joyce Banda who was suspected of involvement in fraud at ADMARC where she was Board
Chairperson. The ACB, whose operations continue to be politicised rounded Muluzi
as the chief suspect. But with a
handful of convictions this far, Muluzi’s corruption case has stalled while his
son, Atupele Muluzi and the UDF anchor the current DPP government.
Thus, Chilima is tuning a populist message on corruption and the economy
to unquestioning patrons in the media, civil society and western donors. He has
already taken his dispatch to Scotland where in November 2005, Bingu told lawmakers that during Muluzi’s reign (1994-2004) ‘corruption and bad governance had
become entrenched and … permeated the entire system from top to bottom.’ By Bingu’s second-term in office, the corruption
stench he so passionately talked about had
blighted his own government. And, upon ascending to power as ‘the savior of the
people’ following Bingu’s demise and more than two years of estrangement as VP,
Banda presided over the most grotesque looting of state coffers which led to the
suspension of donor aid.
