Let us not waffle, flip-flop or equivocate on what is so clear. If there is political violence in the country, two political parties: the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), are responsible for it. Period.
That is why I am happy that for the first time since MCP and DPP supporters started maiming each other, the MCP secretary general Richard Chimwendo-Banda was so honest last week to admit that the political establishment he is its chief executive officer is one of the aggressors. All along, he and his party colleagues have either, exonerated their party from the vice, feigned ignorance or at best, blamed it on DPP.
So, when Chimwendo said MCP and DPP are both to blame for the violence and are, therefore, also capable of ending it, I said wow! At least we are moving in the right direction. He had just hit the nail on the head. Nothing could more true. This is the honesty we need as a country to end political violence which is fast tearing the fabric of what we fondly call the Warm Heart of Africa.
The architects of the political violence that is wreaking havoc in the country are the two parties. If leaders of the two political entities can say from today onwards ‘no to violence’ and take practical steps to stop it, we would all wax lyrical and say all hail peace.
But there is a fly in a glass of milk. So far, it looks like Chimwendo is a lone figure in the party to openly admit that MCP is complicit on violence. Suffice to say the party leader President Lazarus Chakwera has condemned it too. But I have not heard him admit that MCP is one of the culprits. As for the party spokesperson, Jessie Kabwila, during the same function where Chimwendo confessed that MCP was not clean, she was still delusional, preaching the hackneyed gospel that her party was as clean as a new pin.
So we still have a long way to go before we can begin to see the back of political violence. And there are compounding factors. One is that it is one thing to promise something and another kettle of fish altogether to fulfil it. So, as we commend Chimwendo for being so courageous and telling it as it is, we think what he said is far from being enough to take us to Canaan. We want the MCP CEO to start putting in place practical steps to get there. All and everyone in MCP should begin to speak the same language and walk in the same direction with the leadership leading from the front.
They say it takes two to tango. True. MCP does not fight itself. MCP has also been a victim of political violence. Here again let me applaud Chimwendo for saying something that cannot be disputed. This is that DPP supporters have been victims mostly in the Central Region which is deemed to be MCP’s bedroom. Similarly, MCP has been on the receiving end of political violence in areas deemed to be DPP’s strongholds such as in the Southern Region.
So, after MCP has admitted its sins, one would also expect that DPP would also confess its complicity in the spate of violence that is a cause for concern. As stated above, DPP has been the aggressor in all the cases of violence in Ndirande, Chikwawa and other places.
Perhaps the only difference is the intensity, extensity and frequency of the violence in the two regions and the role of the law-enforcers. The Central Region has by far outsmarted the South. And to say that the Malawi Police Service which is supposed to enforce law and order has been largely ineffective in discharging their job, is an understatement. They have been partisan, unprofessional, hypocritical, and despicably a complete waste of time and resources. They side with the governing party and look away when violence is being perpetrated by MCP supporters. They are thus part of the problem if not the main cause of the problem. But the buck stops with the President. After Chimwendo has embraced the problem the President should put this to a stop. Why does government arrest crime suspects at 6pm and release them before sunrise?
That being said, it does not mean the former governing party, which was doing the same things that MCP is now doing when they were in power, should not accept that they are also complicit in the violence. It is not rocket science to know that the opposition has been sponsoring anarchy through funding demonstrations fronted by people disguised as human rights activists. If DPP, too, is serious about ending political violence, it should also stop this. If no one gives in, then I can assure everyone we are trapped in this vicious cycle of violence until kingdom come.
I can’t end this without applauding one person who is fighting a different kind of violence against Malawians. Vitumbiko Mumba. All hail brother. Mumba is fighting economic violence which is just as disruptive of society as political violence. MCP should embrace him, his fighting spirit and philosophy, and not throw him under the bus as I can sense the party is trying to do
