Cleric teaches DPP opposition lessons
Catholic Church Archdiocese of Blantyre Vicar-General Monsignor Boniface Tamani on Tuesdaytook advantage of the memorial service for former president Bingu wa Mutharika to impart lessons to opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Presiding over the memorial mass at Chingazi Catholic Church at Goliati in Thyolo District, he said DPP needed to be strong and offer the governing Tonse Alliance strong opposition for the sake of transparency and accountability.
Tamani said: “We need a strong opposition in this country. The government is not being held accountable because the opposition we have is weak.”
His sentiments come against a background of infighting which has created factions in the party Bingu founded in February 2005 after ditching United Democratic Front (UDF), the party that sponsored his presidential ticket during the 2004 General Elections.
The cracks started before the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election held on June 23 2022, but deep divisions came to light in August 2020 when the party’s estranged secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey told The Nation that Mutharika had done his part and that there was need for new leadership in the party.
Since then, some party officials including former minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha, former Reserve Bank Governor Dalitso Kabambe and the party’s vice-president for the South Kondwani Nankhumwa have been jostling for the party leadership position.
In his sermon on Tuesday, Tamani also advised the aspiring leaders to humble themselves.
“If you want to be a leader, then be humble. If you humble yourself, the Lord will make you big,” he said, stressing the need for leaders to remain united, pointing out that God cannot be pleased where there is conflict.
Tamani’s sentiments drew a round of applause from the audience which included Bingu’s younger brother and former president Peter Mutharika, former first lady Gertrude Mutharika, former president Bakili Muluzi, his son Atupele who is UDF president and estranged DPP Nankhumwa.
The cleric also urged Malawians to live in peace and love one another.
In his remarks during the ceremony, DPP administrative secretary Francis Mphepo hailed Bingu, saying he knew what was best for the country, a trait he said is lacking in “some” of the current leaders.
Conspicuously missing at the ceremony was Bingu’s widow, Callista Mutharika, who is now Malawi High Commissioner to Kenya. She fell out with her brother-in-law Peter Mutharika in 2018 after publicly urging him to pave the way for youthful blood in the party’s and country’s presidency.
But in a paid-for full page memorial advert in The Nation on Tuesday, she described her husband as a man who shared visionary leadership with the world.
Read Callista’s emotional remembrance: “Today, a decade ago, as you were leaving for your office you told me ‘Ndapitatu ine’ [I am off to the office] and I replied ‘Tionana’ [OK, see you later].
“You wished me well as I prepared for a meeting with representatives of one of the United Nations agencies. It was a meeting whose agenda was safe motherhood and well-being of the child, some priorities of your government. I never had a chance to report the outcome of that meeting. I was to learn, hours later, that God had taken you away from me, from us.”
On Tuesday’s memorial was attended by hundreds who converged at Bingu’s Ndata Farm where he was laid to rest at Mpumulo wa Bata Mausoleum next to his first wife, Ethel.
Bingu died of a cardiac arrest on April 5 2012.
Besides Callista, missing at the event were Bingu’s children as well as Malawi Government representation.
