Dausi has become APM’s deadweight
As Parliament gears up to meet for the last time until new Members of Parliament are sworn in after May 21 elections, President Peter Mutharika would do well to heed advice on his Cabinet members: get rid of deadweight.
The top of the list to face Mutharika’s axe should be Minister of Homeland Security and Disaster Management Nicholas Dausi.
The man has been loyal to the Mutharika name, he has played a stellar performance as that buffoon that every political party must have in its ranks and file. But he has also become a liability in his present position.
The former Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) heavyweight and founding president Kamuzu Banda’s chola boy has become synonymous with blunders and it is anyone’s guess if these reach the ears of APM at all, considering that he is allegedly surrounded by filters that keep crucial happenings in the party and the government from him.
Dausi’s reign in his current position as minister responsible for home affairs (not the dubious US moniker Homeland Security) has been littered with careless statements and actions not befitting someone of his calibre.
It is under his authority that there have been arbitrary arrests with ridiculous charges like ‘acting suspiciously’.
In his capacity as spokesperson of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Dausi has failed to acknowledge the role of his party’s supporters in the recent spate of political violence to the extent that his own president ignored the matter altogether and instead spoke of peace and unity.
On the killings and abductions of persons with albinism, in Dausi’s wisdom the government has done all it can to address the matter. Proposals, probably coming from his office and recommended to APM include placing a police officer in a community where there are two or more persons with albinism.
As if that ridiculous proposal was not enough, Dausi has this week put a foot in his mouth again by undermining the danger that persons with albinism are facing in the country.
In his view, people with albinism in the country should not be demanding security from the State through a demonstration and vigil at State House. It is his assertion that the killings and abductions of persons with albinism have not reached levels that would necessitate them to seek asylum elsewhere, wondering “where would they go? Who would be responsible for facilitating their settlement outside Malawi?”
It is this type of reasoning that should not exist in a government official, certainly not a Cabinet minister and spokesperson of a governing party.
The government should have no room for such kind of people, people that value the image of demonstrators at the gates of State House more than their lives and protection.
Clearly, Dausi forgets that when he speaks or acts, there is little distinction between the man who is a Cabinet member and the man who is spokesperson of a governing party.
What Dausi carelessly utters could be viewed as a reflection of the sentiments that he has shared with the president of the party and also APM himself.
APM should be ashamed to be surrounded by such mediocrity and act immediately, for the good of his own reputation and that of his government and political party.
If he were smart, Dausi would have done well to prostrate himself, first before Association of People with Albinism then the people of Malawi and apologise profusely for such immature and irresponsible remarks. n
