The 2024 State of Democracy (2024) says personalist politics, a powerful presidency and lack of party ideologies, have remained a feature of Malawi’s politics since the introduction of multi-party elections in 1994. Published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (Iidea), the report notes that political parties are heavily based on geography and ethnicity, with corruption remaining high. In this interview with our Mzuzu Bureau Supervisor JOSEPH MWALE, an expert in electoral and identity politics ERNEST THINDWA says the ‘Bigman’ syndrome is worsening the situation.
Q. What do you make of findings of the report?
A. Our political setting is such that party members and communities are conditioned to be loyal not to the Republican or party constitution but to the preferred party president around whom everything else revolves. A party president evolves into a principal patron with capacity to dispense patronage to individuals and communities relative to demonstrated personal loyalty. Access to patronage resources by individuals and communities is largely dependent on perceived strength of personal loyalty to the party President thereby creating a ‘bigman’ syndrome.
Q. What has been the effect of that?
A. To that end, our politics has been reduced to ethno-regional contestations with regionally based cultural groups fielding own patrons in the presidential race to capture and enhance access to public resources. Political parties are merely proxy entities, deployed by ethno-regional groups competing for the right to control public resources critical for patrons to secure personal loyalty and electoral support in exchange for preferential access to public resources.
Q. The report also hints that political parties lack ideologies. How true is this?
A. Desirable ideology-based politics is less feasible in our setting primarily because the majority voting population is poor compelling policy proposition by cultural groups (deploying political parties as tools) to converge leading to lack of differentiation of socio-economic programmes offered by parties. The lack of differentiation contributes to providing a fertile ground for electoral mobilisation along the ethno-regional fault lines.
Q. We now have the Political Parties Act that wants parties to align their manifesto with the MW2063. Can this be a panacea to the ideology problem?
A. The idea of forcing parties to align their manifesto to MW2063 is unnecessary. Not only does it suppress innovation but also fuels convergence of socio-economic programme proposition by our proxy parties leading to a choice-less election in terms of policy and program proposition. If anything, a superior manifesto, in principle, should earn a party a large share of votes from the electorate regardless of whether it is aligned to the MW2063, or, otherwise.
Q. While many promises are made on the campaign podium, not much is implemented leaving people frustrated. How best can the citizenry hold politicians accountable?
A. Holding the elected accountable is a mammoth task in our case. We have a less aware, involved and demanding citizenry. The civil society which should have assumed a central role in mobilising citizens to demand accountability from the elected has been firmly captured by the political class and is divided between the political aisle. Public institutions of accountability have been effectively incapacitated by the political class. Devoid of accountability culture in a setting where citizens are largely passive with weak institutions of accountability, the political class is enjoying relative autonomy in managing public affairs and advancing narrow interest. It will take highly committed leadership to inculcate and enforce accountability in public spaces to promote the public good necessary for accelerated and sustained socio-economic development.
Q. Between now and 2025, the report says the absence of corruption will also be important to watch. Of what importance will the fight against corruption be a determining factor in the 2025 polls?
A. Recent surveys suggest the war against corruptions is not being won. According to Transparency International, for instance, Malawi has stagnated on corruption index recording a score of 34 this year with a change of zero from last year and ranked 115 out of 180 countries globally. The score suggests corruption remain pervasive and a high risk to the credibility of elections in 2025. It will be crucial for MEC to win the trust of all stakeholders amid entrenched corruption showing no signs of being abated if the elections management body is to deliver a credible election.
