I hope Kachali knows what he is doing

Khumbo Kachali is a gifted politician. I mean, you do not rise to become State Vice-President and vice -president of a ruling party, in this case the People’s Party (PP), by being stupid.

Granted, he has made his mistakes just like any human being. For example, using your powers to grab beds from one hospital and transfer them to another in your district is not very clever.

Indeed, the nkhwenda pa mryango wanyoko? Is not a very bright way of responding to legitimate concerns of expensive local travel by Executive leadership that drains the national Treasury.

But on balance, Kachali—from his United Democratic Front (UDF) days to his stint with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and his time as PP’s number two—has on several occasions demonstrated that he is a well-rounded politician.

But the decision he has made this week to resign from the party, although not surprising, has baffled me.

Of course, since his declaration that by appointing Sosten Gwengwe as running mate in the May 20 Tripartite Elections instead of him President Joyce Banda sent the message that she “has lost confidence in him”, Kachali has rarely been seen as a PP man if ever.

He skipped most presidential and PP events, was not campaigning for PP aspiring candidates as is expected of a party vice president and did not demonstrate any reasonable commitment to the party and the woman that made him the second most powerful person in Malawi.

On the back of all this were rumours that he was trying to wide-wife a deal to join the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), but that the conditions he set for his move-over were not acceptable to the MCP politburo, which later shrugged him off.

More rumours surfaced, this time that he was in talks to return to the DPP, but nothing concrete was ever established.

However, while Kachali had in effect left the PP in spirit, in body he was there and that, to be frank, was a strategic decision given the electoral uncertainty at the moment.

I do not know what Kachali’s game plan is at the moment, but leaving his party just two weeks before elections simply because he was left out as a running mate months ago, sounds childish, selfish and, most critically, selfish.

Had he left soon after Gwengwe’s name was announced and when he had a lot of sympathy, maybe his departure would have amounted to something.

But to leave months later after people have gotten used to the idea that Gwengwe is the man and accepted that Kachali is a lame duck Vice President, does not sound very calculating.

I mean, for a perceived reject with a lot of innuendoes around him not to mention some political baggage, what does he bring to the table of any party?

I am aware that Kachali’s perceived strength is that he is very popular and powerful in the Northern Region. Which Northern Region if I may ask?

Mzimba is one district in which he has a sway, although even that is contentious. What about Nkhata Bay, Karonga, Rumphi and, whew, Chitipa? Does he have influence there? I doubt it very much. I have a feeling that the Vice- President overestimates his influence up there.

Granted, Kachali may have some few people in the Livingstonia Synod who listen to him, but do the people from the region in turn listen to these church leaders? I have my reservations.

I am afraid that Kachali has taken a huge gamble, especially if he joins another party when he is standing on a PP ticket.

Will he not cross the floor and endure the wrath of Section 65 of the Constitution soon after he is elected (if he wins the election in the constituency)?

Is he prepared to risk all that just for some sort of revenge for being left out in favour of Gwengwe?

As I said earlier, Kachali is a good politician. Maybe he is angling for something that could be close to as powerful as the office of the Vice President.

Maybe, just maybe, he is trying to position himself for Speaker of the National Assembly.

But what would have prevented him fighting to attain the same as a member of the PP? It is a vexing decision on Kachali’s part.

I am sure that for now, he is the only one who understands and can explain the whys and hows of his chess moves.

All of us can only speculate. I do pray though, for his sake, that the Vice President knows what he is doing—whatever that is.