Peter Mutharika

President of the Republic of Malawi, I would realise that the drunken luncheon I hosted for university students to seek the youth’s support in the countdown to the 2019 Tripartite Elections was a missed opportunity.

If I were ‘Apita’, I would realise that the K24 million I gave as a handout to the students would have been best used to support poor students struggling to pay tuition fees in public universities.

Oh yes, if I were APM, who is also the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader, I would not use the students as my campaign weaponry by giving them K20 000 each. Instead, I would address their well-chronicled challenges, including frequent closures of colleges, so as to win the support of all—not just a drunken and opportunistic few.

I would also not get carried away with the students’ endorsement of me as DPP torchbearer next year because this can only be done at the convention

That is if only I were the man who is also the chancellor of public universities, but does little to address college students’ plight.