So, after Vice-President Michael Usi stole the show last week with his ‘this-government – i s -corrupt p ronouncement s ’, t h e tide turned to UTM Party leader Dalitso Kabambe and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) torchbearer Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM).
During the week, Alliance for Democracy (Aford) leader Enock Chihana also came into the limelight over alleged duty-evasion claims over the importation of campaign materials. My point of discussion with him is the deal he struck with DPP to become the Second Vice-President should the DPP-Aford alliance win the presidency. For goodness’ sake, this is a dead office Malawi does not need.
The Kabambe-APM tangle is particularly interesting for the simple reason that the two are expected to be respectful to each other because they come from the same district. More significantly, people look at them as buddies who, at this critical time, should be talking the language of alliance as opposed to exchanging unsavory words.
And so the tirade went unfettered. Kabambe warned
people on his campaign t rai l against voting for APM because he allegedly failed miserably when he was minister for Education, Foreign Affairs and Justice during his late brother Bingu wa Mutharika’s tenure.
According to Kabambe, as Education minister APM failed to resolve the academic freedom saga which resulted in Chancellor Col l ege, now University of Malawi, remaining closed for nine months under his watch. As minister of Foreign Affairs, he presided over the diplomatic spat between Malawi and the United Kingdom which culminated in the expulsion from Malawi of the then British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet OBE and the closure of the UK-aid tap to Malawi. APM was also minister of Justice when there was a prolonged strike at the Judiciary. Kabambe did not stop there. He said even as president, APM was a non-performer.
DPP’s response wa s swift and equally scathing. The party’s spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said Kabambe was a ‘nobody’ before APM picked him to be the Reserve Bank of Malawi governor. The irony of it all was that these vituperations were flying all over at a time supporters of the two political parties expected their leaders to be edging closer to each other towards forming an electoral alliance.
The K abambe-APM altercation is reminiscent of the fight that Usi has started against President Lazarus Chakwera over graft. Usi ascended to the Vice- Presidency out of bizarre circumstances—the death of former vice-president Saulos Klaus Chilima (MHSRIEP). His appointment was also against all odds. Well, at least we did not hear the Malawi Congress Par ty (MCP) spokesperson Jessie Kabwila saying that he (Usi) was a ‘nobody’ until Chakwera appointed him his second-in-command.
Back to Enock Kanzingeni Chihana. The position of Second Vice-President he is eyeing should the DPP-Aford alliance candidate win the September 16 presidential election is an unnecessary burden to the taxpayer. We don’t need it. Certainly not with our ailing economy. Even in 2003—24 when his father, the late Chakufwa Chihana, occupi ed the off ice, it was for sheer political expediency that only benefitted the holder of that office and the two political parties. There was no economic benefit for the nation at large from filling that office. But Chakufwa needed to be rewarded because he fought for the democracy we have. If I may ask: What does the Second Vice-President do which the Vice-President cannot do? The country’s small economy cannot support three presidents. It is for the same reason that we do not have the Senate, which still exists on the statute books. It is an expense we can avoid.
It is also for the same reason that after Chihana left the ill-fated United Democratic Front-Aford Alliance-led coalition the position has not been filled again. Logically, no government has seen the need to have it again. Certainly at a time we all want a leaner Cabinet, we cannot be flirting with an office that is not only superfluous to requirements but will also just end up bleeding dry the country’s small purse.
An d t h i s m e s s a g e goes to the DPP as well. A government t hat i s contemplating establishing the office of the Second Vice-President has all the makings of improvidence and wastefulness. Mind you, this is taxpayers’ money at stake. Malawians are happy that the Senate was a still birth and that the office of the second vice-president died with the resignation of its first occupant. May it continue to rest in peace.
snhlane@mwnation.com; Cell: 0888833906
