Tembo is way past sell-by date

There is a notorious faction in the Malawi Congress Party that seems to have this myopic view that its president John Tembo is MCP and MCP is John Tembo.

This faction, with the collusion of Tembo himself, have now concocted plans to defy the party’s constitution that expressly bars him from becoming a presidential candidate after failing in two previous elections after he announced this week he will contest for the presidency during the party’s convention.

Let us get this clear right from the start. As a bona fide Malawian, Tembo is free to run for national presidency despite his advanced age and anything standing in his way based on this should be considered discrimination which the country’s Constitution forbids.

But on the contrary, the MCP constitution expressly stops Tembo from running for president and representing the party as presidential candidate during next year’s elections after failing twice to lead it to victory.

This is where my problem lies in that Tembo is standing in the way of progress and it is fundamentally derailing MCP in particular and democracy in general in Malawi.

But the party’s supporters deserve better and the MCP faction that still views Tembo as an asset and not a liability he is should ask themselves what new thing will he tell Malawians that he did not tell them in 2004 and 2009 so that they line up and cast a vote for him next year?

These people should get a life and move on to accept that Tembo is a spent force fit for the political dustbin and that is why in this day and age he still talks about unity, loyalty, obedience and discipline as MCP’s corne-rstones.

Yet Malawians have moved on and the political landscape has changed as it is now infested with 18-year-old kids who will vote for the first time with iphones hooked to their ears and they have no clue about four cornerstones apart from knowing that they were part of a mantra meant to oppress their parents and grandparents.

Granted, the MCP convention, as the supreme body of the party, has the power to change its constitution as it is not cast in stone, but I have serious problems when changes happen to a party or government merely to accommodate the whims of one individual and a failure one at that!

Tembo might have been inspired by the success of other old leaders in Africa who have ascended to the presidency after several attempts such as Michael Sata in Zambia and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.

Yet, the unlikely event of Tembo’s success in Malawi next year would be a disaster. What new thing can he offer at his age to Malawians apart from trying to bring back MCP dictatorship through the back door?

Actually, reports from Zambia are that Sata is a disaster waiting to happen as he is ruling Zambia as his personal estate and pockets of dictatorship and abuse of human rights are manifesting right next door to us.

As for the 85 year-old Wade, he was bent on extending his rule after

12 years in power despite the laws saying no and it was stopped by voters when they handed him an embarrassing defeat and instead chose the youthful Macky Sall last year.

At end of it all, Malawians should be asking themselves whether, after 50 years of independence next year, it is right that the country should be ruled by people that were there during the independence declaration in 1964.

The critical question is: Does that generation still have it in its tank and can it confront, on our behalf, modern problems and move us out of poverty?

If you ask me, I doubt it very much and, unfortunately, Tembo represents that generation. I think every product has a sell-by date and the MCP veteran leader is way past it.

I hope the impending MCP convention will stop this nonsense and save the nation the face of Tembo on the ballot again next year.