Tonse govt, pick Bingu’s goodies!
The folk-tale that a Presidential candidate and running-mate cannot come from the same region got subdued. The myth that all three regions of Malawi cannot rally behind one candidate was smashed.
Brightson Webster Ryson Thom’s history as a ruler has to be re-told and properly documented. He was a man of faults but many goodies as well. That was Bingu wa Mutharika born Webster and from his revolutionary design, the Tonse administration can pick a leaf.
Mutharika, under the banner of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won with a landslide in 2009, amassing 66.17 percent of the popular vote during the second term. No alliance achieved 50 percent+1 vote even when the requirement was only first-past-the-post!
When some make-believe alliance is bothered with who to partner in 2025 and holding a heart-to-heart with scums and scams in the wee hours of the night barely 12 months in office, it speaks to one thing; they are not delivering and there is no glimmer of hope that they will deliver in future to convince the voters.
They gave up on delivering; hence, playing tribal and regional cards to garner votes in 2025. Now is the time to deliver and not tea-partying with enemies of Malawians. Yes, Malawians gave them walking papers last year and engaging them now is an insult.
Folks, Malawians are objective and fair if one delivers and unkind to those waffling. Be assured of being sent packing because of these get-rich-quick schemes happening.
Bingu floored Malawi Congress Party’s John Tembo and his running-mate Brown Mpinganjira in broadday light in 2009. This was at Mpinganjira’s peak in politics, but he fairly contributed to MCP’s miserable loss getting a very unhelpful 30 percent of the popular vote; now wondering at his lowest ebb the political value that he still posseses. This is a story for another day.
Over the past months, this column has challenged the leaders of this country that they are lost; they are humming and hawing with running state of affairs, because we saw a leader who acted like a revolutionary and that was Bingu. On the minimum this new set of leaders was expected to match him. The opposite is happening.
Malawians thought the current leadership set-up will avoid Bingu’s wrongs, adopt all his good things if not to improve on them. At the rate we are going, the failed revolution is very much unlikely to surpass Bingu’s rating.
Now it is clear achieving what Bingu did is a tall order. That stellar performance cannot be brought before the faces of Malawians in the next coming four years. The intention is absent.
It was thought Joyce Banda’s reign was the worst, it was an early conclusion made in haste. The worst is yet to come from Tonse. Malawians sent Joyce Banda home largely because of Cashgate and turning the business of running a country into an NGO.
Anyway she ended the fuel crisis at least and wondering what Tonse can point at after one year in office save for bigwigs having become lighter in skin complexion compared to a dry period in opposition.
Cashgate was Malawi’s murky tale of shooting and corruption with up to $250 million lost in six months through fraudulent payments to businessmen for services that were not rendered. This drove Malawians nuts, yes Malawians hate corruption and selfish leaders. They always fire them.
The worry is, the current bureaucracy has gone beyond Cashgate if all figures are summed up. The silence from the public should not be read as folly. Tonse is fully aligned on this and that is why instead of delivering they are worried and machinating for 2025!
