Before being re-elected, President Peter Mutharika was guaranteed of his privacy. He was a man we thought was enjoying his privacy at The Pagehouse in Mangochi, until DPP leadership squabbles forced him to retire from that retirement as it were.
APM’s return to State House was mainly because Malawians were tired with Lazarus Chakwera and his MCP misrule. For that matter, Malawians had little choice, apart from Mutharika getting back to power. As a digression: Why is Chakwera so convinced that Malawians would want him back at Kamuzu Palace even if APM fails to clear a quarter of the mess LMC created?
He never campaigned. When he was on the street in the run up to the September 16 polls last year, his word was simple: Mwakhaula eti?
That word came with the promise that he was the answer to the hell Malawians went through during the Chakwera wadya mtoliro leadership.
Today, a year later, it is clear the blue flames of brimstone are still scorching us to the core. The sulphur is on Malawians, and there is no escape.
Mutharika’s absence has been the talk of the town in recent times. The Malawi Law Society, Public Affairs Committee and even the MCP have spoken on the president’s missing in action.
PAC has called on government to give Malawians an account of APM’s absence. MCP have called on Vice-President to speak on the President’s incessant private trips. While MLS has also asked for an explanation, it says the trip is legal.
Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Justin Saidi said the other day, government is not bound to explain what the president is actually doing in South Africa because private means private.
Then, DPP secretary general Peter Mutharika on Sunday parried away assertions that the President was bedridden. In his words, APM was enjoying his private trip!
Now, should the nation be held at ransom like this? Mutharika seized from being a private matter when he retired from retirement. He has a public mess that he has to sort out, not playing hide and seek.
Malawians are experiencing possibly the most excruciating fuel shortage since creation and the Mutharika government is giving no plausible explanation. The nation is at a crisis and APM needed to show Malawians he is in control of the situation.
We may be asking for impossibilities. Who knows, APM is coining and rehearsing how else he will ask Malawians: Mwakhaula eti?
The President owes Malawians an explanation on how he is working to end the many shortages this country is facing.
Now the nation is at a standstill, as Mutharika has called for the postponement of the mid-year budget review that was supposed to take place this month. All simply because the President is on a private trip. Now, that is serious.
The mid-year budget review is very crucial where checks and balances are concerned. As a matter of fact, that process should never be interrupted because of private trips.
It is even more crucial this year. For one, Parliament passed a budget where the Constituency Development Fund was raised to K5 billion. Half a year later, how many constituencies have had their funds?
Malawians need to understand how their taxes are being used.
For that matter, the problem is compounded further because Ansah is nowhere in the picture. In APM’s absence, who really is conducting government business? When dad is away, kids look up to mum for food. But if mum is nowhere near the kitchen, will the elder brother’s word that all is well carry weight?
Mutharika’s submarine antics are not strange. He did it as education minister during the academic freedom impasse. During his first tenure, he also disappeared after attending the United Nations General Assembly.
Who is making the executive decisions? Who is deciding which corruption charges should be dropped?
One can go and on. But the bottom line is that, when people need more privacy, the best thing to do is retire.
Otherwise, when he comes out of his cocoon, will he ask Malawians: Mwakhaula eti?
