Is Malawi experimenting with democracy?

Patrick Makina 50, a n economist and PhD holder, a long time public servant was the ideal candidate for Zomba-Ntonya.
“He has the education , and so many good qualities that we need in a leader if this area is to develop” enthusiased village headman Mbwana one of the hundreds of traditional leaders who urged their followers to choose Makina as their candidate prior to the Maya19 polls.
Zomba Ntonya had over 400000 registerd voters , making it the largest constituency in the district but in the district and arguably the least developed .
“We have two secondary schools, very few health centres, most of the rivers have no bridges, most families go without food most of the year, illiteracy is very high “ Makina noted at the beginning ofhis campaign last year.He had just returned from France where he went to do his PhD.
The under development in the area is attributed to lack of initiative by previous leaders.
“The first multiparty MP made so many promises which he never fulfilled .For the entire two terms he chose to stay in Blantyre running his businesses. People were excited with change and anything UDF produced was acceptable.” says village headman Mbwana
In the third multiparty polls of 2004, university graduate Berson Lijenda despite having scanty resources won the seat as independent candidate and later joined the then popular UDF.Like his predecessor he hardly appeared on the scene, and was accused of gross arrogance .The were then ready for another change.
Makina campaigned initially for the UDF candidacy and it was later learnt that the party was not going to hold primary elections. He opted to stand as an independent..
The ruling party DPP has a staunch supporter in the recently crownwd Paramount Chief Chief Chikowi.Though Makina had support among lower traditional chiefs he could not stand a chance against the DPP chosen candidate Ted Msangwi.Chief Chikowi went literary around the area to sell Masangwi, a former Malawi Telecommunications employee, HARDLY KNOWN IN THE AREA.
Makina runs a farm closer to his village near Thondwe .His late father was a well-known police officer but Masangwi can not trace his village in the area.
“I remember one of the Masangwi’s as a schoolmate in the 1970s .They temporarily settled in our village before they moved to Balaka.The man is simply not from this area.He is renting a house a Six miles trading centre” said John Kabichi from Makanjira village , a place Masangwi claimed to come from.
Lower traditional chiefs were threatened with removal if they continued to refuse Msangwi.Several were summoned at the paramount chiefs court to explain their support for Makina, and indeed others weer suspended.
There were seven candidates but none could raise thei issue with electoral authorites for fear of repercussions. The chief had his way and Masangwi narrowly defeated the hugely popular Makina.
“The results have shown me that we are still experimenting with democracy.The party that I supported let the people down , our chief was partisan and the results are not fair” said Makina.he had then trouble restraining his supporters who vowed to march to the District Commissioner and denounce the chief.
“It is okay when you lose in a fair contest but so bad when undemocratic tendencies contribute to such a loss” Says Makina who has vowed to continue to offer assistance to people in need.He had set up a scholarship fund for poor students, a small loan scheme for women and had also initiated a number of development projects such as fish v and irrigation arming.
“I will stay here do my farming and work with the people. The difference is that I will not be their representative in the national assembly.
Rafik Hajat a political commentator argues that all political parties in the country lack intra-party democracy and this he says will continue to haunt Malawi’s stride to grow democracy.Most parties impose candidates on the people and the results have been disastrous for the big parties which failed miserably in the general elections.UDF and MCP chosen candidates lost to independents.
The recent by-elections have again shown that no matter how big a party maybe it needs to go for the people’s choice.The big loser in the recent by-elections is the DPP which had a landslide victory only three months ago only to have independents snatch the seats.
While the shift towards more independent candidates may hold hope for for those earning for a true democratic Malawi, doubts have been raised about the growing tendency by these independents to join a ruling party says village headman Edward Kwisongole , a retired civil servant of Zomba Ntonya.
He says he sees betrayal when voted as independents join ruling party with flimsy excuses of helping the government bring development.
“This is simply a symptom of something fundamentally wrong with our understanding of democracy particularly the role of MPs. MPs are there are to make laws not just bring development as they often argue. I guess most of them join government because they want opportunities. Some of them quickly joined DPP because they though they would get cabinet posts but Bingu did not consider them.That was great .This is why most of us feel the president is a principled man and may not work to erode our democratic gains. These independent MPs joining government are nothing but gold diggers”
Perhaps a classical example desire by an independent MP to join government was that of former vice president Cassim Chilumpha. Despite clear signs that his presence was not desired on government side , the former number two citizen insisted his constituents would get much-needed development if only he can work with government. The enlightened village headman Edward Kwisongole believes Chilumpha’s move is calculating at hitting UDF a party that rejected him. The anti-democratic tendencies in UDF led to Bingu’s departure followed by so many others senior fellows and if this does not change UDF will face certain death.
But a senior UDF member opting anynomity blames Chilumpha for lack of political skills.
“There were many times when a chair left the party in his hands but he did nothing.he even failed to aknowledge the supporters who came to cheer him at the courts as he battled his trason charges.He lost a an opportunity of taking over from the ageing Muluzi.His atttempt to unseat the populist Muluzi at a convention was foolish and misguided. He surrounded himself with light weights , illiterates as advisers and thought he could confront Muluzi.” He says.
But Edmund Chilo Blantyre based businessman believes Chilumpha can redeem himself by goping back to UDF and contest at a convention.
“The Politics of Atcheya are gone. The party needs all intellectuals who were messed up like Makina, Chawawa, and many others .the party needs rebranding .Unless the party recognizes that the old brand of politics is no more it will be tossed into the dustbin of history kutha ngati makatani..Chilumpha should overate himself , he needs people and he must start now by going back to UDF and prepare for the next elections.
Chilo says the recent seating of new parliament has also shown that most of our MPS despite colourful CVS are yet to embrace democracy. the debate on major issues was good spiced with intellectual rigour but when to voting most of them were fearful. Save for the lawyer Edwin Banda nobody opposed the bill on marriage age.
“We always complained that most of our MPS were school dropouts but here we were house full of intellectuals endorsing a bill which would destroy al the gains we have made as a nation in 45 years .If that law got enacted it would affect education, health and social status of our women, what would we have achieved?”
It is too early to judge this parliament but the inclination towards blind loyalty , in itself a bloat on the march towards democracy , says Chilo.