The road to 2014: paved or thorny?

Paved or thorny: Malawi’s democratic path to 2014

RICHARD CHIROMBO

Intolerance. Dissent suppression. Intra-party bickering. Suppressed egos. Hero-worshipping. Thin, if any, ideological differences. Twisted principles.

It does not take long to define the subject: Malawi politics.

Since multiparty politics of government came back home in 1994, and got three more turns of ‘welcome-home-parties’ in 1999, 2004 and 2009, the country’s political scene has become well-dotted with political events, most of which predictable.

Malawians have come to expect a stillness of political egos in ruling parties, especially when the incumbent president is running for the first five years, while intra-party bickering has become part of the ‘norm’ in opposition parties- a way, perhaps, of passing political sleep away in the long-wait for Sanjika Palace or New State House.

Long-wait because no opposition party has ever won Presidential elections since 1994, save, perhaps, for the unique case of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Former United Democratic Front (UDF) National Publicity Secretary, Sam Mpasu, had one political adage he so loved to press home: people, he argued, form political parties to win the golden ticket into government. That is common sense.

But some special breed of people, Malawians to our credit, went into government in order to form a political party! That fascinated Mpasu so much- much the same way as it reinforced the established point that Malawi is a country of great inventors (the likes of Gabriel Kondesi, William Kamkwamba and, after 2004, the political inventor that is State President Bingu wa Mutharika, among others).

As some form of artificial tranquility prevails in ruling parties, the parties in question soon ‘forget’ the contentious issue of succession, leaving all sense of judgment to ‘time’, which, they always argue, ‘will tell’. The reason for letting succession dogs lie is often that, because the leaders won their maiden Presidential contest, they will do it (win) again.

That is the reason nobody bothered former president Bakili Muluzi, within the ranks and file of UDF between 1994 and 1999, on succession plans; a honeymoon that continued between 1999 and 2004 when it became apparently clear that, while the driver was still enjoying the feel of the highway and wanted to continue cruising beyond legal speed, the road in front was fast disappearing into some peculiar, dusty path.

Such leaders quickly grow bigger than their sponsoring parties and develop quick-fire anger even to friendly advice. The end, in our case, has been a disaster for intra-party democracy because leaders are imposed on political parties to satisfy the insatiable anger of the powers-that-be.

Just such a disaster happened in the UDF, a party that once wore ‘mighty’ armor during its time of glory. Because it had everything at its disposal in those ‘mighty’ days, the party wore the ‘heavy suit of prosperity’ to withstand even the most volatile of forces; now, it struggles in the great sea of near-obscurity that it has adopted the weight-light life saving jacket to survive the stormy waters.

Ironically, the same argument that offers first-time ruling parties artificial tranquility has the opposite effect on opposition parties. Because their leaders lost one election, other aspirants begin to fume, saying chances are that they (losers) will loose again. Once beaten, twice shy; twice beaten? The answer is what they dread.

That answer is what Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential aspirants never wanted to be the unfortunate part of between 1994 and 1999, too. First President, Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, fell against Muluzi in the 1994 race to Sanjika, and never sought to rise again.

He took the white flag to Mudi State Residence in Blantyre, where he went to stay after getting unceremoniously booted out of Sanjika Palace, but left the wooden post with the green lights to Gwanda Chakuamba- his vice presidential running-mate in the monumental polls.

John Zenus Ungapake Tembo, the ever-ambitious Dedza South Member of Parliament, was chosen MCP vice president. Political analysts saw them as the perfect example of a strange political pair, doubts that soon back-rode the horse of reality when time came to choose a presidential running mate.

Chakuamba, aware of Alliance for Democracy (Aford) president, Chakufwa Chihana’s, discontentment with the UDF administration, wanted to outsmart the ruling cadres by forging a working alliance with Aford. While common sense had it that Chihana gets the running mate slot, Tembo could have none of it.

Chakuamba and Chihana? These were strange bedfellows, too; more so because Chihana had fought gallantly against the one party regime, efforts that paid dividends at the ballot box. It was a common choral cord Chihana and the likes of Muluzi had touched, and they got their just desserts.

But politics is not a duvet you get into in the evening, and hope to still be there by sunrise: it is dynamic, and changes with the times. Chakuamba and Chihana got this wisdom quite well, and wanted to use it for a free tough lesson on the ‘big-headed’ UDF.

Because Tembo did not whole-heartedly support the two, the alliance- like the conflict it created- was not symmetrical. The space left between escalating disagreements in MCP, confusion over the ‘real’ MCP’s stand on Aford, and the ruling UDF’s campaign tactics was too small for the articulation of a viable alliance agenda.

To some extent, Tembo’s reluctance was an admission of the inadequacies of decision making in political parties, as well as the general lack of real grass roots’ representation in such processes. On this line of thinking, the alliance’s failure at the polls was a form of ‘voice’ for grass roots communities, a message that had no other form than ‘failure’.

All this happened some 11 years ago, and people expected new things and challenges. It has not been so, though, because, instead of taking the exciting political road replete with twists and turns, our politicians have chosen to take the straight road to the nearest elections. This is worrying Amunandife Mkumba, Malawi Democratic Union (MDU) president. When Malawians last saw Kamuzu on a presidential ballot box, Mkumba was there. He acknowledges being one of the most hopeful people then.

“After all, we had worked so hard to reach that level of going to the polls to choose the Head of state and government and Members of Parliament. Some of us risked our lives writing and distribution secret letters in the middle of night,” said Mkumba.

Now, after some 16 years of multiparty democracy, what does he say? Are we there?

“Not yet; we are still trying. It is all the same everywhere. Some democracies such as the US have come a long way. In fact, when people realize that some things have been predictable politically, it is a sign of political maturity,” said Mkumba.

MDU is one of the parties whose predictable pattern includes its dependence on alliances with relatively larger parties. Others include Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) of Kamlepo Kalua, Congress for National Unity, Peoples Patriotic Front, Peoples Progressive Movement, Maravi People’s Party, Malawi Forum for Unity in Development, among others.

“This has been one of the weaknesses in our democracy. We have far too many political parties it is difficult to understand their ideologies. That, too, has been one of the most predictable things: more political parties, little, if at all, differences in political ideologies,” said Edward Chaka, executive director for Peoples Federation for National Peace and Development (Pefenap).

Chaka said the country needed influential parties that worked on incorruptible principles, contrary to current trends where courageous politicians wither when caught up in a net of adverse circumstances. They also often drop into a vacuum of political objectives and offer no clear direction.

“We don’t need leaders who are always busy buying time in a world where there is no spare time. Each time, and thus election, is important; parties should be talking of making new in roads,” he said.

Others, like Institute for Policy Interaction executive director, Rafiq Hajat, and Human Rights Consultative Committee chairperson Undule Mwakasungula, feel that the road is partly paved and partly thorny.

The thorny area is that of political tolerance, both in ruling and opposition parties. The issue of suspension of three DPP parliamentarians for airing their constituents’ views on quota system of selection to public universities comes to the fore, so does the recent public fight of UDF supporters at Chileka Airport.

“Political parties need to embrace tolerance to dissenting views. We can then claim that we have come off age,” said Maurice Munthali, Public Affairs Committee publicity secretary.

The other thing winning politicians are likely to pursue is the arrest of perceived enemies. It started with Muluzi, when his administration arrested an ailing Banda. Now the UDF is crying foul, saying DPP is targeting its zealots on trumped up charges. Just who will be on the ‘crying list’ next is unknown, depends on who wins.

“Otherwise. Why is it that only those in opposition are in the wrong. People linked with government and the ruling party is spared,’ queried Friday Jumbe, interim UDF president.

But one thing is for sure. What US Senator John Tyler once said is true: “The man of today gives place to the man of tomorrow, and the idols which one worships, the next destroys.”

Suppression of dissent in ruling parties continues; political bickering and position tussling continues in opposition parties; small parties continue to wait for national elections to hatch the same, old idea of alliances; popular representation remains a fallacy; and, somewhere, handcuffs are waiting for the next politician.

Nothing really changes, although political commentators also agree that Malawi’s road to destination-democracy has been paved on elections’ conduct. Peace has been the buzzword, prompting others to suggestively joke that the country should replace tobacco for peace as the Number One forex earner.

But peace is never for sale. Regional voting patterns are also being dismasntled, a mature sign of unity in purpose, said Hajat.

So far, it has been a game of equal chances: thorns here, pavements there.