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Bakili Muluzi, Malawi's Second Republic president, started governing the country with the gusto of a teenager in June 1994, when Malawi turned the corner of singularity of politics to fall lips first into the open mouth of democracy.
But, then, the ominous signs were as imminent as signs of day after midnight. Take, for instance, what happened in Salima District in the Central Region immediately after Muluzi held the joystick of power. Hordes of people, clad in United Democratic Front's yellow and blue attire bought a dozen-plus litres of petrol and set at least six Land Rovers and one Toyota single-cab belonging to the vanguished, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Who could stop them? Not Muluzi, who quickly forgot that he was there to rule and not destroy. Surely, in the grand scheme of destructive politics, it was in his interest to destroy everything that represented the MCP so that, perhaps, nobody could challenge him for the presidency.
Come to think of it. Muluzi knew that the Constitution of the Second Republic did not allow for more than two terms in office. As a democrat, a name he sold to the citizenry with the zeal of a newly recruited sales executive, he must have known better.
Nay! He set Project Open Term in motion when he had run his two-five-year terms relay (part) of the race. Well, the likes of former Speaker of the National Assembly the late Sam Mpasu and others read through it all and set their gramd-scheme-of-frustration in motion. Muluzi, who had become Malawi's tin-pot dictator, only harvested disappointment.
But, once he put his hands to the wheel, Muluzi was not one to easily give up. Well, he set Operation Third Term in motion. With disastrous consequences.
And, so, he will go in the annals of history as someone who started well but, somehow, lost it in the end.
Like, if one needs another example, when he set Vision 2020 in motion after taking over power in 1994. I remember being one of the learners from Kalonga Primary School in Salima who gathered at Salima Community Hall one sunny morning to spell out what was, before that moment, wishful thinking. A mic was passed from line to line and all of us thought we had contributed to the national blueprint that was Vision 2020, which the yellow administration spiced up with Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, launched high on the mountain-of-hope that it would reverse our problems and turn the cold-of-poverty into gold.
But, then, corruption took centre-stage and Muluzi put his hands of the wheel, literally. He lost track of The-Land-2020 and the vision became blurred.
With Muluzi's never-ending political battles, inclusing his tussling with his deputy in power Justin Malewezi, who he unjustifiable faulted for laziness, Malawi would never recover its zeal to get things done through Vision 2020.
Today, even as the Vision 2020 boundary is next year, Malawi is nowhere near meeting half of Vision 2020's targets.
Instead, it is Rwanda, a country that sent development experts to Malawi to learn about Vision 2020, that is getting all the credit. Rwanda has a miracle worker in Paul Kagame, who is a servant leader and not boss leader. In Malawi, boss leaders like Muluzi have dragged the country down the muddy road of poverty.
Today, because of boss-leadership syndrome, Malawi stands shoulder high among the 10 most poorest countries in the world.
It is as if there was no Muluzi, who ruled from 1994 to 2004; who was frustrated by fellow politicians when he wanted to rape the Republican Constitution between 2002 and 2004; who was frustrated by the Constitutional Court in 2009, when he wanted to stand as president again citing non-existent loopholes in the comstitution (he said the constitution only says one can rule Malawi for two consecutive terms but does not say one cannot stand again after taking a break from national leadership). It is as if there was no shared hope, when Muluzi took over the reigns of power in 1994.
Perhaps Malawi can start again and, 20 years from now, things may move.
Nobody wants to befriend poverty, not even in a dream!
But, then, Malawi has been having this uncomfortable dream for so long that it has developed feet of its own and is daunting Malawians even in daytime.
But, then, the ominous signs were as imminent as signs of day after midnight. Take, for instance, what happened in Salima District in the Central Region immediately after Muluzi held the joystick of power. Hordes of people, clad in United Democratic Front's yellow and blue attire bought a dozen-plus litres of petrol and set at least six Land Rovers and one Toyota single-cab belonging to the vanguished, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Who could stop them? Not Muluzi, who quickly forgot that he was there to rule and not destroy. Surely, in the grand scheme of destructive politics, it was in his interest to destroy everything that represented the MCP so that, perhaps, nobody could challenge him for the presidency.
Come to think of it. Muluzi knew that the Constitution of the Second Republic did not allow for more than two terms in office. As a democrat, a name he sold to the citizenry with the zeal of a newly recruited sales executive, he must have known better.
Nay! He set Project Open Term in motion when he had run his two-five-year terms relay (part) of the race. Well, the likes of former Speaker of the National Assembly the late Sam Mpasu and others read through it all and set their gramd-scheme-of-frustration in motion. Muluzi, who had become Malawi's tin-pot dictator, only harvested disappointment.
But, once he put his hands to the wheel, Muluzi was not one to easily give up. Well, he set Operation Third Term in motion. With disastrous consequences.
And, so, he will go in the annals of history as someone who started well but, somehow, lost it in the end.
Like, if one needs another example, when he set Vision 2020 in motion after taking over power in 1994. I remember being one of the learners from Kalonga Primary School in Salima who gathered at Salima Community Hall one sunny morning to spell out what was, before that moment, wishful thinking. A mic was passed from line to line and all of us thought we had contributed to the national blueprint that was Vision 2020, which the yellow administration spiced up with Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, launched high on the mountain-of-hope that it would reverse our problems and turn the cold-of-poverty into gold.
But, then, corruption took centre-stage and Muluzi put his hands of the wheel, literally. He lost track of The-Land-2020 and the vision became blurred.
With Muluzi's never-ending political battles, inclusing his tussling with his deputy in power Justin Malewezi, who he unjustifiable faulted for laziness, Malawi would never recover its zeal to get things done through Vision 2020.
Today, even as the Vision 2020 boundary is next year, Malawi is nowhere near meeting half of Vision 2020's targets.
Instead, it is Rwanda, a country that sent development experts to Malawi to learn about Vision 2020, that is getting all the credit. Rwanda has a miracle worker in Paul Kagame, who is a servant leader and not boss leader. In Malawi, boss leaders like Muluzi have dragged the country down the muddy road of poverty.
Today, because of boss-leadership syndrome, Malawi stands shoulder high among the 10 most poorest countries in the world.
It is as if there was no Muluzi, who ruled from 1994 to 2004; who was frustrated by fellow politicians when he wanted to rape the Republican Constitution between 2002 and 2004; who was frustrated by the Constitutional Court in 2009, when he wanted to stand as president again citing non-existent loopholes in the comstitution (he said the constitution only says one can rule Malawi for two consecutive terms but does not say one cannot stand again after taking a break from national leadership). It is as if there was no shared hope, when Muluzi took over the reigns of power in 1994.
Perhaps Malawi can start again and, 20 years from now, things may move.
Nobody wants to befriend poverty, not even in a dream!
But, then, Malawi has been having this uncomfortable dream for so long that it has developed feet of its own and is daunting Malawians even in daytime.
