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The thing is, politicians do not wear their fears on their cloak.
Deep down though, below those plastic smiles and forced handshakes, is the raging storm of uncertainty.
September 16, 2025, which—just on June 23, 2020, when Malawians voted in the court-ordered presidential election—looked like a remote impossibility is fast approaching.
And, all of a sudden, politicians who had a celebratory look about them are finally in business mood.
In such a mood, they are bound to include in State of the Nation Address projects that have not materialised on the ground.
In that business mood, they are likely to raise their heads when everyone else has let their heads touch the ground in supplication and silent prayer.
Indeed, in that business-like mood, politicians are likely to misplace characters when they retell biblical stories—say that of Johah.
The truth is, in their business-like attitude, they will fail to attend events organised to ensure that the legacy of a revolutionary leader who changed the way politics is done in Malawi lives on. They will do so even when they know that the leadership robes they are wearing now were once worn by those they now ‘shun’.
In their desperate attempt to appear relevant, they will, in fact, make references to ethnic background to score political points, all in the name of positioning for the presidential election of September this year.
Already, those in the governing party have started dismissing those who ask them to up their game, lest they be taken by surprise by the outcome of election results.
As for those in the opposition; it is always pointing at wrongs, wrongs and wrongs, with nothing positive to say about the current administration.
It is as if governing party politicians have a book of praises, stacked somewhere out of citizens’ view, ands those in opposition have a book of wrongs, also stacked somewhere in their suitcases.
And they call it politics.
As for individual citizens—including the 5.7 million Malawians that have been facing hunger during the lean season, in line with the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report—most of whom come out of houses to face a hiding sun.
The hiding sun, one with fading rays, represents hunger, rising inflation, a shaking Kwacha when faced with the United States dollar, political violence, high levels of unemployment, among other ills.
It is as if the ordinary Malawian and politicians—those in governing parties and those in the opposition included—live in separate worlds.
In other words, although they seem to take on the same path of life, they do not really walk on the same road, with their life not taking exactly the same twists and turns.
Whatever the case, the truth is that time comes when ordinary Malawians and politicians cross paths, and that happens when election time comes.
For Malawians, that is September 16 this year.
And, in preparing for the national elections, even before the Malawi Electoral Commission launches the official campaign period, politicians are already on the prowl, crisscrossing the country to appear relevant to the would-be voter they would quickly abandon once their victory is confirmed by the electoral body.
The President himself, Lazarus Chakwera, has been on the ground, conducting development rallies at which political statements have, by party zealots or himself, been made.
Just last week, at a State event, he made it clear that he did not see himself out of the State House come September this year.
On the other hand, Dalitso Kabambe of UTM has been crisscrossing the country, too, selling his economic agenda to would-be voters.
He is not just meeting people physically; he is all over the place—be it on television, Facebook and other platforms.
As for Alliance for Democracy leader Enoch Chihana, he has been making political pronouncements, at one time accusing the current Tonse Alliance administration of witch-hunting.
He has also been visiting anyone arrested on grounds he perceives as political.
As for Atupele Muluzi himself, he seems to be preparing for a grand comeback—whatever form it may take.
As for former president Joyce Banda, she has been conducting her own political rallies, at which she is unfurling the banner of the ‘truth’ like never before.
She has been granting interviews, too. In one of them, she alluded to terms of the agreement that former vice president Saulos Chilima had with incumbent president Chakwera—as regards the number of terms each of them would have.
As for Democratic Progressive Party leader Peter Mutharika, he has relatively been quiet, with his ‘boys’ crisscrossing the country—at least for now.
For now, though, it is not only politicians who are in overdrive gear; in the court of public opinion, everything is going, too.
Take the case of Atupele, who is the leader of the United Democratic Front, who recently met with Chakwera at the palace.
Before long, the rumour mongers were at it, insinuating this or that.
Not that it is their [rumour mongers’] nature to do so; it is the nature of the times—national elections are around the corner.
Anyway, maybe politics is haunted by ‘infidelities’ such as rumour mongering, peddling, mudslinging, name-calling, among other, otherwise, undesirable practices that are regarded as a norm in a country where the literal translation of the word “politics” is ndale.
For now, these are all, like punches, being thrown all over the political ring.
Surely, the road to September 16, 2025 is being paved.
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