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by
My Diary, 28 May 2004
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13:07:32
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Muluzi departure is big relief
The mere exit of Bingu wa Mutharika's predecessor makes me heave a big sigh of relief, even if all we have heard from Mutharika is his promise from his inauguration speech to appoint a lean cabinet and pledge his commitment to improve the economy, fight corruption, etc. As I write this Diary I feel like a big log that was almost choking me has been taken off my oesophagus.
The only thing that seemed to make sense for Bakili Muluzi, especially during his second term in office, was political correctness. Everything else played second fiddle to politics. It did not matter at what cost to the economy. Unfortunately, this was partisan politics. Muluzi failed to rise above partisan politics as expected of a level-headed leader committed to uplifting the lives of the people regardless of party affiliation.
Needless to say in the end his politics promoted neither democracy nor the growth of his own party. He has left the high office at a time the UDF is at its lowest ebb ever despite the massive injection of cash from public coffers into the campaign for last week's elections. Muluzi has to content himself with the title of Atcheya presiding over a depleted parliamentary team that will have to listen good to the opposition. This opposition team will be led by the same person Muluzi demonised at each and every rally he held during the campaign, John Tembo. I wish Muluzi good retirement.
As for Mutharika, my advice and prayer is that he will not depart from the path he has chosen to tread. That is if his inaugural speech truly sets the tone of his agenda. The speech had what it takes to turn around the economy and bury the miseries of the majority of Malawians perpetuated during the 10-year misrule of his predecessor.
If he can guard against the pressures that might soon start mounting on him, and until he departs from what he told the nation in his inaugural speech, I will give him the benefit of doubt. Muluzi has literally carried Mutharika on his shoulders, of course using state resources, and put him where he is now. But that should not derail Mutharika from implementing his own agenda.
The writing on the wall is that the new President must quickly start translating and walking the talk. His first big litmus test will be the size of his first cabinet. How lean? Muluzi had a 46-member cabinet for the greater part of his 10-year rule which was by the size of our economy, obese. Malawians are looking forward to seeing a small cabinet selected “scientifically” as Mutharika promised.
He is likely to win the hearts and minds of many if he does not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. The first mistake he will make and the big disservice he will do for this country—and God forbid—is to start appointing people into positions to appease them for their role in the campaign. This is what has led to the erosion of resources in parastatals led by board members the majority of whom were not appointed on merit. Or rather their only merit was their loyalty to Muluzi.
Now to the opposition and the Electoral Commission. There is no denying there were many irregularities in the electoral process. EU and African Union observers have both rightly said although people voted freely on the polling day, the whole electoral process was unfair and was marred by a lot of irregularities which were never corrected. AU has gone a step further to say the Commission was incompetent. A serious charge this is.
On its part, the Commission has admitted the public media was biased against the opposition. The courts have also ruled that Muluzi and UDF used state resources for campaign. The Commission also chose to announce results before dealing with electoral complaints as required by law. All these torpedoed the elections in favour of the UDF. And on that basis the opposition are justified to seek court redress.
The third multi-party elections will, therefore, go down in history as Malawi's worst elections. People will forever live to compare and contrast the ingenuity, impartiality and professionalism of the 1994 Justice Anastasia Msosa Commission and the wishy-washy work of James Kalaile.
It will be a big relief to the nation if the Commission resigned out of its own volition for the mess it has caused. The only reason for its existence is to account for its mess.
So far I am glad the opposition have decided to work together inside and outside Parliament. They may have lost the top position in the executive but overall they won the elections. If they stick together they will be the ones calling the shots in Parliament. In that way, they will provide good checks and balances to government. Mutharika's mention of the need for the opposition to work with the government is actually an understatement. Government must go to the opposition and bargain with them not vice versa. But this won't be easy because whether government likes it or not, it will be bargaining from a position of weakness.
Talking of providing checks and balances, this is the time for the opposition in Parliament to push for the amendment of controversial laws. One such issue would be the removal of the DPP's consent to prosecute suspects of corruption. This will also be the time to expedite changes to the Declaration of Assets laws. Talking about assets, those who have just assumed senior positions in government must declare their assets now as required by the law. This is the first step in checking corruption. And it is the opposition who can push for that.
The opposition will also do the nation a great service to push for investigation and expedite prosecution of those suspected of having committed crimes which the Muluzi government has suppressed for so long. One such issue is the Land Rover scam.
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