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With 44 days to the elections, the opposition still cannot agree on forming a grand coalition, a development observers fear will only help UDF to contest the general elections against a weak and divided opposition.
“It is very sad,” remarked Pac chair Boniface Tamani on Wednesday when asked to comment on the failure by MCP, NDA and Mgwirizano to work together in line with their original plan. “Democracy is the biggest loser.”
Monsignor Tamani warned that Malawi may slide into a de facto one-party state, where UDF's excesses cannot be checked, if opposition parties allow power-hunger to obscure the larger good in working together.
Said Tamani: “The issue is not about winning or not. It is about giving the people of Malawi an alternative. It is about offering an option, where the people of this country can look up to. It is about keeping the ruling party in check. That alternative is not being provided by the behaviour of this opposition.
“A multiparty country, in which the opposition is so weak as to afford the ruling party the liberty to do whatever it wants, is just as good as a one party state. Malawi is heading towards that if the opposition does not think twice.”
The seven-member Mgwirizano Coalition, MCP, NDA and Vice President Justin Malewezi—a break-away from PPM, one of the parties in Mgwirizano—are contesting the presidential elections from the opposition side. On the other hand, UDF presidential candidate Bingu Mutharika will contest on the wings of a ruling coalition comprising UDF, Aford and New Congress for Democracy.
Tamani attributed the division in the opposition to selfishness among opposition leaders and underhand tactics by the ruling party.
“The spirit of trying to clutch everything to your chest is one reason. The other is the UDF. It has used its tactics to confuse and divide the opposition. As a matter of fact, the ruling party has played a major role in weakening the opposition,” said Tamani.
Asked for progress on opposition talks as indicated in our issue of February 28-29, Mgwirizano spokesperson coalition Kholiwe Mkandawire said the doors of the coalition were still open to any party willing to join it.
“This is a baby of all of us in the opposition. If there are parties that wish to join us, they are welcome,” said Mkandawire.
Coalition presidential candidate Gwanda Chakuamba said recently the onus was not on Mgwirizano, but the parties outside it to make a move.
“We have already fulfilled the will of the people by joining hands,” said Chakuamba. “It is those outside this coalition who must move.”
But MCP second vice president Nicholas Dausi said his party would not join a coalition unless it is assured of the front seat.
“We have consulted our supporters throughout the country. They are game to the idea of a coalition but what they are saying is that the MCP must take the lead since it is the oldest party in the country. If they [other parties] cannot join us then we will go it alone,” said Dausi.
NDA vice president Viva Nyimba also said his party has the mandate of its supporters to contest the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 18 alone.
“The message from our supporters is clear, we must go it alone because of the way the leadership of Mgwirizano was chosen,” said Nyimba.
Asked if NDA would join the coalition if Chakuamba paved way for NDA leader Brown Mpinganjira, Nyimba said: “Our problem is not Chakuamba’s position but how he got it. We said the leadership should be chosen through a convention, not a few people.”
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