Africa-Press – Malawi. The former ruling party , Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is proving to be a hard nut to crack as it is being accused of being a mastermind behind all the failures of Tonse Alliance regime. Truth be told, DPP is most feared by the incumbent Tonse Alliance government.
A flashback a bit. In 2014, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) under the leadership of Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera accused DPP of rigging elections. However, DPP excelled to rule Malawi from 2014 up to 2020. DPP is indeed a system.
As a system, DPP emerged a winner again during the 2019 presidential elections. However, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera cried foul that he would shed his own blood if he did not ascend to power. Later blood was indeed shed like that of superintendent Imedi. Amid all these squabbles, Prof. Peter Mutharika was still sworn in as the state president of Malawi marking another term for APM. DPP is a system. Unsatisfied with 2019 presidential election results, Reverend Lazarus Chakwera conspired with Timothy Mtambo to destabilize the Mutharika’s regime.
This mission was strategically carried out through two major plans of action, massive violent nationwide demonstrations spearheaded by Mr. Timothy Mtambo and judicial coup allegedly coordinated by the erstwhile registrar of the high court and supreme court of appeal, Ms. Agness Patemba. It was not surprising that both Timothy Mtambo and Agness Patemba were later appeased with ministerial and diplomatic positions respectively. Mission accomplished.
DPP, as a system, accepted the controversial verdict that 2019 presidential elections be nullified based on mere irregularities that did not affect any presidential candidate’s votes.
In an attempt to coerce Chilima and Chakwera to form an electoral alliance, the lower constitutional court acted ultra vires to override the decisions of the higher supreme court of appeal on the interpretation of the term ‘ majority. In their verdict, the winner of the 2020 presidential elections was supposed to amass at least 50% of the votes plus one vote dubbed ‘50%+1’.
The trick was that the sum of votes attained by Chakwera and Chilima during the 2019 controversial presidential elections had already surpassed 50% of the cast votes. Therefore, forcing them to form an electoral alliance would guarantee their victory. There was no magic wand about it. In fact, an election is simply a game of numbers. Period.
As it was properly calculated by the judicial coup, the leader of Tonse Alliance comprising nine embattled political parties indeed emerged the winner of 2020 presidential election. DPP as a system conceded defeat.
Since Tonse Alliance took over government, they have been squandering government resources like nobody’s business. Chakwera was globe trotting here and beyond depleting forex reserves. The much touted agricultural input subsidy programme exhausted a large chunk of forex.
They even cancelled the International Monetary Fund credit facility already secured by DPP. What a blunder!!! The mapwevupwevu syndrome prompted the erstwhile minister of foreign affairs to hire a private jet for a conference that was staged to take place virtually online. In a nutshell, the Tonse Alliance fiscal and monetary policy was a replica of an autopilot system.
Amid economic meltdown, Chakwera administration even increased the perks of ministers, members of Parliament and other government officials. Recently, presidential entourage to the United General assembly in the United States was huge. They even doubled their external travel allowances. If DPP is responsible for forcing the Tonse Alliance regime to make such myopic decisions, then DPP must indeed be an intelligent system.
Now two years down the line, the Tonse Alliance administration is faulting the DPP for depleting government coffers. If the DPP is able to access the government purse after being out of power for two years, then DPP must be indeed a crafty system.
Tonse Alliance promised Malawians that it would do things differently. Nothing literally has changed on the ground. If people voted out DPP for practicing nepotism, tribalism and regionalism, then they made a big mistake because the Tonse Alliance government is following the same DPP system. No creativity nor innovation of any kind.
Every day we are hearing incidents of corruption perpetrated by the same MCP sycophants appointed by the very same Reverend Lazarus Chakwera. Former cabinet ministers in the Chakwera’s regime are answering charges of corruption. The Judiciary is so corrupt that it is shielding corruption suspects from being prosecuted. Even the judges who are suspected of being involved in corrupt deals are left scot free to preside over corruption cases. Total mess and chaos of justice. If DPP is coercing Chakwera’s appointees into corruption, then DPP must be a system indeed.
Are we saying that it is the DPP that influenced the government to misprocure fertilizer from a butchery company in the UK? If yes, then DPP must be indeed a system. Did DPP influence staff members at the Accountant General department to embezzle government funds, then DPP is a clever system.
How did DPP influence the recruitment of Mr. Henry Kachaje who possesses a masters degree from an unaccredited university? How did DPP influence the appointment of Mr. Andrew Mpesi, the MCP sympathiser, to be the chief executive officer of the Malawi Electoral Commission? DPP must be a crafty system if it influenced the looting of tollgate fees at Chingeni, the misappropriation of COVID 19 funds and the retaining of Helen Buluma as the acting chief executive officer of National company of Malawi after weeks the ombudsman directed that she should be fired.
DPP has proven to be a great system because despite all the squabbles in its party , it can still be blamed for the economic hardships the Tonse Alliance government is facing.
Indeed during the DPP regime, the local currency was stable. Inflation rate was a single digit. Corruption was not as high as it is now. Forex and fuel were available. Life was manageable. No wonder Tonse Alliance government is blaming DPP because it has no solutions to offer.
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