Africa-Press – Malawi. Some amongst us were entirely convinced that under the current nine-party Tonse Alliance administration led by Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Malawians will access and enjoy national development projects without political affiliation.
They believed, and it was right to do so, that they had finally waved bye to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leadership where one had to publicly admit being blue to access and enjoy national development projects.
Sorry to all those who believed that way; in fact, if you have tears, prepare to shed them tight now for, admittedly, nothing of that sort, in this so called Tonse Alliance government, is going to happen.
If you are still in doubt, well, just see through the battle of supremacy over the Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (Medf) loan facility that has ensued between the two main Tonse Alliance partners—Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM Party.
At political rally in Mlare, Karonga District weeks ago, MCP second vice-president Harry Mkandawire declared that MCP supporters will be prioritized in the Medf loans disbursement because President Lazarus Chakwera is the party’s leader.
It is alleged that Mkandawire was responding to an earlier move by UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati who was seen in Karonga distributing Medf application forms to UTM members—in a show of underlining that they get the priority in accessing these loans.
Without delving into debates of verifying who was right or wrong, between Kaliati and Mkandawire, it is imperative to emphasize, here, that the actions of the two should be understood as the position of their respective party bosses.
For purposes of being politically correct, President Chakwera and Vice-president Saulos Chilima will never go public and proclaim priority of their party members in accessing the loans.
They will always speak through their trusted loud mouth lieutenants and that is why, despite the public cry against Kaliati and Mkandawire’s retrogressive actions on Medf, they have both gone scot-free—no rebuke, no disciplining; just silent, as if nothing stupid ever again.
This, fellow Malawians, is the actual Tonse Alliance that will govern us in the next 4 years. It’s a different version of the Tonse you know of ‘prospering together’. This one is a Tonse within the barricades of political colors; and, truth be told, there is nothing you can do about it.
Let’s face it: Medf, we all know, is a non-political development project established to give loans to non-bankable individuals who could not access bank loans without collateral.
We also know, of course, that during the terrible of years of DPP in power, the project was highly abused by politically-linked individuals who obtained loans and did not repay.
Admittedly, if you thought Tonse Alliance government—with their Malawi Wokomera Tonse philosophy—would change things and live up to their promise, well, there you have it.
If, just three months in the office, they are visibly failing to apply the Tonse philosophy within their alliance, what about millions of Malawians not in their fold? If they can’t even accommodate each other, can they accommodate those outside them?
This Tonse philosophy is fast shrinking into Tokha philosophy and Malawians need to step up, again, with strong demands to this government, otherwise, as Tupac Shakur would sing, “I see no changes”.
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