The Thinking Malawian

It may sound harsh, but it must be said no matter how uncomfortable it is. But you will make peace with yourselves, nonetheless.  Vitumbiko Mumba, Minister of Trade and Industry and now ex-NEC member of the ruling MCP, is like a blind man in a dark room, chasing a black cat which he will never catch.  Yes, he's an unwelcome guest in MCP and one need not be a political scientist to decipher this. It's all black and white.  First, Vitumbiko Mumba vied for the first-vice presidency of the party, but he lost to unpopular Catherine Gotani-Hara at the party's convention in August last year.  Mumba was one of the "big spenders" during the campaign in the run up to the party's convention, dishing out money and other valuable gifts to delegates. Even before contesting for the post, he was initially barred because he had not met some eligibility requirements, the committee of the convention composed of MCP NEC members, claimed.  But the High Court in Lilongwe ruled t...

Cui bono  is a Latin phrase that means "who benefits?" and it suggests that it's highly likely that those who cause a particular event are those who stand to gain from it.  For example, if a certain crime is committed, 'cui bono' suggests that the one who committed that particular crime is most likely the one who benefited from it.  This notion can also be applied in other facets of life. In this case, therefore, United Democratic Front (UDF) president Atupele Muluzi fits well in this principle.  On Monday, speaking at his home turf at Ntaja in Machinga, he made an uncomfortable suggestion regarding his 2020 electoral alliance partner, former president Professor Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Atupele asked Mutharika not to contest in the forthcoming election, saying "he's old and should rest." To say Mutharika is old and must shelve his political ambitions is a red line for the DPP supporters, and whoever makes such uttera...

A 2013 chart-bursting hit   Zili ndi Iwe   by Maskal depicts a lover pledging unconditional love while throwing the ball to the partner.  Maskal sings:  Zili ndi iwe kuti udzandikonde/Zili ndi iwe udzandinyoze/Poti chikondi chonse ndapereka kwa iwe/ Loosely translated, "it is up to you to love, dump or embarrass me. For I have given myself all to you."  Like that lover, the September 16 General Election seems to pose the challenge to presidential candidate, Professor Peter Mutharika alias APM.  There's a general feeling that the presidential race is for APM to lose.  In a simplistic view, life is harder in contrast to APM administration and that is enough reason to make Malawians impulsive. Prices of essentials is beyond the reach of Malawians, supplies such as sugar, fuel, medicines in hospitals are erratic and other a myriad blunders.   Going by current popular opinion, APM is the most preferred candidate given the shifting political mood s...

History is replete with lessons we often ignore. But only the wise use it to avoid mistakes and not look stupid. In 1917, Russia was in a power vacuum. The Czar was abdicated and two rival camps, the Mensheviks (majority) and the Bolsheviks (minority), emerged. The succession struggle ensued between the rivals. The Mensheviks wanted everybody on board to seize control. But to take power, they needed compromise, tradeoffs and committees to handle them in their fold. However, the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin, went for the power of small. They chose the tyranny of small numbers. They knew that big is weak. What they yearned for was power and not popularity. As the Mensheviks bickered who should lead them, Lenin mobilized something in the shadows—The Red Army. And in a few weeks, they had seized power. To the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), big is weak. Forget about the opposition Mensheviks. Like Lenin, use the power of small to get the 50+1 threshold. Meanwhile, you are ...

Nowadays, stepping away from screens of our digital devices seems unnatural and almost impossible. We live in an era where technology is at our fingertips. And, with the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), social media platforms are becoming sexier each passing day. Yet beneath the endless scrolling of curated videos and news feeds, lies something rather difficult to escape from: addiction.  Overstimulation, cyberbullying, and the constant pressure to keep up are taking a toll, particularly on the youth. The digital world, once a place for connectivity, has become a source of anxiety, self-doubt and crime, among other pitfalls of social media. The line between reality and online persona is now blurred, thus creating a validation seeking attitude, especially among the youth. That’s why there’s a need to have digital detox, staying off grid for a sizable amount of time to reclaim control of our lives. Because living is physical and social; therefore, we must cherish face-t...

They say in politics, an organized minority is a political majority. True. It’s one thing to be many, but it’s another thing to be organized. A survey conducted by Afrobarometer between August 1 and 15 in 2024, found that if the September 16 General Election had been held at that time, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have polled 43 percent of the vote but not enough to reach the 50+1 threshold. This must have been good news for an opposition party clamoring for a return to government. DPP’s planners must have developed strategies for winning the election, analyze data, predict trends and identify key issues that would influence voters. Surely, they have done all this but now the question is, are those strategies realistic to earn them victory? Oh, poor DPP! Since the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) officially launched the election last year, the DPP has been playing politics of victimhood. It perfected the art of politics of persecution, crying foul whenever any o...

We, the sobre ones in the country and beyond, are watching events with grave concern as September 16 General Elections are approaching fast. A tiff that began with the opposition’s unsubstantiated claim of vote rigging by the government has mutated into a dynamite capable of razing down one of the fundamental pillars of democracy—free, fair credible elections. From the mainstream media to the uncultured social media society, the credibility of the forthcoming elections and the Malawi Electoral Commission has been thrown to the dogs, again thanks to the opposition. Since 2024 when Justice Annabel Mtalimanja assumed the chairmanship of the Commission from her predecessor Justice Chifundo Kachale, she has stubbornly been punching above her weight. Her inherited sin: because she's a daughter of former Malawi Congress Party enigmatic president John Tembo alias  Puludzu . However, the law provides that the chairman of the Commission must be a judge of the High Court, a requirement she me...

The joy that comes when you find out that your name is among the lucky few students selected for public university is ecstatic. But four years of study in the university is strenuous. Therefore, one must be sure that the degree program they are about to study in is worth it, because regret is worse than failure. Universities often get criticised for offering degrees to students that aren’t in sync with industrial reality. But things don’t go wrong, they start wrong. It is, therefore, imperative to first determine the relevance of your degree program in the industry before getting started. In Malawi, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) is the body tasked with the selection of students into public universities. Before it was set by an Act of Parliament in 2010, each university conducted its own selection which resulted in several issues. Among them, some students got selected into multiple universities, depriving other deserving students a fair chance for...

The playbook of politics has a plethora of strategies for politicians on how to maneuver. The goal is to win the attention of voters and be on their side. Therefore, they stop at no kind of a barrier to get wherever you are and like their ideas, however appealing or otherwise they may seem. So long you give them your attention. Flooding the zone is a strategy often linked to U.S. president Donald Trump. It involves issuing a torrent of information aimed at overwhelming the opposition and the media and creating confusion. Remember the first week of his second term how president Trump clogged the airwaves and the newsprint with a barrage of executive orders. The news media worked frantically, trying to make sense of the executive orders, as the president on the other side, persistently signed more and more orders. In Malawi, the opposition, especially the DPP, has perfected this strategy and seasoned it with politics of grievance victimhood. As I wrote this piece, no scholar criticized t...

The demonization of Smartmatic, a voting and election management system software company hired by the Malawi Electoral Commission, is a result of both the opposition and some private media’s harangue. It’s an agenda they have masterfully set by citing how the company and its system fumbled in other countries. So, by repeatedly focusing on its imperfections, it has ratcheted up mistrust in the system by some Malawians. Now, with chronic inability to verify the news they consume, some Malawians, particularly those who gravitate towards the opposition, are convinced the system is bent on rigging the September 16 General Elections. That’s the perception out there and it’s spreading wildly. Truth be told, indeed Smartmatic has credibility issues. However, it must be noted that every system software is vulnerable. What matters most, however, is the threat level or magnitude of its susceptibility. In this case, therefore, the Malawi Electoral Commission must inspire confidence in the election...

The uncertainty that undocumented immigrants face in the U.S. today is the exact situation refugees found themselves in Malawi in 2023. Under President Lazarus Chakwera, the Malawi government ordered all refugees who settled in out-side-camp communities to herd back to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa. Police and Immigration officers employed military force to arrest the refugees, similar tactics Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are currently using in the U.S. In addition, other refugees were forcibly deported to their countries. The Malawi government officials said some of the refugees were criminals fleeing justice from their countries, particularly Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Human rights groups, including the UNHCR, opposed the actions as a violation of international law but authorities justified the crackdown by citing security concerns.   Domestically, the mass relocations won the support of some sections of the disillus...

At the outset, let me say that I’ve great reverence to Bishop Martin of Mtumbuka of the Diocese of Karonga. He unapologetically speaks on matters to do with social justice and governance, in addition to guiding Catholics to their faith. And in an exercise of the same, on Saturday he rebuked some Malawi Defense Force (MDF) soldiers for allegedly mistreating the people of Kasasile in Nkhata Bay. He was speaking during the installation of Yohane Suzgo Nyirenda as new bishop of the Diocese of Mzuzu. The background to the story is that  The Daily Times  of August 31, 2024, published a story which chronicled alleged abuses by MDF soldiers on the people of Kasasile, accusing them of encroachment. The people outrightly deny the accusation. Consequently, MDF deployed soldiers to the area who, among other abuses; raided their houses and crop fields, including beating them up. The story of the people of Kasasile has been on the agenda ever since. No wonder, Bishop Mtumbuka spoke about it...

Dear God, The Bible, which we have been told is your word, says in Numbers 23:19 that, “You are not a man that you should lie, neither are you son of man that you should repent.” In other words, you are sovereign, blameless and just. But I have a question for you, the Creator. I expect nothing but the naked truth. Are we Malawians, right? Is there any truth in our boiling anger? You have given us peace for nearly 60 years, while our counterparts on the continent have had bloody civil wars. Now, between Malawians and our counterparts reeling from pangs of wars, who should be angrier than the other? Dear God, You gave us your pulpit man called Lazarus Chakwera as president. Was this a mistake? Or  you were not on your desk on June 20, 2020, when we made him president? Were you paying attention to what was to come? Did you know that there would be a high cost of living? If you did, why didn’t you prepare us for this? There is one more thing to inquire about,  ...