On Muluzi and Chilumpha

On the day the United Democratic Front held it's convention, it's chairman Bakili Muluzi granted an interview to the BBC. When asked why he would like to return as Malawi's president he said because Bingu wa Mutharika had dumped the party after he was elected president and as such he needed to return the UDF to power! This type of reasoning to me is not only gravely flawed but also defied all logic. Mr Muluzi needs to be reminded that people do not ascend to power to simply punish others or for the sake of being a ruling party. They are placed in positions of authority to serve the people and going by Muluzi's past record, that is not likely to feature high on his agenda. I am not one who listens to speeches made by politicians from either side of the political divide but when I have heard a minute or two of Muluzi's speeches they have carried very little substance and his messages are frequently unintelligent. We have seen what politics based on greed and retribution are doing to Zimbabwe. Malawians need not make that mistake here.

As for Cassim Chilumpha I would think the best thing to do would be to make a graceful exit from politics now. If yesterdays results are anything to go by, Chilumpha has no support base within the UDF - he polled 38 votes for the post of chairman out of around 2,000. Commentators predicted this outcome because of his behaviour of shunning party activities and not being in touch with the grassroots. President Mutharika also 'accepted his constructive resignation' for the same kind of attitude. I also recall that in one of the last cabinets of Bakili Muluzi, Chilumpha didn't attend the swearing in ceremony when he was named minister and never took up his post and we never really knew why. He 'constructively showed Muluzi his middle finger'. He treated Muluzi the way you and I treat those vendors who stuff cheap arse watches and pirated Nigerian DVD's in our car windows in the parking lot . And to top all this, he has a treason case looming over him. Kaka, exit this game. Things don't seem to be on your side! The message is clear you are more of a political liability than anything else.