Four Reasons to fire Bakili Muluzi

All seems calm and quiet in the UDF and it comes as no surprise if history is anything to go by. Bakili Muluzi has always had the last say in the party and each time has gotten away with it. But it is time for the real owners of the party (if they are any) to stand up and claim back what is rightfully theirs - their party! There are more reasons than one now than at any other time to fire Muluzi and get the party back on it’s feet.

Reason 1. There has never been a time where UDF has faced such uncertainty before in it's history and especially with only two months before a general election. This uncertainty has been caused by the greed of one Bakili Muluzi who wants to stand again for the presidency, a post he already served twice. And why does he think he is the only suitable presidential candidate? See reason 2 below.

Reason 2. Muluzi has failed to nurture a leader to succeed him. The job of a leader is not only to lead but to produce other leaders. We are not indispensable and sooner rather than later we need replacements. Muluzi has failed miserably in this area.

Reason 3: Muluzi continues to cause uncertainty in the party but pursuing a court case against the Malawi Electoral Commission while at the same time engaging himself in alliance talks with Malawi Congress Party. He is clearly showing the party he feels no one is fit enough to run the affairs of the party or government other than himself. The ‘madeya’ issue at play here? Maybe.

Reason 4: By pursuing alliance talks with Malawi Congress Party, Muluzi is effectively securing himself the post of UDF presidential candidate come 2014.

Now someone tell me the UDF faithful have no reason to fire it’s leader and all reason to rally behind him!

New year, Same old power problems

Last Tuesday many residents of Area 49 in Lilongwe and other townships rushed home to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the US of A. But it was all cut short when they faced an electricity blackout. The power was only restored at the point when Obama was escorting Bush to Executive One, the helicopter that would take Bush to Andrews Airforce Base. Naturally many people were angry that they could not watch this historic moment live. On Wednesday I visited the profile one such person who hit out at Escom and the numerous comments below it also took a swipe at the corporation.

I have learnt to take a different view of the electricity supply body. The ESCOM-customer relationship is kind of like a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship. The girlfriend (Escom) is tired of her over-demanding boyfriend (Escom customers) and keeps trying to show him that she is not interested in him any longer. But as dumb as the boyfriend is he can't read the body language and she is not willing to tell him in his face for fear of the backlash.

I believe Escom has capacity problems and I believe it would love if we could all find alternate solutions to satisfy our power demands. There are alternatives like solar, gas and bio-gas we could use but we fail to embrace those technologies. If all of us currently building or who have just built houses decided that our houses will use a solar gyser and solar lighting, gas or bio-gas for our cooking and Escom to power the fridge, microwave and iron ONLY we could relieve Escom of the constant load shedding we are subjected to throughout the year. We have a young man in Kasungu who ‘invented’ a wind powered solution to supply lighting to his small house there. We even have (or had) an organisation called Malawi Industrial Research and Technology Development Centre (MIRTDC) that normally pioneers research into low cost technologies. Why can’t we tap knowledge and implement solutions from this body?

I doubt if Escom will ever come out in the open to tell us to look elsewhere. The supposedly 'poor' customer service is most probably Escom's body language that even if we went elsewhere they would not be very concerned and for good reason too!

If we don’t start looking for alternative sources of power Malawians will continue to face the same old problem – power blackouts!

The politics of fuel prices

There has been a multitude of calls in the local press regarding fuel pump prices. The calls have come against the backdrop of the fall in crude oil prices on the world market in the past few months. People have argued that the Petroleum Pricing Committee (PCC) should reduce the pump prices by up to 40%, some circles argue. Government on the other hand has argued that it was/is building up the stabalisation fund that was severely depleted when the PCC refused to raise prices last year when the price of crude oil sky rocketed. Others have said that the PCC should wait to see how the Gaza conflict and Russia gas row will play out as they have the potential to send the commodity sky rocketing again and this has been evident in the price movements in the past two weeks.

I say our focus should be on this price stabalisation fund ... at least for now.

Lilongwe Water Board strike

I read with interest yesterday an article in the newspaper that 5 LWB staff members had been arrested by police for disconnecting water supply to certain parts of Lilongwe during their recent industrial action. While I appreciate that prison is a nasty place to be I think it sends a very powerful message to other like minded selfish individuals. The industrial action had nothing to do with residents of the city and as such there was no need for people to suffer.

24 hour clinic

Early this morning I walked into a 24 hour clinic to see if I could get some treatment. I found two ladies sitting on the visitors chairs drinking tea and watching TV. They greeted me then hesitated a bit before one of them mumbled something. When I asked what she said, "A dokotala kulibe" (the doctor is not in) was her mumbled reply because of the food in her mouth. Then both her and her companion continued to drink their breakfast and chat away. When asked what time the doctor would be in "Chamma 8" (around 8). Looking inside the treatment room I saw no nurse and assumed she must be off too.

Two nights ago when I went to the same clinic I found a huge group of people waiting to be attended to. Reason? There was no doctor so someone had gone to pick him up in another part of town! No explanation or apologies from the receptionist, a different one from the ones I found today. People kept coming in and she just welcomed them as if nothing was wrong.

Need I say more

As Malawi votes

As Malawi inches closer to the 2009 general elections focus is being turned towards who will and can stand. The most contentious issue remains the candidacy of former president Bakili Muluzi. Parliamentary aspirants also continue to battle it out in their primaries. Serving MP's have fallen. Ministers have fallen. Aspirants are being abducted. People are crying foul. Top party officials are nearly trading blows. All very good for a healthy democracy (of course not the trading of blows).

But there is one issue that I would like to bring up and it is do with the voters. Who should be eligible to vote? I say tax payers only. Why? Answer below

The rural masses are largely unemployed and uneducated and they don't pay taxes. Amongst them you will find hardcore, die hard supporters of political leaders. However due to their economic and literary status many of these people are easily swayed by lies, exaggerations and money. Support for a person or party is based on emotions rather than on facts. Unfortunately most crooked politicians have bags full of lies, they grossly exaggerate issues and they tend to have a little more money than the other slightly more trustworthy candidates. Want examples? Just look around. As such, intentionally or not, these non-tax payers have the capability of putting jerks in power because they are swayed by K50’s and promises of bridges where there are not very many streams. For a tax payer like me, I vote with a little more caution because I know what sort of burdens certain politicians are capable of heaping onto society in general and on me in particular. And at the end of the day the non-tax payers he will continue to look up to me in town to provide for the needs of the people in the village. He votes into power a petty thief who will pocket my P.A.Y.E. tax and run down the economy while at the same expect me to willingly support him.

I say produce a TPIN or PAYE certificate at the polling station and be allowed to vote. If you don’t contribute to the national coffers you should not be allowed to choose who gets to manage them!!

Power sharing

I have heard one strong view on the two recent power sharing deals we have seen in Kenya and Zimbabwe. People have argued that it sets a bad precedence that allows ruling parties to steal the vote and later appease the opposition by sharing power later on. This is a valid argument but I would also like to look at it from the other angle.

Recently we saw Michael Sata of Zambia declaring before people even cast their vote that he would not accept defeat at the hands of Rupia Banda. So now we have a scenario where even if ruling parties do get into power legitimately there will be opposition figures who will be hell bent on getting into power in the name of power sharing. We have to be on watch for greedy politicians on both sides, some people will not leave any stone unturned in an effort to get their hands on power.

In a related development on BBC Focus on Africa today there was a report that a lone man in a Nairobi pub was nearly kicked out after showing support for John McCain when nearly everyone else in the pub was chanting Obama's name. The person I was listening to the radio with went on to say 'And the Americans should not dare steal the vote in favour of John McCain. We will cause chaos on the streets of America. Tikanyauda konko! Adziwanso!'

I can only wish the Americans good luck in their voting.