I
prefer to call those that exercise the legal and political authority of the
State the governing–proxy. When we refer to public officers as leaders –
whether they are technical public officers or political public officers – it
creates a delusional sense of superiority that oozes a capture and monopoly to
intelligence; know–how. The rest of us do not know anything. After all, we are
not the nouveau Maybach–men or
Maybach–women.
This
sense of entitlement is misplaced. The people of Malawi have always determined
which shall be the political party in the majority; which shall be the
political party in the minority; and who shall form the Presidency. The act of
the people of Malawi at a general election defines the political space. It is
their composite consent that legitimates public officers to exercise the legal
and political authority of the State.
There
is something disheartening that happens to the Presidency and the rest of the
Executive when they form government in this country. When our political public
officers enter office, they proclaim
sound economic management; announce positive inroads in the agricultural
sector; and they usually get an excellent score on the ‘democracy barometer’;
especially amidst a typical idiosyncrasy of the opposition still reeling from
an election loss. Then; slowly but surely, our political public officers
develop a certain hot–headness. A hot–headness that says to us: “Go to hell.”
This has happened under the three previous Administrations we have had in this
country. It is happening now.
If
I may be a little nostalgic; in post–Cold War Africa, did we not revel in the
promise of more of the Ikem Osidos and less of the Sams depicted in Chinua
Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah?
African countries are, in the words of Mwangi Kimenyi, in a ‘poor–governance
trap’. What has happened? Beyond the text of the largely, liberal democratic
constitutions, it has been business as usual.
What
do the people of Malawi want? In light of the Cashgate scandal, Malawians want
speedy prosecution of culprits with a follow through of confiscation orders of
the property of those who will have been convicted. Malawians want clear
evidence of improvement in the provision of essential services. Malawians want
more action and less talking. Malawians respect – and will continue to respect
– the various ethnic groups that exist in the country. However, it is a no–no
when – suddenly – members of a particular ethnic group are seemingly entitled
to appointment to public and other offices; and to Government contracts.
Perhaps,
we are also not moving as a country thanks to the political network we have. The
network is self–reinvigorating. A number of our political public officers in
the country are imbricated in the network based on personal connections or
social class as opposed to ideology. The absence of ideology has led to the
underdevelopment of democratic institutions and to the entrenchment of
political patronage. Indeed, politicians have defected, with remarkable ease,
from the red shirts of the Malawi Congress Party to the yellow t–shirts of the
United Democratic Front to the orange zitenje
of the People’s Party and to the blue safari suits of the Democratic
Progressive Party and to other colours in between. This has been possible
because the principles of a universal, free vote and periodic elections have
been absent at intra–political party level in the country.
What
the people of Malawi want is very simple. They want drugs in the public
hospitals; all weather roads; primary and secondary schools that one can be
proud of; public officers who are not merely guardians of rubber stamps as
Thabo Mbeki once said. Malawians want to look out to the end of the horizon and
quietly smile and say to themselves: “This country is moving forward.”
We
sang “Zasintha! Zasintha! There was hope everywhere. We are still hoping. In the
words of Achille Mbembe, we have been dancing to songs of repetition and lists;
frequent antitheses; the tendency to exaggerate; the common use of hyperbole
and expressions that go beyond reality; and preference for imprecise
propositions and vague generalizations, complete with constant references to
the future. We have been served a “verbal trance”.
When
the class of the governing–proxy does not listen, the subaltern speak. On 17
October, 2017, Malawi had by–elections in Nsanje Lalanje constituency, Lilongwe
Msozi North constituency, Lilongwe City South East constituency, Ndirande Makata
ward, Mtsiliza Ward and Mayani ward. And the subaltern have spoken.
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