▪By Danwood M Chirwa▪
Malawians within and outside the country are shedding tears of joy, rejoicing, dancing, singing, ululating, after breaking loose the yoke of tribal repression from their necks. They are celebrating the outcome of a presidential election which is yet to be called by the Electoral Commission. They are doing so, not to preempt the official outcome, but with the full knowledge that the unofficial result already circulating in the public domain is indubitable and that the Commission will merely rubber stamp it.
Therein lies the difference between the commission led by Justice Dr Kachale and that led by previous chairs. Kachale has made the job look like a piece of cake; it was not. He has discharged the most challenging job in the country since 1994 with utmost competence and with unparalleled commitment, diligence and due care. Transparency was key to his methodology and now he’s left with mopping up to complete a job well done. I couldn’t be more proud of this brother. He’s written himself into the annals of Malawian history as a rare statesman.
This presidential election is much more than a five-yearly ritual. Malawians are not necessarily celebrating the electoral triumph of one Dr Lazarus Chakwera and his partner Dr Saulos Chilima, deserved as the triumph might seem to be. Malawians are primarily cerebrating two things.
The first is the end of the 26 year hold of the Muluzi-Mutharika families on the country, which will go down as the most notorious heist in Africa’s political history. Muluzi captured the democratic movement fo the 90s using ethnicity as his main method, and later co-opted the Mutharikas to form a tribal pact that has unleashed a reign of tribalism and criminality and dashed the aspirations of many young people for the last 26 years. As one famous lawyer said, they turned Malawi into their joint estate. One hopes this day marks the end of the Muluzi-Mutharika tribal dynasty.
The second reason why Malawians are so joyous today is that they have finally, truly and unmistakably realized their sovereignty. Betrayed by subregional and regional states and the whole international community, Malawians were left to their own devices to claim and defend their right to vote. They did this through a protracted but step-by-step effort involving many actors, each playing an indispensable role, from civil society organizations which channeled the frustrations of many young people through country-wide protests, and the lawyers who spent many sleepless nights gathering evidence, researching the law and presenting their case before the courts, the justices of the HC and SCA who put themselves at personal risk by choosing to uphold the constitution and justice, parliament which did its part to uphold the court judgments, the new MEC which has for once fulfilled its role as an independent facilitator of elections, the security forces for protecting freedoms and keeping peace and order in the last 14 months, the electorate for voting wisely and guarding the vote, to the opposition alliance which worked hard to present a different option to the status quo.
Absent from this election were the SADC observers, the AU observers, the arrogant EU observers, the Commonwealth observers, the UN observers, or the observers from Mars and Venus. Malawians held free and fair presidential elections on their own, with their own money, with no empire in heaven and on earth watching.
We can now proclaim, loud and clear, that Malawi is free! Malawi is a sovereign! Never again shall we subjugate ourselves to a foreign power. We are masters of our destiny. Let Africa and the world take notice. True freedom has been claimed here and it must spread.
Many people have shared catalogues of priorities for the new government. Some are truly compelling suggestions. They are worth paying attention to. But we cannot forget that we have been at this moment before. We have said before: ‘it’s now over, the new guys couldn’t be worse’. But the new guys took the stage and became worse, and then there was change again, but the new guys became worse, again and again. Let it be underlined that the people have voted for change, not individuals. If change doesn’t happen, you too shall see your last day in office dishonourably.
Finally, Tuesday’s vote was not for the ghost of Dr Banda. Neither was it a referendum for the return to a one-party system. This means that we have to reconcile ourselves with accommodating the much maligned DPP in the post Mutharika-Muluzi dynasty era. This party has a constitutional duty to serve as the leading opposition party. Undoubtedly, this party has a lot to do, to reform itself and do what is required of it. But discharge it’s constitutional duty it must. We are a multiparty state.
To all those soldiers of democracy and constitutionalism, this was a battle well fought. Thanks for your support. I will be back in the trenches when things turn bad again (because they will). Bye.