By Jones Gadama
Today in Malawi, the story is very clear. One man is working. Two parties are fighting.
The car is moving under President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, and the noise is coming from MCP and UTM. But the car is not stopping.
Let us ask the question every Malawian is asking in the market, in the minibus, in the village and in the town. What exactly are MCP and UTM fighting for?
In MCP, they are not fighting for Malawians. They are not fighting for food. They are not fighting for fuel. They are not fighting for roads.
They are fighting for chairs. Today former President Lazarus Chakwera held a press conference at MCP headquarters in Lilongwe because his own party is on fire.
One group is demanding an early convention to remove him.
Another group is demanding a constitutional amendment so that Chakwera can cling to power and contest for MCP presidency again.
One group wants Chakwera out, another group wants Chakwera to stay forever. MCP is fighting itself, and ordinary Malawians are tired of watching this endless drama for positions.
In UTM, the fight is even more shameful. UTM youth, who are supposed to be the future of this nation, are not fighting for jobs. They are not fighting for education.
They are not fighting for the youth of Malawi. They are fighting for a microphone. They have written an open letter declaring that they have lost confidence in their own Director of Youth.
They have declared his position vacant. They are begging their President Dr Dalitso Kabambe to fire their own leader.
How can a party that cannot manage its own youth wing manage a nation of 20 million people? How can youth who cannot unite themselves unite Malawi? UTM is divided from the inside, and the whole country can see it.
We must condemn this with all our hearts. This is not opposition. This is irresponsibility. This is uselessness. A true opposition is supposed to be a watchdog that checks government.
A true opposition is supposed to give alternative policies and better ideas. A true opposition is supposed to fight for the people. But MCP and UTM have forgotten their roles.
They have become theatres of confusion, circuses of wrangles, houses of noise, while the nation is waiting for serious leadership.
They are wasting time that Malawians do not have. They are wasting energy that should be used to build the country.
And while they are fighting, what is APM doing? APM is fixing Malawi. Quietly. Calmly. Beautifully. Like his elder brother Bingu, APM is letting his hands speak.
One year ago, Malawi was a sick patient in the intensive care unit. Food was scarce, forex had disappeared, inflation was eating our salaries, and roads had become death traps.
The M1, our lifeline, had been abandoned until at Chiweta it became completely impassable. Malawi was dying.
Then came APM. He did not come with noise. He came with work. And in just one year, he has done what others failed to do in five years.
Food insecurity has fallen from 4 million people to 1.9 million. Inflation has fallen from above 30 percent to 19.4 percent.
The machines are roaring at Chiweta to rebuild the M1. The Kameza Interchange is coming to Blantyre to make Blantyre shine like Dubai.
The Liwonde-Matawale Road is being built. The Mangochi-Makanjira Road is rising. The M5 Road from Kaphatenga to Benga is being rehabilitated.
The Lingadzi Bridge worth K7.5 billion is ending 20 years of suffering for people in Areas 47 and 49.
APM has stopped the looting in workshops. He has sent money to the people. K85.5 billion Constituency Development Fund. K15 billion Youth and Women Loans. K17.1 billion School Bursaries.
He has told investors, “The honeymoon of looting is over. Government is not a feast.” And investors are running back. 80 million dollars from the World Bank in Washington. Big deals in South Africa. Praise in London. Malawi’s respect is back.
And who is eating this bread? Who is driving on these roads? Who is benefiting from the bursaries and the loans? It is the very same MCP members who are fighting for chairs.
It is the very same UTM youth who are fighting for a microphone. They are enjoying APM’s development while they are fighting APM’s government. That is the painful truth.
Let MCP continue to fight for chairs. Let UTM continue to fight for a microphone. APM will continue to build. Because history will not remember those who fought for positions.
History will remember the man who stood where Bingu stood. History will remember the man who let his hands speak.
While they fight, Malawi is rising.
