The October 17 by-election results have left President Peter Mutharika with more questions than answers.
I think it really feels good for political leaders to be sweet-talked. No wonder, they are prone to deceit from opportunists with the dexterities to candy-coat their inebriating talks.
I do not want to insinuate that the learned professor of law has been intoxicated with lies by political conmen, the snakes he nurtures like pets.
The by-election results are not only embarrassing to APM and his party, but excruciating.
How can the ruling party, given all its resources and political edge, perform so miserably?
This calls for more soul-searching.
Certainly, APM was assured of good result.
Who does he trust now?
The people have spoken. This is not the voice of the few “elites” and “privileged” around APM.
It is the public expression of their attitude towards Mutharika and his administration.
The public voice is always louder and clearer. They neither whisper nor sugar-coat their feelings. Former President Joyce Banda had her share in 2014.
The by-election results reflect people’s truth.
The question is: Whose voice does APM now trust? The DPP cadres or the public?
What a reality check!
Given the abrasiveness and arrogance of our politicians, they will find a way to sugar-coat the poll defeat in APM’s presence.
It will be foolhardy for the President to entertain any lame excuses for these pitiable results.
He needs to listen to the people’s views for his DPP to compete favourably with the seemingly unstoppable MCP in 2019.
Arrogance in view of these results is a recipe for another failure.
If DPP cadres still dispute the unpopularity of the President and his party, sober mind will seek no more evidence than these results.
I feel for the President. I envision him couched at Sanjika Palace, waiting in hope for a landslide victory in last week’s by-elections only to be awakened by tremours of the hopeless defeat.
What a fall of the ‘mighty’ party! Certainly, in the run-up to the by-elections, party elites’ message to the President was: “Don’t worry, boss; we are doing everything on the ground”.
The results constitute a rude awakening for Mutharika and embarrassing to the party in power.
The President must walk out of the deceptive cave to face the harsh reality on the ground.
The greatest weakness for him is to make no effort to see things with a different lens.
He needs to take off the blue political lenses of DPP, which are coloured by opinionated view of the opportunists and bootlickers, and wear the lens of a national leader.
DPP’s performance in these by-elections cannot surprise any analytical mind.
The party has been losing its salt for years.
I hope Mutharika’s comprehension and reasoning is not impaired and choked by the voice of buccaneers around him.
Who does APM now trust given that almost all people around him seem to have personal interests? Certainly, he needs to attentively listen to all what his party leaders consider dissenting views and make sense out of it.
Unfortunately, politicians are prone to deceit and the President is no exception.
He may be fascinated by well-articulated lies and take them for truth although the whole truth is clear on the wall: people have lost confidence in DPP again.
If Mutharika does not listen to the voice of truth from the people and opt to be embellished with lies, he is digging a grave for his party. The question remains: Who should APM trust now?
