Chisoni chides CSOs

Opposition political parties and some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been hitting at President Peter Mutharika and his government on several issues to the extent of asking him to resign. ALBERT SHARRA sat down with Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) national secretary Chris Chisoni to get his views on the trend and what it means to the nation.

Q

: What is you take on the way the opposition political parties are behaving in relation to helping government win back donor support?

A

:This is very clear that the opposition approach has been the usual one. Let the current administration become unpopular due to economic hardships so that its popularity once weakened, will give a political leverage to them [the opposition]. There is no pronounced evidence that the opposition parties, other than working in Parliament during budget formulation processes, have gone beyond this to share the reality that the current administration is facing, neither has there been any clear information that they have engaged donor partners for the sake of this country. This way of doing politics is doing a serious disservice to Malawi as it is ordinary citizens that often meet the brunt of the economic woes. Our opposition parties must have at their heart, Malawian citizenry and as such they must be part of the solution to the economic meltdown by dialoguing with government and the cooperating partners.

Q

There has been a spate of verbal war between President Peter Mutharika and the main opposition party, Malawi Congress Party (MCP). More recently, MCP criticised President Mutharika saying he is not in control and the President hit back saying MCP just opposes for the sake of it, that its arguments are baseless and are conveyed through wrong forums, meaning political rallies. What do you say?

A

: The accusations and counter-accusations between the President and MCP only signify the failure of our politicians to embrace transformative political leadership widely cried for by most Malawians in our multiparty era. To say the President is not in control without substantiating arguments is for MCP just like any other opposition political party, a normal way of playing the opposition role in Malawi politics. Given that this accusation were genuine, it would have been imperative for MCP to provide necessary and sufficient grounds leading to the conclusion that the President is not in control. Alas! What has been peddled before the nation by MCP and some stakeholders with similar sentiments, as per media stories, does not have objective and verifiable indicators or rather it is based on faulty and wildly speculated assumptions purely based on narrow partisan politics that have been corroding Malawian politics for so long. Truly, if some issues are noted by MCP, rushing to the media is not a right thing as the media might not convey their message correct. MCP’s first leader Hastings Banda consistently believed in contact and dialogue which must not be lost by MCP current leadership. It should not be a surprise therefore that MCP as a messenger and its message are equally rejected by the one whom they thought would listen to them. So it is a waste of time and energies that could have been used efficiently for the socio-economic transformation of Malawi.

Q

: Mutharika says no one has ever knocked at his door to discuss with him national issues. What does this mean considering that we have been preaching about dialogue in the country?

A

: It has become an established trend in Malawi that most CSOs and opposition parties assist people in complaining daily. They are more inclined to be newsmakers than agents of social and political change largely needed in this country. There are established structures and mechanisms of communicating with the office of the President. However, even if there could be some challenges in accessing the President or communicating to the President, the dominant approach much loved by most CSOs and opposition leaders is to speak through print and electronic media which often appeals to the present emotions of the audience but leaves out the real target. If the President, therefore, has said his doors are open for dialogue on any national issue raised, let the CSOs and the opposition parties seize this opportunity and knock at his door. It is also important for the President to ensure, out of his busy schedule, that those indeed genuinely knocking at his door on very critical national issues are given an audience timely to avoid a vicious cycle of blame games. Differently thought, the president has the whole state machinery- ministries, departments, and responsible officials for most of the national issues; it would be wise not to just get obsessed with meeting the president on every national issue when state structures are available and operation to be engaged.

Q

: The CSOs and MCP are calling for the president to resign honourably. Do you think this is enough to make a President step down?

A

: Whilst we acknowledge freedom of expression to be the birth right of all, it must be utilised responsibly. Calling for an incumbent President to resign has become an empty threat trend from some CSOs and opposition parties since 1994. Presidents may resign if there are grounds necessitating this action. However, before there is any contact and dialogue, before there is even a single attempt to engage, it seems, it is fashionable to call for presidents to resign. Sometimes, it feigns ignorance of systems, laws and procedures from those making such calls; sometimes it symbolises lack of seriousness from the protagonists of such calls to embark on a genuine path of dialogue based on facts and principles. Often times it smacks of emotional outbursts that only satisfy the egos of the protagonists-probably a needed peaceful-sleeping dosage when there is a paralysis of analysis.

Q

: Any last comment?

A

: In our journey as a country, all stakeholders—CSOs, religious bodies, traditional institutions, the private sector and more seriously political parties—we must reconsider our destiny. We must truly ask painful questions whose pain is necessary for transforming Malawi’s poverty, politics and the pervasive development puzzle. We must develop the spirit of concern, care, interest and love for our country as most of the challenges we are facing today are man-made and they have for sure man-made solutions.