Does everybody belong to CCAP up North?
The last time I checked the Northern Region was, just like the other two regions, a microcosm of Malawi full of people from all tribes and districts that belong to various religions, churches and denominations.
You would imagine, therefore, how I felt when Khumbo Kachali told the gathering during the coronation of M’mbelwa V two weeks ago that the people of the Northern Region would follow whatever the Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP would decide on the two hottest issues of our time: secession and federalism.
My views on either secession or federalism have been patently clear: In the interest of freedom of expression, the citizenry from any part of this country are free to discuss the two issues so long as there is honesty and nobody is breaking the law.
But now I have new fear and it is that if the citizens, including those that are championing the two issues in the North and Centre are not careful, their campaign stands a risk of being hijacked by gullible politicians like Kachali to achieve their own political ambitions.
Politicians like Kachali would do or say anything to achieve political power. They would even make a pact with the devil himself if the ultimate end is political power.
The North as a region does not belong to Livingstonia Synod. It belongs to the people of the region who have their representatives in MPs and councillors. These can make valid and legal decisions on behalf of the people of the North and not Livingstonia Synod.
For starters, not everybody in the North belongs to the CCAP. There are Catholics, Muslims, Anglicans, pentecostals, Bible Believers, non-believers, traditionalists and I can go on and on until the cows come home.
It is an insult to the intellect of these other people for somebody like Kachali to say they will follow whatever the synod says on secession and federalism. Why should they?
Even for those that belong to CCAP, why should they follow what the leadership of the CCAP says on federalism or secession? What if it is crap as it has been sometimes? Are they drooling imbeciles or hopeless idiots to follow what their church says even when it is not making sense?
But I can forgive Kachali. He is just following a known script that spineless and ideology-less politicians follow and it is to do or say anything as long as it gives you an advantage for power and influence even when it does not make an iota of sense to anybody.
Nobody should be surprised with Kachali’s behaviour as he is prone to putting his foot in his mouth. You remember how he told all Malawians off when they complained that he was blowing their taxes by being on the road constantly as vice-president: I do not visit your mothers’ houses.
You also remember how he fought hard to get picked as running mate to PP’s Joyce Banda and when he was snubbed he jumped into bed with DPP, the party that chucked him out and he castigated so much when he was in government.
But all this does not matter. It is his political funeral. What matters is that he should not misrepresent or misguide the Northern Region merely because he comes from there.
Kachali should not exaggerate the importance of the Livingstonia Synod in the North as if everybody who lives in that region belongs to it.
