DPP, governments will come and go
As the days get closer to May, 2019, chances are high that the levels of political violence will escalate and political alignments will be the order of the day.
In all this, any right-minded thinking politician would do well to leave certain groups in society out of the political playground that will become even dirtier than ever. These groups are civil servants and journalists.
This is not to say the civil servants and journalists themselves do not play into the hands of politicians at times like these. But to threaten violence or deal with them as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary general did this week is completely uncalled for.
In the party’s visit to the Eastern Region, Greselder Jeffrey, as usual, used the podium to castigate civil servants who she claimed were sabotaging government projects to make President Peter Mutharika look bad.
The delusions went as far as threatening to deal with the civil servants in 2019 should the DPP administration be given another mandate.
According to Jeffrey, it is the party that would want APM to deal with journalists who write negative stories about him and the party but the President barely restrains them.
How laughable it is that the DPP which has the nerve to use the State broadcaster to parade individuals to give testimony that the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is a party of terror and death could say something like this?
If at all there is a political party of terror and death at the moment then it is the DPP. Malawians have not forgotten the stoning and beating that its cadets unleashed on opposition MCP at the Gonapamuhanya celebrations in Rumphi last year. This is not to mention similar events in the past.
In issuing such threats, does the DPP mean to say this lure of peace and tranquility is temporary, that when the campaign heats up, the evil might of the party will be unleashed?
Why is it so hard for the DPP to accept that Malawi is now a democracy with a Bill of Rights clearly defined in the Constitution adopted in 1994 which, among other things, includes the right to hold an opinion and express oneself?
Nowhere in the rights does it say these rights will be suspended when a party that is 13 years old and has only experienced the leadership of members of the same family is at the helm.
This attack and interference of civil servants duties is becoming a trend lately in this DPP administration.
Just this week, a whole Minister of Information Nicholas Dausi had the audacity to meddle in the road traffic control policies of Mangochi District Council, accusing the council of sabotaging the DPP’s chances of amassing Mangochi votes ahead of the election. All because the council ordered bicycle taxis off the streets in trying to reduce accidents.
This belief that civil servants are out to sabotage the DPP government was also observed when the party’s regional governor for the South Charles Mchacha branded Blantyre City Council officials enemies of APM and DPP for trying to bring order to illegal constructions.
If it is political manouvering in a bid to woo voters, the DPP should be warned that it is likely to backfire. How the DPP expects the same civil servants that they are threatening to vote them into power is a mystery.
Civil servants and the media should not be living in fear, for their lives and property or jobs, as they do their work. This is not what the people voted for.
Is it any wonder that such a political party intolerant of opposing views fears that its rule will come to an end in 2019? These are signs of a party that is very afraid of losing.
Simple advice to Jeffrey and the DPP: governments come and go but civil servants just like the media, all over the world, remain.
