Federalism not an option

PROF. JOHN CHISI, PRESIDENT OF UP

I do not think Malawi can handle federalism with the human, financial and infrastructure challenges she has.  Again, I do not see how federalism will change things because the party in power will still run the country.

It should be noted that things in this country went wrong right from the beginning. When we got independence, we chased all the whites who had vision but did not share with us. As a result, we did not understand what they were doing. And then during Kamuzu time, we said we wanted freedom, we wanted to be free from handcuffs. That was right but we didn’t understand what really freedom meant. Because even the politicians (after multiparty) did not understand things apart from thinking about how to get into government. So they used regionalism to divide the country and that disease started. That is why when the UDF won (the first multiparty) elections, it did that on regional lines.

The Northern Region is also fragmented; it is failing to come together under one leader. This is because of mistrust among the people. So you cannot expect to win any elections if your thinking is like that. The Central and Southern Regions have done better in coming together.  But at the end of the day, we are trying to find a leader who will bring all of us together. We cannot move forward if we divide the country because at the end of the day, we miss out on crucial issues that can benefit all of us.

UP is against federalism because we believe that dividing the country is not the ultimate solution to problems. Look at South Sudan. When they were fighting for freedom, they were united but after Sudan allowed it to secede; new problems emerged where the president fought against his former vice. Look at Nigeria; they are fighting a war there because federalism has not helped. So dividing the country is not the solution to any problems, be they social, political or economic.

Again some people might claim that this noise of division is as a result of different tribes. That is not true because in Tanzania there are several tribes but there is no talk about diving the country. The same is the case with many other countries. We need to understand these things because if we don’t, we will never move forward.

If Malawians looked at issues about people that fight or represent them, anybody can be a leader. The only solution is to find a way so that Malawians vote for someone based on ideas and not regionalism or tribalism. Leadership has nothing to do with where one is coming from. You can have a leader from the North but the country can collapse if he or she is mad. You can have a leader from the South but again the country can collapse if he or she is mad. The same applies to the Centre. It is the vision, the focus and the understanding that one has that can move the country forward and the people should have trust in you. Imposing leaders on the people will not help. So if Malawians truly understand what they want by choosing the right leaders not based on region, the country will move forward. If not, these problems will continue.

Of course, debate on federalism is necessary but government cannot be open to it because it knows what it is made of. Here is a party that was in power two years ago and showed its character. It is now back in power and has started showing its character and people are seeing that. But we believe that regardless of what the people will feel about the party, it has to accept to be in pain for a short period by opening up the debate. They (government) should reshuffle the cabinet and make it inclusive. They should stop firing people based on tribe or region. They should look at a bigger Malawi so that everyone can become happy again and live better in harmony. As a result, productivity will grow because everyone will be happy. But because they were in power before, they are doing the same things, just as a river follows its own valley.

The DPP has shown that it is doing almost the same things it used to do. That is why opening debate on federalism will be difficult to be allowed. But you cannot blame it because, just like any party, it is just following its ideology. Unfortunately, its ideology was tested before and the best way is to change otherwise the trust from the people will erode.

I believe that these people (governing party) are not tribalist. They just have a common understanding and work together as a group. But because they are from the same area, then one may claim that they are tribalist. You should understand that when (late) Bingu wa Mutharika died, many people from other regions ran away and joined the People’s Party (PP). Most of those that remained were from the same tribe with the late Bingu. And when the DPP came to power, it had no choice but to reward those that remained with the party. That is normal but the only unfortunate thing is that they come from one tribe. Try to understand how politics work.

Some people are blaming the stand taken by chiefs in the North. You should understand that chiefs are government employees and they are working on conditions of service. You cannot expect anyone to work outside his or her conditions of service or he or she will be fired. These  chiefs are being paid by government and they will tell you that they are following the government of the day, meaning that they will follow whichever party forms government regardless of whether they believe in that party’s manifesto or not. So the chiefs will never be independent and we need to understand them. Unfortunately, it is the arrogance of the government in power that directs how the chiefs should behave. What is required is for the chiefs to listen to their subjects and then make a decision. That is not currently the case because chiefs look at what the governing party wants and then follow it.

I believe that money is behind those campaigning for federalism. In Malawi, it is money that works whether in politics or anything. It is clear that someone is funding this campaign and this person is not a friend of Malawi. I would have loved that there should be two funders of this debate; those for and those against federalism so that people can make their judgment. What I see now is that those that are for federalism are the only ones that are being funded. They seem to have more money. That is why when they want to demonstrate, they can easily do that because they have money.

Whatever the case, I feel that since we are in democracy, people should feel free to debate it and that an amicable solution will eventually be found. We are democratic and we want people to debate it freely. However, we do not want emotions during the debate. We want unity in this country. I see that there is currently a lot of emotions in the way people debate it and that will not bring mature solution.