If I were: Enoch Chihana

Alliance for Democracy (Aford) national chairperson, I would not declare my party’s support for President Joyce Banda in next year’s presidential elections without consulting my party.

If I were dada Chihana, I would realise that I cannot make such a crucial determination on my own without the approval of the party as that is tantamount to dictatorship.

I would not allow the trappings of my ministerial position and personal links to government to blind me from the fact that it is the same tendency that orchestrated the downfall of the party when my late father, Chakufwa Tom Chihana, was its leader.

I should also have known better the effects of unilateral alliances from the party’s history.

As national chairperson of the party, I would be mindful that Aford comprises many people whose voices count on major decisions like this one.

And I would further realise, just for the record, that democracy entails majority will—government of the people by the people for the people—and anything else has no place in pluralistic politics.

Being the late Chihana’s son, I would realise that I have a daunting task to prove that Aford is bigger than the Chihana family. As a party in free fall, I cannot afford to play politics of the past; hence the need to march to the future with sound policies that will bring back the party’s lost glory.

That is if only I were bwana Enoch Chihana. Unfortunately, I am not the Aford national chairperson.