MCP not inspiring confidence
If there was a time for the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to pull out all the stops and step forward as the best option for governing this country, it is now.
Unfortunately, there is very little chance of MCP to clean up its dented image and usurp the position that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held not long ago, that of a clueless political party lacking direction.
Not to say all is rosy in the DPP, far from it: DPP is after all the party that cannot decide who its runningmate will be, even when it is clear that it will not be the incumbent Vice-President Saulos Chilima.
As it stands, MCP is winning the unpopularity contest by far and seems to be the only party in the running. Fresh from the blunder of accepting a share of the dubiously sourced and distributed K4 billion, the party just could not let that issue rest.
Look, all MCP had to do was have one stand on the K4 billion gift and stick to it, whether they came under attack from whichever quarter. If the party believed the money would benefit their constituencies, then well and good.
The leader, Lazarus Chakwera made it clear that much as they had accepted the money would be spent, he still wanted the events leading to the disclosure of this funding investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
One would think this was a clear stand communicated by the president of the party with endorsements from the National Executive Committee (NEC) but that was clearly not the case.
The MCP MPs must have been shocked, however, when the acting secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka told the media that MCP would not be accepting the K4 billion after all.
If indeed the K4 billion was contained in the allocation for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, it was up to those leaders in Parliament to school their colleagues outside that this could not reversed.
At least not without tabling a repeal or amendment Bill to the Appropriation Act which MCP MPs themselves contributed in passing to authorise the Minister of Finance to spend.
Why is it that it was only Mkaka who realised that the K4 billion payout was embroiled in dishonesty and thievery, not the MPs who approved its expenditure?
What is MCP telling its supporters and potential voters about their ability to make decisions and stick to them?
In all this, the leadership of Chakwera is nowhere to be seen or felt. There is more time being spent attending dinners organised by an aspiring vice-president than removing the confusion that rocks the party.
MCP does not seem like a political party on the cusp of victory as predicted by some survey or other. It is a party that is unravelling at the seams aided by some shortsighted individuals lacking ambition.
It is been said here and it will now be reiterated: The best thing that can happen in MCP right now is for a national convention to happen as soon as yesterday. With an injunction hanging over its head and a few weeks to go to the planned event, that seems too much to hope for.
MCP seems to hellbent on squandering the perceived good they have had recently, buoyed by DPP, which in itself is the best option for Malawi.
Not to be a prophet of doom but this MCP does not inspire confidence as a party that is capable of governing come May 2019. This habit of flip flopping and verbally attacking any individual that criticises its actions is not what Malawians want for a ruling political party.
