Mr President, leave Joyce Banda alone!
Just a week after losing the May 20 elections, Joyce Banda—fondly called JB—silently flew to a breather in the US. For the 50+ days she was there, President Peter Mutharika never went around holding public rallies. He was a President, a Head of State in office.
However, just a week after JB silently flew back home, Mutharika launched his so-called ‘thank you’ tour. He spoke calm and policy in Mzuzu and Blantyre and, then, digressed completely and ranted venom at Masintha in Lilongwe.
In his rants at Masintha, Mutharika even took time to dust off quite a weighty allegation against JB. He alleged that JB plotted to assassinate him.
I am sure, in making such a weighty allegation; the President expected a response from JB. Unfortunately, JB chose to maintain her silence.
Just a week after the incident, Minister of Gender, Patricia Kaliati, was quoted in the media saying that JB needs to ask the President whenever she wants to travel abroad. She did not justify the reason JB should be doing that. Again, JB did not respond—choosing her silence.
A week before the beginning of the UN General Assembly in the US, JB silently flew to UK to give a talk at London School of Economics (LSE). From there, she flew to the US where—upon invitation as a champion of girls rights—chaired various meetings on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meeting.
Her silent presence at the UN, it appears, did not go down well with Mutharika’s government. Foreign Affairs Minister George Chaponda was quoted in The Nation on Wednesday last week alleging that JB is frustrating the President by advancing a different picture of Malawi government at the UN.
Even without justifying the different picture JB was advancing, Chaponda reiterated what Kaliati had said weeks before that JB needs to consult with OPC before flying out.
I am sure if you would use the thread of how Mutharika’s government has been behaving towards a silent JB since her return from the breather in US, you would understand Chaponda’s statement differently than you would do if you get consumed by the passion of the hour.
From the way I see it, the thread is revealing a Mutharika government that wants to disparage JB, at the same time, keep her in constant check. They are dying to watch her every step and dirten her image. Nobody, apart from them, knows the reason they are doing this.
The question, however, is: what is it in JB that is troubling DPP gurus not just to keep her in constant check but also to publicly parade weighty allegations against her?
The paradox of it is that JB has chosen to maintain her silence. In fact, when I was among the Weekend Nation team that interviewed her three weeks ago, JB underlined her need to stay out of picture.
She said: “I don’t want to discuss elections. I accepted what happened and I am moving on. What I know is that, currently, we have a new President. He is my President; let us all support her for sake of moving the country forward.”
You see, JB is not facing any arrest. She is not answering any charge before any court. She is just a free citizen with an international repute—believe me, there are thousands, out there, who want to listen to her voice.
As such, there is hardly a reason Mutharika and his government should be keeping her in check. Neither is there a reason President Mutharika should be going public with unjustified allegation against her. If they have problem with her, it makes presidential sense to lay them bare for us, the citizens, to know. Ranting nonsensical jibes has never been part of a presidential decorum.
In my considered wisdom, if Mutharika’s government continues to travel this JB’s road, I would hasten to conclude that they want to create a political deadlock—similar to the Bingu-Muluzi we had between 2005 and 2009—with a sole purpose of diverting nation from debating critical issues that appear to define their leadership tone in the few days they have been in office.
They promised merit in public appointments. But Malawians have seen how nepotistic they have been and, angered by that, some, today, see federalism and secession as a way to go. Mutharika’s government need to face this!
They have not made any fundamental shift on the economic scene: they have maintained what JB designed in the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP). Even in the face of a zero-deficit budget—which is a result of both PP and DPP’s failure to contain looting of public money—Mutharika’s government, in their budget, do not make enviable allocations to sectors that could help Malawi generate income. They are allocating heavily to consumption sectors, most of them, nonsensical like subsiding iron sheets.
I think these are some of the issues that, as a citizen, I expect government to be worried and concerned with. Not JB.
I just pray that JB lives to her silence. Through that, Mutharika and his friends will not find a ground to divert the nation from debating critical issues.
That is why I am saying: Mr President, attend to critical and presidential issues that give your office the expected decorum. Leave Joyce Banda alone—ndi pulezidenti opuma uyu!
