Emily Mkamanga

Self-praise makes elections irrelevant

The May 2019 Tripartite Elections are getting closer and Malawians are busy with campaign. While some people are celebrating for being chosen as running mates by the presidential candidates, others are leaking their wounds for being left out. Honestly speaking, the procedure of choosing running mates has left some party gurus not trusting the presidents anymore for choosing the unexpected. Meanwhile, without relying on anyone else, every candidate is campaigning on his own strength for the position of an MP or councillor.

Every candidate should know better that there is an evaluation before people start to vote. Candidates are checked on how best they have served the people in their areas and above all whether they can be trusted. It is their past which can detect the future which the candidates are voted on.

To start with, Malawi is a very poor country and for the past five years the situation has been worsening. Therefore, it is very strange to hear MPs, as well as President Peter Mutharika, claiming that they have developed their constituencies and the country, respectively.

If their claim is true, Malawi would not have been one of the poorest countries in the world. Most Malawians are fed up with this talk of this imaginary development. It is overdone during campaign so as to buy votes. Since it has no meaning and it is very irrelevant.

It is now a tradition that at every campaign rally held by President Mutharika, he narrates in a self-praise fashion all the development he has brought into the country. Honestly speaking, people clap hands just because of being brain-washed to appreciate even things they cannot see just to please the leader.

This behaviour has been retrogressive. It goes without saying that it is more sensible in campaigning that candidates should not be wasting time with self-praise by narrating their successes. Voters are intelligent enough to know what each candidate has done in the past and what he/she is likely to do in future.

Imagine, the President always says his government has improved the economy. How can this be when the same government has failed to stop corruption which is usually done by people with power. The President is also proud of his road construction together with the bridges. Unfortunately, most of them have been washed away during the first rains due to poor workmanship. Most likely, corruption has played a part. All in all, no matter how many times President Mutharika praises his government, due to the suffering Malawians are facing, they feel the government under his leadership has failed.

What is commonly seen at campaign meetings is that self-praise by candidates goes hand-in-hand with promises, which are never fulfilled. They are just said to buy votes. It is unfortunate that due to abject poverty politicians think they have the right to cheat people with empty promises.

Of late, President Mutharika has been promising people that once they vote him back in power he will develop Malawi to look like some European countries. Hearing this, his audiences hysterically clap hands even if they have no clue how countries in Europe look like. In fact, his promise is unbelievable because for the past five years, his government has dragged Malawians to worst poverty, never experienced before.

It is very sad that politicians, as stated in the above, take advantage of people’s ignorance and cheat their way into power. This is how the country has been impoverished.

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