Yes, shame on you for using a funeral for political mileage
The headlines for the two dailies on Wednesday this week aptly summed up the shame that characterized the funeral of Themba la Mathemba Chikulamayembe courtesy of the Government of Malawi. ‘Shame on you’ (The Nation, December 5 2018), ‘Shameful” (The Daily Times). They defined the poisoned chalice at a ceremony that should have given the departed chief a befitting send off. I blame it squarely on the last minute changes to the organisation and failing to communicate the same—the Government of the Republic of Malawi. They should have planned better and communicated better.
The telltale signs of the bitter aftertaste were evident long before the start of the funeral service. Late on Monday morning Chief Secretary to Government Lloyd Muhara issued a statement that the Tumbuka Paramount Chief would be buried with full military honours. That was a good decision. Local Government and Rural Development Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa would represent President Peter Mutharika (APM) at the funeral. This was also very much in order. But after hearing that the opposition would also be at the funeral, Nankhumwa representing APM was deemed not good enough. DPP, I presume they thought, would lose out political mileage. Government then revised the decision and Muhara issued another statement late in the evening. No minnow in the likes of a Cabinet minister would represent the First Citizen. APM himself and by himself would physically attend the Themba la Mathemba’s send off at his Chilongozi Village, Bolero, in the Nkhamanga Kingdom, Rumphi. That too was in order but a tall one. There must have been lots of backroom shuffling and consultations to change the programme. What was not in order was government’s failure to properly and courteously communicate the same to the other stakeholders of the funeral arrangement—chief among them the Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP to which the departed chief was a respected member.
But with APM personally gracing the funeral service meant the President coming face to face with his most dreaded political opponent, Saulos Chilima (SKC), albeit, his number two in rank and file in government. The Nation in an earlier front page lead story had pointed to a potential clash of the two.
The relationship between APM and SKC has been characterised by acrimony with some DPP politburo members deriding SKC—who formed his United Transformation Movement (UTM—as a baby not fit for the high office of party as well as State president. SKC, 45, and APM are separated by a chasm of 34 years in age. But for saying the highest office in government is not for babies, SKC and his UTM have been hitting back calling the DPP politburo apumbwa (bulbuls) which he, SKC, can slit the proverbial way—with a mere catapult.
What transpired at the funeral service was therefore premeditated given the shambolic manner government doctored the programme without properly communicating the same to the other interested parties. Chikulamayembe was respected for the good manner he treated people from various constituencies—family, government, clergy, laity, politicians, civil society, young and old. They all—at least most of them—should have been accorded a slot in the programme to give their eulogies. The embarrassment at the funeral service is because government blocked out most of these constituencies.
When Levi Nyondo General Secretary of Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbytarian (CCAP) had an opportunity to speak and recognized SKC, among others, he was only following protocol.
SKC as number two in government deserved all the respect due to him with or without the discord between him and APM. Master of ceremonies Chimbizga Msimuko also skipped Nyondo in his salutation despite the man of God being on the original list. Other dignitaries who deserved mention on salutation apart from SKC were Malawi Congress Party president Lazarus Chakwera and former vice-president Khumbo Kachali.
In the same vein, whenSynod moderator Reverend Douglas Chipofya announced that Chakwera, SKC andNyondo would also speak before the church service, he was only following whathad been agreed upon earlier by organisers before government hijackedthe programme but failed to communicate the same. The final straw that brokethe camel’s back—Msimuko’s announcement that only APM should be recognized—wassimply a recitation of the script as directed by his masters. They should haveknown, planned and done better.
