Malawi creeping autocracy: Signs of times

Signs of the times

By Brian Ligomeka

The current events in Malawi remind me of the recent Pastoral Letter issued by the Malawian Roman Catholic bishops titled Signs of Times. In their epistle, the clergy cautioned government on a number of governance issues.

Part of the Pastoral Letter read: “In order to sustain the above positive developments, we need to pay attention to areas that in our day are slowly but firmly becoming ‘the grief and anguish' of the people of Malawi. When we emerged from the 2009 elections, our hopes were high for peace, stability and development for all. Somewhat more than a year later, our hopes are slowly fading away. The majority the ruling party enjoys in Parliament was meant to facilitate government business and progress but unfortunately it has bred a spirit of overconfidence on the part of the government.”

The bishops observed: “We are often surprised that in official political speeches, the ideal democracy is put before us while the actual practice of politics on the ground does not always reflect what is preached on podiums.”

The bishops’ admonition provoked a storm of controversy as government few weeks later issued its own statement that attempted to tear apart the admonitions of bishops: “The Government feels the Catholic Bishops have somehow been misled to paint this unsubstantiated gloomy picture of the “signs of the times” in our country. Government does not believe that the people of Malawi would honestly read the signs to portend an impending crisis in Malawi.”

As far as government was concerned there were no signs of an impending crisis. In my view, currently, it is only those who are blinded by power who can claim that we are not in a crisis. Think of the fuel crisis resulting in motorists spending hours on the queue waiting to buy fuel.  Ponder over lack of academic freedom manifested by the interrogation of university lecturers and the resultant protests by students and lecturers. Talk of the gagging of the media through the infamous Section 46. Reflect on the aborted protests by human rights activists and mull over the withdrawal of donor aid. Before you take a breath, muse over the divisions and squabbles in the political parties. Don’t ignore to have hysterics about those who give salaries to wives for charity work. I don’t want to utter a word about the forex crisis because it is common man’s knowledge. Let’s be truthful with ourselves by answering honestly the question: Aren’t these the signs of times? Were the bishops wrong to visualise the signs of times that things are going wrong?

  

Unless one is wearing the masks of power around their heads and faces, the truth is that the signs of times are clearly written all over. The present scenario where political pretenders assume, claim and promulgate that all is well, actually drives my memory lane back to the era of Third Term political psychosis and idiocy.

These signs of times mirrored in various crises remind me of the advice which the same bishops gave to former president Bakili Muluzi in their pastoral letters of 2001 and 2002. As they have done recently, the bishops warned Muluzi to desist from changing the constitution so as to stand for a third term. Muluzi, then inebriated with power never heeded the admonition. With his political myopia, and despotic defiance, he branded himself as a “good dictator who wanted to maintain peace and stability.”

During Muluzi’s Third Term fiasco, the signs of the times included the gagging of the press, the harassment of journalists, political violence orchestrated by Young Democrats, arrests of government critics and members of the clergy, overconfidence on his part and everything human rights vice you can name.

Ask me what happened after Muluzi had ignored the caution and failed to read the signs of time with his political ravenousness. The Open and Third Terms’ motions were defeated, crushing all the egocentric and insatiable ambition of extending his rule.

It seems there are many leaders in democracies who have problems with their exit strategies when they are serving second and last term of office. If they are not manipulating the Constitution, to stand for the Third Term, then they are positioning their son, cousin, nephew, niece, wife, brother or sister to take over from them, which in my opinion is just Third Term by another name.  To remain in power or to put their bloody kin in power, the leaders pondering their impending exits turn the nation into wresting rings where the political battles are nepotistic and bloody.

Propaganda, vote fraud, undue official influence on trials, usurpation of undelegated powers, militarisation of law enforcement, infiltration and subversion of citizen groups, suppression of media freedoms, use of the law for competition suppression, subversion of internal checks and balances, creation of a class of officials and tribal cronies who are above the law become part of the wrestling political game.

I am praying that this should not happen in Malawi. I find solace in President Bingu wa Mutharika words. In his book, The African Dream, Mutharika has clearly stated that democracy, good governance and development go hand in hand. He writes: “Bad political judgement by leadership can plunge the nation into deep crisis where people no longer trust the government, leadership or political system…. In other words, it is a truism that a leader cannot leader if he does not know where he is going.”

African leaders should remove their masks of power and accept the reality on the ground even if it means acknowledging signs of the times which include fuel crisis, forex shortages, human rights abuses and poor governance.