Malawi president needs strategists

TWISTER

BY BRIAN LIGOMEKA

The political pot is boiling . The demonstrations and the burning of ruling DPP T-shirts at Chancellor College by some irate students,  the stand off between Chanco lecturers and Police Chief over the issue of academic freedoms, the ultimatum by the civil society to the president, the political goofing on dealing with critics, the fuel crisis, the forex shortage and the controversial laws are some of the  factors that have made the ruling DPP and the government to be perpetually in negative limelight over the past few weeks.

In The Twister opinion, the ruling party and government’s handling of these crises have been disastrous and pitiable. Take the issue of fuel crisis for instance – four members of the cabinet gave contradictory explanations. In the case of the stand off between university lecturers and the Inspector General of Police, the outcome is well known – disruption of classes for two weeks and violent clashes between the police and the students. It seems authorities are miserably failing to deal with the issue of academic freedom.

I have observed lately that government has assembled a team of refuters to be dealing with crises and execute some damage control tactics. What baffles me is that the team comprises politicians,  some of whom are known for lying, political prostitution and bootlicking.

If you ask me what the president needs, the answer is simple. Professional strategists! The team of refuters are nothing but a big let-down who will continue to plunge the country into mini crises.

In my view, there is a difference between professional strategists and refutation masters disguising themselves as political spin doctors or shrewd propagandists.

Few examples will suffice to illustrate the difference. The contradictory statements by authorities on the recent crises demonstrate that there is need to have strategists advising, supporting and defending the State President and not refuters who are not even qualified to be called propagandists. The problem with our refutation masters is that they even fail to appreciate the basics of propaganda and hence their contradictory remarks on everything.

Let me wade into history slightly by making a reference to one expert in that field, and that is Paul Joseph Goebbels, a renowned German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda. He once observed: “The most brilliant propagandist technique… must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over and over.”

Goebbels was the ‘propaganda genius’ who was responsible for controlling the press and public opinion in Germany. At one point, Goebbels openly acknowledged that he exploited the lowest instincts of people – emotions such as anger, fear, racism, xenophobia, and class envy.

When fuel crisis hit Malawi few weeks ago, did the government officials “confine themselves to a few points and repeat them over and over and over.” The answer is a huge no as what they managed to do was to excel in the folly of contradictions. The public realised that some of them were using propagandistic techniques of lying, deception, personal attacks, and half-truths faultily.

Propaganda attempts to gain control of what people really think and if you fail to achieve that then you are not a propagandist worth his name. When spin doctors and propagandists are proving to be flops, politicians be it presidents and cabinet ministers, should instantly turn to professional strategists. In the stand off between the civil society and government or the lecturers and the police chief, professional strategists can easily find solutions because part of their work will entail engaging the aggrieved parties and tactfully addressing their concerns partially while still protecting the political interests of those in power. Professional strategists are capable of doing that.

It seems to me DPP led government is currently facing a number of problems because spindoctors are masquerading themselves as professional strategists. Unfortunately their work is not bearing sweet fruits. This is why despite all the noise and the refutations on TV and radios, the lecturers to go back to class and teach and the human rights activists are still unhappy with governance issues.

Paradoxically the spinning guised as refutations and clarifications is backfiring on all fronts. Professional strategists have numerous strategies of dealing with conflicts, damage control and general political PR stuff.

If you ask The Twister, what’s happening now the answer is straightforward. The state president seems to be getting wrong advice.

Just imagine someone convinced the president to address a DPP rally in Kamuzu Stadium to address policy and governance issues. In The Twister’s view, if the president had professional strategists, they would have listed all the concerns that different sectors of society are complaining about, fuel crisis, forex shortages, academic freedoms, street demonstrations, media freedoms, sustainability of fertiliser subsidy programmes and several others. The strategists would have analysed them and propose possible tangible solution to each of them in short, medium and long term.

After that, then they would have presented their analysis and proposed solutions to the State President. Instead of addressing such issues at a political rally the president, who would have addressed the nation through the National radio and TV. I remember Dr Banda in those days would salute as in such crises through his national address on state broadcasters as “Bwanas and Donas, today I have….”

If the president had professional strategists, there was no way he could have ended up at standing at a political rally saying: “I have been patient for last seven years, ndiye mukuyesa ine chitsiru koma nthawi imene ija si Bakili Muluzi kapena Kamuzu amene amapita mu msewu kukamenyana ndi anthu. Discipline imapangidwa mu chipani.”

Let me end with a quote from Baltasar Gracián (1601 –1658) a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer who once said: “Folly consists not in committing folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends on what is hidden than what is seen. If you can’t be good be careful.”

If refuters, half-baked propagandists can’t deliver, lean on professional strategists.

This article first appeared in the column called The Twister published by The Daily Times of Malawi