Something Called a "Political Party"

The beginning of the end of the third quarter of the year is here. We just had to mark that with a nice eclipse on the first day of September. I hope I won’t receive more reports of painful or swollen eyes due from staring at the eclipse.

This week has been eventful which has somehow made me write on a subject I usually try to run away from. Yes. This Friday we will talk politics.

We all heard how somebody who some have made us believe has been marked for the top post in the ruling party got chased away from an area he was supposed to conduct a development rally. We have also heard how people who were critical of the leader in the main opposition party have been kicked out and stuff. The indefinite postponement of the Mchinji Whatever constituency by-elections (by the DPP according to the MCP publicist); you probably know all that. The idea is that in a country where some people eat, sleep, tweet and think politics, it is good to share some views on the matters and to bring in a little sanity to the mess on the ground now.

A couple of years ago, a prominent figure in the Malawi social media (I can’t remember who it was) wrote that it was us non-partisan idiots who destroy the country (forget the Umodzi Party jokes; I do not belong to any party) and not the gurus who are either in the ruling or opposition parties. I was tempted to believe him for a moment, but after scrutinizing his statement, I decided that a greater part of me did not agree with his statement which was based on strong opinions with little supporting evidence. The reason is simple. There isn’t much of a difference between a person who belongs to a political party and one who doesn’t in our country, probably due to the fact that our political parties do not have (or do not stick to) strict ideologies  and values that define them as is the case elsewhere. The result is that parties can do and say a good thing that can be praised by everyone (openly or otherwise) regardless of party membership; apart from the hateful few of course. That is those who never appreciate a good thing thanks to their loyalty to their own party cloth. It is pretty much the same phenomenon when a party goofs big time.

A reflection on two scenarios kept me wondering as to what a political party really is in our setting. I posted the question on Facebook without getting a response and that was probably because people did not know why I asked the question.

Scenario 1.

I happened to be chatting with a friend and for some reason the issue of the minister who got stoned in Mulanje popped up (musamagende nduna koma. Mwatani kodi Amalawi?) We got to agree that there were a couple of things the ruling party is not doing wrong then got to wondering why some people who are smart in the party are not doing anything about in the name of providing counsel to the biggies. That conversation reminded me of a conversation I once had with a member of parliament for the ruling party when the issue of the 51 doctors was the hot topic of the day. The learned man told me that there are times that people try to provide solutions to the issues at party caucuses, but there is only so much of s suggestion that the party leaders can take before they pain you with the “rebel” or “opposition” brush.

You could also roughly throw these MCP issues into the same bowl when it comes to issues of intraparty democracy and how freely people can express their views. Might be different in extents, but again, roughly the same.

Then you can take a look at the intersection between the government machinery and politics, and that is a dangerous thing (tayambapo scenario 2). The highest jobs in the government machinery are of the “it has pleased His Excellency to appoint you…” type and that, for some reason creates a problem of bias. This needs no explaining for someone who is in Malawi and has at least two functional senses. Everybody knows the primary result of this. Competent people are left out with priority going to political party affiliates, sometimes as compensation for losing a parliamentary seat. What we fail to realize is that this creates a spirit of “blind following” for our political parties.

We are left in a position where even mid-ranking members of political parties can neither voice their views nor offer suggestions on issues that directly affect them in a bid to protect their positions and the benefits that come with them. Maybe what is happening is not blind following at all, as a majority knows and looks on while we are being led into total chaos. I tend to wonder whether belonging to a party makes a difference beyond vote count for 90 percent of Malawians, and that is why I asked what a political party is and who makes a political party when high ranking people cannot be involved in making decisions.

Like I said, someone once said that it is non-partisan people who destroy the country. I maintain my disagreement with the statement. The closest that he could get to the truth is to say it is people who do not vote who destroy the country, but that would not be true either considering that we vote for people who make us expect one thing while they deliver the classical opposite. This is probably why some liberally say that our democracy is pointless; too many pointless political parties.

Solution? What do I do? Register another political party, something whose definition I am failing to figure out? No. I will let this one pass.

At the end of the day we have people who are willingly leading us into chaos in the name of leading our parties and they are not willing to listen even to their own kind. Let that sink in before you begin criticizing parties, be it ruling or opposition.