51

A lovely Wednesday it is.

I decided to throw in a surprise article in a bit to apologize for a crime I probably did not commit. You see… I failed to send something last Friday for reasons related to work and my personal laziness. I probably should have listened to my friend Max and said goodbye to all of you considering the irregularities that will hit the flow of Richie Online articles. We might try to bring them every Friday, but let it be known to you that it may not always work. Ku Gulupu kwavuta.

Interestingly enough, the Friday on which I failed to nourish readers happened to be a very important one as it was World AIDS Day (I love the way the French name this disease; Syndrome Immuno Deficitaire Acquis, with funny accents in the words, of course). I actually wanted to write a long article (backed with scientific facts and statistical models) on why it is stupid to assume and aim for an HIV free planet in 2030 in line with the fact that some deluded folks have set that goal. We are way past World AIDS Day but the one thing I would like to share is the loud echo of some semi-structured chats and random Facebook posts.

A shallow look at the historical epidemiology of the HIV pandemic shows that the disease took away a lot of lives in the 90’s because people did not know about it. Most of the people who had enablers for procuring sex (along with their spouses) got the virus as they were caught unaware. In those days, people used to do whatever they want sexually as they felt that the only thing they were susceptible to were the treatable sexually transmitted diseases everybody knew about. This is probably we have a lot of “90’s men” who are infected and affected by the virus. The point I am driving home is that these people were taken and are infected with something they were not aware of. You and I know about HIV and AIDS and we hardly have any excuse for contracting the virus or not receiving treatment adherently when it’s due. Let’s act civilized and play it safe.
That is enough HIV for now. This article wasn’t meant to be about HIV, anyway.
I have lately become increasingly interested in local politics following the boom in interesting developments in the local political scene. Malawians sleep, eat, drink and dream politics, anyway and as such I had to be trendy and begin to follow politics. Lately there have been rumors about an unusual alliance between the blue and orange parties. We got some interesting comments from some corners  of the society while we were treated with some deafening silence from others. The brainy people told us that the idea of the alliance was conceived by the ruling party in a bid to ensure the amassment of a majority of the votes should 50%+1 come to light. Good strategy considering the 5-1 defeat to the black rooster, right? Somehow. As a Malawian, I feel like we should be worried about this. We have always talked of the yellow, blue and orange camps as the UDF group of parties and if they finally become a thing, they may actually end up getting a landslide victory leaving the country at the mercy of recycled politicians who have mastered the art of plundering public resources (I said it). Anyway. That is a topic for another Wednesday or Sunday or whatever day the other article will show up. Let us talk about 50%+1.
If you have been paying attention to anything in the country, you might have heard about the Electoral Reforms Bill. I am no lawyer but from the little I know this is a new proposed legislation governing electoral processes in the country. I am not sure of what else is in the bill other than the much touted 50%+1 clause. What basically that means is that for someone to be declared winner in the national elections, they have to scoop no less than half of all the votes plus one vote. Akuti akatero ndiye kuti the candidate has been chosen by the majority of the people. Should that not happen, the two leading candidates go for a re-run. M’mene ndaimvera inetu. Correctors are free to do so in the comment box.

Some have accused me of being a DPP sympathizer owing to my lack of support for the 50+1 thing. If you do not get my argument, you might also paint me with the same brush but if you think about it critically, this system is useless and a waste of time and money for a nation like ours. This country should be run by the guy who gets a simple majority of the votes as has been the case since the advent of democracy. Period.

My brainy friends who are also against “51” have used interesting arguments beyond the comprehension of my loosely folded brain. People have talked about resources and some have added the possibility of voter apathy in run-off elections. Others have provided even more complex arguments that I tend to forget upon getting. I on the other hand have a simple thought that has got me asking myself whether this whole thing is good and what we are trying to achieve by re-defining “majority” in electoral terms. Of course my answers were nothing and nothing.

Here is the idea. Bringing in the 50%+1 system may mean that the CEO for our country will be chosen by the majority of the voters in the country but the thing has no effect whatsoever on the quality of the leader(ship) and governance in the country. If you think about it, it will be the same politicians who will be competing and whether they are voted in by the majority or not, they will still remain with the same traits in as far as leadership skills and passion for the people are concerned. If they are egocentric, they will not change just because they were voted in by a majority. Our leaders are not accountable to us, anyway so we should not have false hopes that things will change when we introduce the new system.

In as far as I am concerned, the problem we have as a nation is that we do not have leaders who have the interests of the nation at heart. Some of you might say a lot and tout about your party leader but I hardly believe that they would be any better given the mandate for one term. If anything, I feel like we shouldn’t be investing too much time, money and emotions into the process of replacing one thieving dictator with another in our fake democracy. If someone has gotten more votes than everyone else, let them get the seat at Casterly Rock (Kamuzu Palace) and plunder when they can. If they do anything helpful and praiseworthy, let us clap and make them life President like Yoweri Mu7 and soldier on; ignoring any imperialist lectures on how we should run our democracy.

I have not talked about how desperate some will be to make a win out of one run ending up with extreme measures like rigging or costly alliances like the one we heard is cooking on the sidelines. Zonsezi tizidziganizira ndithu.

I am told that people (with full blessings and encouragement from men of the cloth of course) would like to hold peaceful demonstrations in a bid to push parliament to table the reforms bill in this sitting. Richie Msowoya wakanitsitsa kuti he will not allow bills to be bulldozed by some “mob” into his house and I am told that some law experts are saying that the bill is not ready for parliamentary debate. This may just be a delay tactic for all we know but if it is true, we might want to avoid adding some half-baked hibber jabber into our constitution.
If you are planning to be part of the demonstrations, you have the full blessings of Maharaja Richard Kamwezi but what you should know is that you will be fighting for a change in how you choose the leader; with very little if any change on who gets chosen. That change will be meaningless, if you are to ask me.
The whole article in one sentence?
The process of reforming the electoral processes will mean nothing if it has no bearing on the quality of leaders that will be chosen... and so far this seems to be the wrong direction we are headed.
Anyway. This is politics. I am just a humble Medical Officer intern at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Let me go back to serving… Zinazi zitichedwetsa.