The Debate

It is a rainy Friday in the commercial capital of the city. Still, it is another Friday on which we get to be treated with a read. Contrary to my expectations, last week’s article attracted no serious comments as most only went as far as questioning as to what was going through my mind when I included links to five articles at the end of the Friday one. Well. Not much. Just wanted everyone to hack into my mind and know how I think about the topic.

I went through the week looking forward to yesterday, Thursday the 7^th of March, 2019. Other than the work and church things I had lined up, I was looking forward to watching the presidential running mate debate organized by Zodiak. My reasons for anticipating this debate were pretty similar to everyone else’s. I wanted to listen to the people who have higher chances of being the country’s second in command articulate issues to do with governance and development. Not unlike other doctors, I really wanted the candidates to speak out about what they were going to do about the ailing health system in addition to what they would do in other important areas like food security, internal security, infrastructure development and tourism among others. Of course there was another personal element to it. I was looking forward to seeing the running mate to the sitting President prove us all wrong by demonstrating his competence and command of the Queen’s language.

The debate started while I was at work. I had my phone tuned in to Zodiak radio in the pocket of my pants with my set of earphones running under my coat and coming behind my ear. I was set and so were the organizers. Earlier in the week, I had spent a good chunk of my time debating with friends as to whether the man from Ntcheu would show up for the debate. While the prophets of doom insisted that he would chicken out, I was very optimistic and I continually told them off saying he wouldn’t make such a mistake. This was the time that we were all about to find out as to which one of us qualified for the prophetic ministry. The speeches sadly announced that the honorable minister was not around and that was followed by chants that mocked him for shunning the debate. Tiyeni tidzitaye.

The debate, in my view was well conducted. The host and the whole team did a very good job with time management and by the said time everything was starting. When the debaters took it to the stage, there was a good flow of questions from across the fields and they allowed the audience as well as those who could ask questions through the phone to do so. Well done, achina  Joab ndi alongo ache.

Perhaps some of you are waiting for the meat of the article which would be my opinion on who aced the debate. Do I have an answer to that? I probably do not but I can try to objectively dissect the way they responded to the questions. You will however have to look somewhere else for the ratings. Hopefully your source will not be biased towards or against someone.

The little known orange running mate came in flashing his PhD and a whole lot of positions which he has worked in. Looking at the CVs of the running mates, he is the one who came in impressive as a diplomat and a holder of big public offices. He, in my view answered the questions with a great deal of objectivity but somehow he is not a natural public speaker a thing which will take down his ratings by many reviewers. The fact that the lady he is running with also had a shot at the presidency and didn’t impress many is making things a bit hard for him. All in all, we have now known who he is and it is up to him to build up from what he did in last night’s debate in the next one and throughout the campaign period.

Bambo a Sikono came to the show as the shortest candidate but she was not short of answers. From his responses to questions, One would easily pick it that his ideology is that the biggest thing that is wrong with the country is the governance system and lack of political will to do things and to implement what we already have in our nicely written policy documents. On a couple of occasions, he completely missed the point and had to be dragged back to answering the question at hand by the host. On a closer listen, however, one would notice that the guy knew what he was talking about. If he was talking to an audience that was of a certain level of understanding, his responses that contained an element of suspense and unnecessary repetitions of questions at times would have made more sense. The guys in red have defended him saying that he was the only one who was debating while the rest of the guys were handling it as a quiz. Akutitu. At such a debate, however, we could have used much more clarity from the UTM running mate. All in all, the man put up a good show and no one complained of the activity being a waste of his PhD.

The business magnate and lower shire heavy weight came in as one guy who I was very indifferent about. While I have known him as a man who has been politically relevant over the years and as a successful businessman, his status as one person one can easily accuse of political prostitution leaves him on the wrong side of my biases. As a farmer himself, the guy came out strong on agricultural policies and he did fairly well in the other areas. His biggest low came in when he contradicted his president’s view on the provision of security for people living with albinism. That left him stuck in the mud and lost and it took a bit of unconvincing spinning to get away from that. All in all, good show Mbuya.

Frankie came in with a whole lot of political experience and as a star performer in his constituency. On the other hand, his status as the guy who was in the news for the wrong reasons in the AFORD divisions saga lingered besides the good side of him. He is a member of one party that is playing running mate to a guy of another party. How confusing! When he took the podium, he was very articulate with his answers. One could easily note how conversant he was with issues to do with how the country is run especially in the area of mining where he clearly floored everyone. His responses were bold and at some point a bit too bold. He pointed out that we needed to be a bit more tougher on immigrants who come into the country to do business, singling out the Chinese as people who are not adding value to the country’s economy. Now that was just radical but depending on which lens you are looking at this through, it may be good or bad. At some point, he found himself not answering the question but only suggesting that we give the United Democratic Front another trial run.

When the audience was given a chance to pose questions, people came up with good questions on issues of state capture, youth empowerment and issues of policy implementation or lack of thereof. Rather inevitably, the question on the issue of people living with albinism popped up. The live audience raised important issues but the down side was the verbal diarrhea that came with the questions.

The fact that the running mate to the country’s sitting president did not show up for the debate left me wondering of the possible reasons for shying away from the debate. Perhaps it could be that the man was tied with other equally or more important engagements. That, on the other hand would hardly warrant missing the much touted and important debate which was announced a week prior. Blue eyed cadets will come out with all sorts of defensive statements to cushion their man from insults but I doubt any of them will stick.

I was heartbroken when I read what one blue professional posted on some WhatsApp forum. In his words, he stated that people do not vote for a running mate but rather a president and a party. He went on to say that while people may tout the debate and the fact that a Dzonzi did not show up at the debate, the whole thing would hardly have any impact on how many votes any party will get. 

Pondering on this, I found myself realizing that it unfortunately is true which had me questioning the relevance of putting a running mate on a podium to debate. The UDF might have put up a good show and some have put it out there that he deserves a ministerial post despite whatever party carries the day come May 21, but what does that imply considering that he is in the shadow? Depressing as those thoughts were, I found myself encouraged by the fact that I understand the importance of a running mate. He is the person who is a potential vice president. While the country’s vice presidency may not be as relevant, we should all keep in mind the situation that led to JB’s ascendance to the presidency.

Later last night I found myself reading a status posted by my friend. He talked about how some people are going to give the job of the vice presidency to someone who did not show up for the interview. Another one posted an e-poster of a Dzonzi’s rally which will happen on Sunday at Zingwangwa Secondary School ground. Caption? While you were debating in English, we were planning this. 

We enjoyed the debate and we enjoyed the substance. The debate lived to most expectations save for the lack of questions to do with important aspects like health, tourism and energy (some have argued that these have probably been reserved for the presidential debates). All I am wondering here is whether the debate was anything beyond something that was meant to excite us and give us something to post about. I look forward to round 2 at COMESA Hall and I hope to be there.