The Bingu I Left Deserves Tribute...

My opinion about the current political situation in Malawi will not gain enough recognition seeing that I am now miles away from the country. Thanks to news and communication with friends I have been very aware of the fact that the late president Bingu wa Mutharika became very unpopular prior to his death due to the different decisions he took in his second presidential term. And it will be accurate to say Bingu seemingly begun to turn the Malawi government into an autocratic system, but I have not much to say about that because I have learnt of these issues from a distance…

I would like to speak of the Bingu wa Mutharika I know when I left Malawi in 2007. I was among many of the people who suspected the competency of Bingu who former president Bakili Muluzi handpicked to represent the United Democratic Front (UDF) as their 2004 presidential candidate(Malawi Rights and Liberties Report ). One of the concerns some of us had was the fear that Bakili imposed Bingu with the aim of leading from the backseat after the former’s attempt to run for a third term failed. During the UDF campaign rallies, it was Muluzi doing most of the talk that lasted not less than an hour and Bingu would be given the microphone to “speak for few minutes” and Bingu's speech would indeed last for few minutes. This legitimized our fears that Muluzi was going to be in control even when Bingu is elected president.

However, when Bingu took over the presidency on May 20^th of 2004 he proved our well-founded fears wrong. Bingu started his work by clearing up corruption in the house. Corruption by then was nearly synonymous to the UDF yellow colors and Bingu’s anticorruption fight meant probing and arresting UDF gurus. Muluzi and the UDF party begun to refrain Bingu from this corruption fight and this is among many other reasons Dr Bingu decided to quit UDF to form his own political party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) . Quitting UDF was the right and yet very challenging decision only a courageous leader could have made at the time and Bingu proved to be one. The following months were hell for Bingu as UDF came back right at him calling for impeachment and so forth. In spite of such political turmoil created by UDF simply as revenge against Bingu’s resignation, the president led the country into an economic force, placing Malawi as one of the fastest economic growing countries with a convincing food security. Malawi became a food supplier to neighbouring countries, a reality which no one could have dreamt of especially after the fact that Malawi turned into such a food securty force three years after it suffered its worst famine ever under the leadership of Dr Bakili Muluzi ( Tenthani, May14th 2002). This achievement is an explanation of the United Nations Special Millennium development Goal Award he received in 2010.

Bingu’s great national success convinced Africa to vote him as chairman of the African Union (AU) a position which enabled him to represent Africa at the G8 summit in Canada and the G20 Summit in South Korea. He gained great reputation for promoting gender equality having had many female politicians holding high political office. Due to his effort in promoting gender equality the president was awarded Danish Government Award.

Today, Malawi has its first female president, Joyce Banda, also Africa’s second female president. It is not only the constitution which has enabled Her Excellency Joyce Banda to succeed Bingu, but credit should also go to late Mutharika for having appointed Joyce as his vice-president. I find it not a flattery nor a mere respect to the dead when I hear the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso describing late Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika as a champion of food security in Africa (Kuphunda, April 7^th 2012).

It is sad Bingu did not end very well, but that end isn’t enough to make me forget the great leader he was. It may also be argued that this great leader might have made the mistakes he made after rumours that he begun to suffer mentally as evidenced to the fact that he once left the state house after being haunted (President of Malawi, 2005-2009 and a contestant in the 2009 elections allAfrica News). While other explanations maybe the fact that he gained great popularity after winning the 2009 elections with a landmark victory, too much power corrupted his mind as it has been the case with many other fallen leaders. Either way, I will repeat that the late president’s mistakes are not enough to make me and many of us forget the great leader he was.

Mzimu wa mtsogoleri wankuluyu uwutse mu mtendere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzRT2nZEVA

May I also take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs Joyce Banda for being the first female Malawian President and would like to praise Malawians for showing democratic maturity by ensuring a peaceful transition. And the words of the national anthem/prayer stands out "O God bless our land of Malaŵi, Keep it a land of peace...."