Main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has in the recent past secured landmark and historic court verdicts.
The first was the Supreme Court ruling of an election rerun in Lilongwe South East Constituency.
The uphill task now is for the party to convince voters in June that Bentley Namasasu was voted into the 193-strong House through vote rigging; therefore, they need to vote for the MCP candidate Ulemu Msungama.
The ruling is contrary to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) assertion that it could not rig the elections because the party was in opposition when the election took place.
This confirms fears of former president Joyce Banda (JB) who wanted a rerun of the presidential election on account that they were rigged.
When JB suggested the rerun of the presidential election, we all threw stones and mud at her; DPP lawyers were on standby at court doors awaiting instructions to challenge the decision.
JB read our minds and faces and reversed her decision before she decided to go on self-imposed exile.
The Lilongwe South East Constituency issue might just be a tip in an iceberg.
Then, just a week ago, the MCP had another shocker which Namasasu, the disgraced and fallen Lilongwe South East legislator might not have loved.
Msungama, Namasasu’s main challenger (if the DPP would allow him to participate in the election rerun) in the Lilongwe South East election rerun along with Peter Chakhwantha and Jessie Kabwila had their treason case discontinued at the Supreme Court.
This case showed that President Peter Mutharika is probably the most ill-advised person in Malawi.
If I were Mutharika, I would fire all those that suggested Msungama, Chakhwantha and Kabwila be arrested and charged with treason.
This was not only an embarrassment to government but a stupid drain on the country’s shrunk purse.
Now, this is not the issue I wanted to smoke out and thunder this week.
For quite some time now, I have been following Eisenhower Mkaka, the unsung hero in the MCP.
He might have been behind the success story of the two court cases I have alluded to, maybe not.
Mkaka is the jack of all trades in MCP.
He is the de facto secretary general, he is the acting publicity secretary, he is the party administrator etc.
Read his posts and comments on Facebook, you would agree with me that Mkaka is not just an ordinary person; he is wise, intelligent, hard-working, innovative, strategic thinker, honest, calculating, persuasive, powerful, cool-headed, friendly, loyal, obedient…
Though very powerful in the MCP, he has time to engage DPP cadets on Facebook, most of whom use pseudo names or zigoba in social media and cannot equal his wisdom, intelligence and other attributes I have earlier attributed to him.
He is always very calm and provides the needed information to them.
He never throws volleys of insults to the MCP enemies and critics; he does not engage in silly name-calling political game.
He is level-headed; no wonder when he speaks or rather writes on Facebook, we all stop whatever we are doing to listen to him.
I am, therefore, not surprised that some columnists are already describing him as close to power politician.
He is very different from the former MCP publicist Kabwila, very different from his colleague in the DPP, Francis Kasaila, who is reactive than proactive and rarely speaks for the party when Malawians want to hear from the DPP.
Kasaila is hardly heard; he is either too busy with his cabinet portfolio job as Foreign Affairs Minister or he is not just fit for the job.
Mkaka, on the other hand, enjoys easy interaction with everyone in social media, very rare of such powerful politicians.
It came as no surprise, therefore, when he said he would not stop interacting with people in social media.
The call came from party supporters who said sometimes the arguments in social media go way too casual and end up in Mkaka being thrown in the mud with his MCP banner.
However, Mkaka argues that as a party publicist, he needs to reach out to people as he cannot assume people would come to him, that social media is replacing websites and social media is one of the best interactive platform tools.
He says Barrack Obama’s 2012 campaign leveraged so much in social media, Donald Trump is constantly tweeting and Uhuru Kenyatta has a Facebook page that is constantly updated and has a following of over 2.4 million.
He, theref o r e , p ledges that he would continue to be interactive, timely, relevant, accessible and factual in his social media interaction.
This is where Kasaila should borrow a leaf from instead of barricading himself at Capital Hill with ministerial power.
Kasaila can also borrow from Ken Ndanga, the United Democrat i c Front (UDF) publicist, who engages party supporters and others i n social media with his thought-provoking posts and comments with very smart approach.
Ndanga gets all the political jabs and the bashing but remains level-headed and in control of such a political debate.
I am, therefore, impressed that there are parties that can move with technology; the MCP and UDF are case studies with Mkaka and Ndanga leading the technology crusade in their respective political parties.
If the MCP had a dozen or more of Mkaka in its rank and file, it would be assured of landslide victory in 2019.
However, party president Lazarus Chakwera should not take advantage of Mkaka’s flexibility.
He should always ensure that party structures are in place.
He should not rely on one person just because he is an all-rounder.
Party job is not for one person only; it is a collective job.
If the party feels Gustave Kaliwo is not up to the job, fire him and make a replacement.
It would be better to fill the job of party publicist after Kabwila was shown the exit door.
Mkaka can fill one of these positions but cannot be loaded with all the party jobs.
He is the MCP’s unsung hero but he can do much better if he serves the party in one position!
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