The Parliament is about to meet soon to revise the statute concerning registering and deregistering of political parties. Some people have been expressing dismay that in the books of the registrar of association, there are from 30 to 50 associations which claim to be political parties though most of these are dormant.
A political party is a grouping of people who want to achieve social and economic interests using methods which they jointly approve. For example, some party members may believe that the best method to promote public and national interests is to allow private ownership of property and free enterprise. The government leaves economic and commercial activities to private people to make profit.
Another group may believe that the best method to promote national interests is to put interests of the majority poor in the forefront; that the government should own most of the businesses, charge affordable prices to the poor and that social welfare should take precedence over profit maximisation.
A third group may prefer the middle course. Instead of letting private people own all the businesses, they would allocate some businesses to the government such as posts and telecommunications, banks and electricity supply while leaving retail shop to the private sector. These advocate a mixed economy.
One reason we have too many political parties in Malawi is that none of the major parties has a unique ideology. Their leaders speak almost the same language. They want to alleviate poverty, “zero tolerance of corruption”, that the private sector is the engine of economic growth and so on.
Since the parties have no distinct ideology, it is left to the individual citizen to decide which party to join that would promote the personal interest. Many people decide for a party which they perceive as belonging to their region or tribe and is led by one of them. This one they reason if they win the election, the leader will give preference to those who are related to them by tribe, region or religion.
Some people have formed political parties of their own after being denied a position in the existence parties. They want parties of their own where they can hold such exalted offices as party president, secretary general and so on and be invited to state banquet.
In old democracies o f western countries, we see two party systems more or less. The two- or three-party system is favoured by Anglo- Saxon countries, Britain, the United States and Canada. On the other hand is the true multiparty system of continental Europe. The two-party system practices the first-past-the-post voting system which results in the formation of stable governments. Some people say this is not inclusive enough of plural interests.
The multiparty system of the continent usually produces coalition governments which are often unstable. None of the parties wins an absolute majority. The typical example is Italy. Whoever has been following elections in Europe and America over the past 50 years can recall who have been prime ministers of Britain. It is very difficult to recall who have been prime ministers in Italy because almost everyone coalition government falls and another is formed.
In Malawi, we better stick for the Anglo-Saxon model because we are still an infantile nation, frequent resignations and formations of governments could create confusion and apathy among voters.
Before the year 1994, those who were opposing the multiparty system were saying it would aggravate regionalism and tribal learnings. This has come to pass. In the eyes of the people at large, each party belongs to a particular region. Worse still, top positions in those parties tend to be reserved for family members to the founder; whether they are the most meritorious or not. This is in contrast to the spirit of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) which was founded by James Fredrick Sangala in 1945. Sangala did not become president general of the NAC until 1953. Before that, presidents were Levi Mumba, Charles Matinga and James Chinyama.
Nepotism, tribalism and regionalism are blots on the party system of Malawi. They must be eradicated before they become chronic political disease.
Contributions to political parties must be made visible because they are liable to have corruption effects on government. The finances tend to have undue influence on the government behind the scene.
During the Malawi Congress Party era, members of the Women League used to wear party zilundu which they bought at subsidised prices from David Whitehead and Sons. These uniforms were never dished out gratis. The party uniforms worn by women these days are given free. Who is paying for them and what benefit do they get for the donation?
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