The Democratic Progressive Party \u2013 DPP government laid a bait this week and the Public Affairs Committee (Pac) swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
\nThe quasi-religious body stunned even neutrals this week when it cancelled nationwide demonstrations that were supposed to take place on Wednesday to protest against government\u2019s unwillingness to table the electoral reforms bills in Parliament, especially the one that changes the way we will elect presidents.
\nTo put it in a nutshell, Pac took this decision because it claims it has seen some progress on the matter as the government tabled five out of the six bills on the electoral reforms this week.
\nHoly Jesus! The body has been duped and the DPP strategists such as Kondwani Nankhumwa and Samuel Tembenu must have smiled from ear to ear when they saw Pac\u2019s statement.
\nThe body that Malawians trusted to do the right thing for them, as far as attempts to reform electoral laws for their benefit are concerned, finally cracked.
\nYou see, the fundamental issue is that the DPP government does not want any reforms to the law because it believes in its heart of hearts that tribalism and regionalism are the only way it has any chance in hell to be returned to power come 2019.
\nThis was also clearly on display this week when the government deliberately adulterated the Electoral Reforms Amendment Bill by including MPs and councillors, apart from the president, on the provision that we abolish First- Past-The-Post during elections in preference to a winner getting 50 percent Plus 1 of the vote cast, without which we must go for re-run.
\nThe press statement that Pac released acknowledges that this was not part of the Special Law Commission recommendation on the matter but has been brought by the DPP government in an attempt to put spanners into the works of the bill.
\nPac then notes that the action of introducing changes in the bill demonstrates bad faith on the part of the government
\n What Pac is not acknowledging is the fact that the government has deliberately put in these new provisions so there is war in Parliament for MPs to reject the proposed law.
\nWhere in the world do you find 50 Percent Plus 1 provision for MPs and councillors and for what purpose?
\nMPs are localised leaders and only become part of an arm of the government as a collective body of Parliament.
\nA president, on the other hand, is a national leader and the idea that he be elected with 50 Percent Plus 1 of the total vote cast is meant to make him or her just that.
\nThe two cannot be confused and the DPP knows it but the idea is just to muddle the waters so that, in the end, nothing happens on the matter and we go into 2019 elections with the status unchanged.
\nYet Pac confuses itself by saying they have seen some goodwill but, at the time, DPP is demonstrating bad faith. Which is which, if I may ask?
\nPac reached unprecedented levels of consensus and support from the voices that matter in this country including all major churches.
\nMalawians that were eager to express themselves on Wednesday felt let down and Pac will find it difficult in future to ask the same Malawians to go to the streets even when the cause would be noble.
\nIn any case, Pac itself made it a point to tell Malawians that the demonstrations were not just about the electoral reforms but other attendant issues such as the chronic electricity problems of which this administration does not have a clue to solve.
\nCorruption is on the rise and the callousness in how this government is managing national resources is getting worse.
\nHow can Secretary to the President and Cabinet Lloyd Muhara, for example, explain to Malawians the idea that his office needs furniture worth K64 million amidst rampant and shortages of necessities affecting poor people?
\nWhat about the cluelessness of this administration in sorting out the energy problem, which has resulted in unprecedented levels of blackouts never seen in this country? How can people make money and develop when there is no power?
\nPresident Peter Mutharika lied to Parliament by touting uncharacteristic levels of national growth this fiscal year. Where will it come from when all sectors are in doldrums as production is low due to deficient energy? Who can come to invest in a country in Africa that does not have energy when progressive ones with excess energy such as Ghana are plenty on the continent?
\nSimply put, this President and this government are one hell of a joke.
\nMalawians needed to make a pronouncement on these issues last Wednesday and Pac let them down in the most fundamental way.
\nPac has been preaching to us on the need for transformative leadership and the current leadership is not. Malawians needed a platform to say so to this leadership but, I dare say again, Pac has let them down.
\nAnd with it also goes Pac\u2019s credibility. The religious body has committed one huge blunder which will prove difficult to recover from.
\nThey just had a dalliance with a snake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Democratic Progressive Party \u2013 DPP government laid a bait this week and the Public Affairs Committee (Pac) swallowed it hook, line and sinker. The quasi-religious body stunned even neutrals this week when it cancelled nationwide demonstrations that were supposed to take place on Wednesday to protest against government\u2019s unwillingness to table the electoral reforms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57684,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57677\/revisions\/57684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}