I found the recent report by Malawi's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) very interesting. The report has pointed out that the numerical advantage of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the parliament is a threat to checks and balances.
I fully agree with it, even though the findings seem to be obvious. Perhaps this is an indicator of what is lacking in the Malawi's media: there is very little analysis, the media only reports what the powerful people and organisations have said and not analysing important issues such as this one.
From CCJP's point of view, it would appear that they have only concentrated on the likely effects of the DDP's parliamentary majority and not its causation. DPP has found itself in a position that any political party in the world would crave for.
Nobody wants to be bothered when making decisions. Bakili Muluzi could have loved to be in this position when his third term bill failed in parliament by a narrow margin in 2002. This is now history but it must be a reminder of dangers of one party having an outright majority in parliamentary.
However, I think the DDP must not be made to feel guilty. Opposition parties have created the problem and on the evidence so far, it would appear that they are not ready clean up the mess. During the DPP's first term in power the opposition were in majority; and they did absolutely nothing with it.
They only demonstrated their greed and lust for power; whenever parliament sat they only talked about impeaching the incumbent president and amending the republican constitution in a way that suits them and not the people. They refused to pass the national budget, which meant civil servants were not paid in time; it was chaotic parliament where even fights became part of the order.
Bingu wa Mutharika and his DPP went through all this, including the death of his wife, Ethel Mutharika - RIP. Yet he worked so hard for the good of the nation: economy grew and agricultural harvests improved, tremendously. Came election's day, (19th May 2009) the people of Malawi rewarded the candidates according to their work: Mutharika and his DPP won the majority and, for the first time ever, the number of independent MPs, most of whom have joined the DPP, outnumbered the two main opposition parties, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and United Democratic Front (UDF).
Here the people of Malawi clearly demonstrated their dissatisfaction with how the opposition conducted themselves. Yet the opposition leaders have clung to their positions. MCP's John Tembo has bluntly refused to stand down and UDF's Muluzi still calls the shots in UDF. The greed of these two men has killed the opposition in Malawi. In MCP, Tembo has managed to get rid anyone who has dared to opposed him, and so has Muluzi in UDF. Yet Tembo is 77 years old, he will be 81 by the next elections; and Muluzi cannot stand again for president as he has already served to presidential terms. What is their motive?
While I share CCJP's concerns, it also has to be said that the situation will only get worse, as long as Tembo and Muluzi maintain their positions in their respective parties. Until these two men conquer their greed and put national interest first, the opposition will only get weak and weaker. The two must stand down, that is the only way to cleaning the mess.
As for DDP, one can only hope that they will continue to work for the interests of the country, as they did under intense pressure from the opposition during the first term. If the 19th May 2009 elections had any lessons, DPP will be well aware that if they abuse their position most of them will not be coming back to parliament after the 2014 elections; people will not vote for them, as simple as that.