What were meant to be State functions funded by the taxpayer as President Lazarus Chakwera inspected crops this week turned into partisan events where Malawi Congress Party (MCP) promoted its ideologies.

During the President’s development rallies after crop inspection in Thyolo, Zomba and Mangochi, MCP functionaries were listed among speakers on the official programme and were taking to the podium where they shouted party slogans. The officials also introduced purported defectors on the tab of the taxpayer.

In Thyolo on Monday, the President held a rally at Luchenza Primary School after inspecting crops in M’mambo Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nchiramwera and Tholora Village in T/A Nanseta.

But MCP, led by the party’s national campaign director Moses Kunkuyu, hijacked the event to introduce three people he said had joined the party. He did the same in Mangochi yesterday.

Ironically, Chakwera, who during the campaign  promised to do things differently, embraced the anomaly and welcomed the new members into the party’s fold by wrapping them in a branded cloth.

Both in Zomba and Mangochi on Tuesday and yesterday respectively, MCP regional governor for Eastern Region Samson Kawaladzira also stole the show by delivering political remarks at the State event.

Kunkuyu, who is a presidential aide, also took to the podium in Mangochi yesterday to sell MCP political agenda and rallied the gathering to support Chakwera.

During the election campaign both as MCP and the nine-political party Tonse Alliance, Chakwera and team promised to separate public and political events.

On page 7 of the MCP manifesto, the party promised to “bring dignity to the Presidency through a culture of servant leadership that will make the Presidency the primary driving force for service, change and transformation” if voted into power.

But MCP spokesperson the Reverend Maurice Munthali yesterday justified the party’s action, especially in Thyolo, saying they only took advantage of Chakwera’s presence and availability in the Southern Region.

He said: “Malawi Congress Party will not want to interfere with government programmes in line with the President’s instructions, as well as in tandem with our policy of operating independently of the government affairs.

“What the party did was only to take advantage of [his] presence and availability in the Southern Region. The President himself took this as an isolated activity after having been asked to perform his State functions.”

Kunkuyu could not be reached for comment on his conduct to promote partisan interests using public resources.

Reacting to the developments in an interview yesterday, Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence expressed disappointment.

He said it was unfortunate that the Tonse Alliance was repeating the same mistakes Malawians have always condemned.

Trapence said there should be distinct separation between political party and State functions.

He said: “HRDC is calling upon the Tonse to stop hiding behind State functions while they are conducting political party functions.

“This is clear abuse of public resources. This is a departure from what Tonse promised Malawians in safeguarding public resources.”

In a separate interview, University of Malawi professor of political science and dean of the Faculty of Social Science Happy Kayuni faulted MCP for hijacking a State function to sell political agenda.

He said considering that the country is coming from a background where people have pushed for separation of party and government business, it is important for the current leadership to separate the two.

Kayuni said: “Not everybody attends those meetings because they are interested in the political party per se, but are interested in that public event.

“Therefore, we should be able to separate between the two, otherwise if we don’t do that, it’s an issue of governance whereby a mixture of party and government business affect the interest of the nation.”

Political Science Association (PSA) general secretary Makhumbo Munthali described both Chakwera’s crop inspection and Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s Public Sector Reforms Programme tours in district councils as “political posturing aimed at consolidating political support”.

He said considering the current social-economic challenges most Malawians are grappling with, there is some pressure for the two to deliver and address the challenges.

Munthali said: “This vindicates what I said earlier that all these tours are merely political.

“They [Chakwera and Chilima] just want to consolidate their political support in the context of the growing public distrust against the current regime in terms of how they are managing the economy.”

Mzuzu-based political scientist George Phiri said the President has the power to control things when they go wrong, but noted that Chakwera did not act.

“The President must be responsible to control things in the running of the affairs of the alliance,” he said.

Ernest Thindwa, a Zomba-based political scientist, noted that it was just an assumption that the event where Chakwera welcomed new members was a State event.

He said there are no facts to substantiate whether the rally at Luchenza Primary School was a public or political event.

The Office of the President and Cabinet last weekend issued a statement outlining the President’s schedule and classified the post-crop inspection tour rallies as “development rallies”.

From the one-party era of founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda to the multi-party dispensation since 1994, political parties in power have tended to disguise partisan events, especially those attended by a sitting President, as State functions ostensibly to draw public resources.

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