Dear judge Mbadwa,

I reckon 2025 is fast drawing closer, my lord and politicians have literally run out of time.

Days have been fast ticking away into weeks, and weeks into months and soon we will find Nyasaland holding tripartite elections once again.

Strangely, political parties in Nyasaland are just waking up now from their dogmatic slumber after snoring themselves into idleness or ineffective routines.

My lord, the lethargic People’s Demagogic Party (PDP) was preoccupied with internecine strife and spent most of its precious time in your tribunal, my lord, for issues that could have been dealt with earlier and in the spirit of intra-party democracy.

PDP is yet to begin the rebuilding process as it has not actually started counting the cost of expelling or suspending some of its errant members.

By the way, some of the expelled members seem ready to metamorphose into stubborn ticks that will uninvitedly suck the PDP blood of life for a long period.

The Yellow Party just had a meeting of its governing council to map the way forward and I don’t expect them to move with speed to rejuvenate the party that in my opinion, my lord, has reduced itself, in the proverbial tattered curtain manner, into a regional bloc.

The last time we heard about Sauli’s party was when its publicity secretary, through a statement, was commenting on some political developments and they have been in hibernation since.

I am sure soon they will resurrect with strange pronouncements to malign their bedfellows for making them irrelevant throughout their marriage of inconvenience as if they were forced to.

Talking about the cockerel, my lord, I was intrigued by a series of party functions that came under the guise of ‘presidential’ functions which Lazaro and company held within the week in Kabula.

Meeting some religious leaders, most of whom were not invited under the umbrella of the more serious faith group; the People’s Affairs Committee (PAC) should ordinarily have raised eyebrows.

But in the spirit of inclusivity, my lord, I gave that meeting the benefit of doubt. Maybe this was an opportunity for these faith leaders to show Lazaro where his Tokha Are Liars are getting it wrong, though I got a different impression of the meaning of that meeting.

My lord, I saw small scale businesses that included minibus drivers and vendors, too at separate meetings.

I am not going to contest the criteria for inviting some of the delegates to the meeting, but I thought these meetings should have been done soon after Lazaro had ascended the throne.

Their suggestions, worries and challenges being experienced everyday would have helped shape policy on handling some of the issues but with only a few months to the elections, the meetings appear cosmetic to me.

What lessons have we learnt from these scenarios? I would borrow a famous quote from some guru I respect, you can rewind the clock, but not time.

Time is not on the side of anyone involved in politics.

Regards,

John Citizen

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