By Edgar M’Baluku
If you ask Muluzi why Malawians should not vote MCP into power, he will cite the cruelty of the MCP as his reasons. He was with the MCP as both the Secretary General and Commander of the Malawi Young Pioneer, but he will try as much as possible to disassociate himself with that era. And these are the same reasons that even Peter Mutharika will give you. Other than that they have no any comparable reasons they can give you to show that their parties have outplayed MCP in terms of development.
MCP Was cruel but which MCP?
MCP ruled during the time of cold war between USSR and USA. During this period the two superpowers were fighting for allies. The western countries paid a blind eye to human right abuses in allied states as long as the states were on their side. Cold war ended, that is one reason that contributed to change in Malawi. Countries that abuse human rights are today sanctioned and punished by World bodies, look at Burma. Malawi today, is a signatory to many human rights bodies such as African Union, UNO; there is no regime that shall ever violate human rights without facing the consequences. It is therefore a big lie to say that when MCP attains power it shall be cruel again, a big fallacy to mislead the uneducated people!
Furthermore, those who were cruel in MCP such as Hertherwick Ntaba, Nicholas Dausi and Bakili Muluzi have joined other parties. Was Lazarus Chakwera part of this cruel team? Was Sidik Mia part of this team? A very big No! It is therefore a fallacy to use past events of MCP to say that it shall repeat them in this human right era, this is why Germany did not win the world cup. The belief that Germany won the cup therefore they will win it in Russia misled many people.
Legacy is ruining development in Malawi
This is one area that has ruined Malawi. It is embroiled in envy and jealousy. The belief that if we extend the facilities of Kamuzu we are promoting his legacy; has retard infrastructure expansion in Malawi. Look at the University of Malawi. Kamuzu built the structures so that whoever wants to extend them has enough room. See how Chancellor College was built, it can accommodate another storey structure over it. Look at the land that Bunda has. But all the parties that came after Kamuzu believe that doing so will be promoting the legacy of Kamuzu. They have to get Chinese help and built their own Universities. At the end, they use the same equipment of Polytechnic to teach students at Must.
