BY GREYSON CHAPITA
The low patronage at the anti Chakwera demonstrations in town today must give the organizers time to reflect and rework on their strategy.
The demos have lost plot, they lack a clear agenda and are being led by characters that have stories hovering their heads to explain to Malawians.
Let me therefore point out how, in my opinion, the HRDC sponsored demos managed to remove Mutharika and send him on his retirement to Mangochi. We can borrow a leaf of them
1) They had a well scripted narrative that made us believe DPP ndiyokuba, yatsankho etc. They had the support of the media, influencers, MCP and UTM. As a result HRDC were always in the news. They had a team of reporters who were following them even at drinking places. They bought the public sphere and it worked to their advantage.
2) HRDC had a face to the demos, Mtambo… He was not alone, he had his other “notorious” buddies. They did things together, planned and plotted. Came up with stories such as kuwakha zipolopolo, a planted bomb near their vehicle etc and it worked. Today, aliyense akangodzuka basi akuti otsogolera ma demo.
2) Because of their association with MCP, they chose Lilongwe as the epicenter of their demos. Unlike the anti Chakwera demos who are failing to turn the Southern Region into a no go zone for the red berets, HRDC made the central region their focal point. The plot started and ended in Lilongwe…. Pano ma demo akungowalowetsa kulikonse, lero uku mmawa uku..
3) They had support from MCP and UTM who were willing to let go of their resources. The Msundwe thugs were being ferried to town on trucks. People would even be drawn from Kasungu. Today DPP guys cannot even give the guys a bottle of water ati akuopa kupezeledwa zifukwa nkumangidwa. Komanso ena angokhala owumila basi.
4) The demonstrators had a clear agenda, regime change. They managed to brand Chakwera and Chilima as alternatives. Today we are saying Chakwera must go, akachoka abwere ndani?
In 2022 who would be listening to Mr Francis Mphepo kuti akuti tiyeni tipite ku nseu tichotse a Chakwera pampando. Akachoka abwere ndani? Achina Mphepo again?
This why we are saying DPP needs to rebrand. Send these other faces away from public eyes, APM like a father ayanjanitse atsogoleri and come back to the people and see the movement that DPP will become.
5) HRDC, MCP and UTM brought most key public institutions to their side. Police, MDF, Judiciary etc, because of their narrative, resources, and everything. They even had the donor community on their side because anali mafana ochita zinthu za smart. They invested in credibility.
I would go on and on and on… But fact still remains, these demos have lost relevance. Lets look for another strategy, otherwise lets just wait for 2025. If DPP will keep promoting its stupidity then MCP idakalipo… The sooner DPP guys make peace with fact the better..
By the way, some these demo organizers are not advancing the DPP agenda, they have their own agenda. Muzazindikila bwino patsogolo…
Ngati ndalemba zosamveka sorry, dzuwa likusongoneza nzeru zanga…
Ndipo aliyese akangozuka ndine mtsogoleri wa ma demo just because you are popular on social media eishi am sorry I can’t be part of that stupid individuals
I personally would dispute it that the demos were a flop. When Mtambo and his HRDC started their cruel demos that didn’t abide with the law/constitution, it didn’t necessarily begin with pomp and the expected velocity. Today’s demos are the beginning of bigger things yet to come. In order for the aims and objectives to be attained, the organisers need to maintain the tempo and repeated actions. What Chakwera and Chilima did wasn’t credible. It wasn’t credible because they started by preaching untruths/lies. Untruths/Lies if repeatedly made sounds or becomes truths. Those lies were repetitively sold to Malawians and everyone bought it. That is the same trick Donald Trump took in the USA by going about telling Americans that he didn’t lose an election but the Democrats rigged.
What is happening in Malawi today doesn’t need proving or requiring the organisers to sweat blood in order for the message to sink. As things stand there’s rampant pilferage in all government institutions, forex is gone, fertilisers is like gold, there are blackouts in the country, the administration is very mean with truths, there’s nepotism taking place countrywide as witnessed by the AIP distribution, the country has run out of fuel etc etc. With all that does one need to go on top of a mountain to proclaim failures by Chakwera and his alliance partners? The demos organisers merely need to amplify all those shortcomings and failures by Chakwera who seem not to have a solution at all those problems. He has been advised on a number of times before but all that has fallen on deaf ears. With him presidential duties mainly entails criss-crossing the breadth and width of the universe as well as the country with total disregard to expenditure repercussions. On top of that his family and friends are on a thieving-spree. Afterall Chakwera knows that he has rendered the government watchdogs sterile, dead and corrupt. A country without a functional legal system can not survive. Malawi has reached upto such a state whereby every person heading a department can willy-nilly help themselves with public finances because there is literally nobody to question them and things are even made worse when the person at the helm does exactly that a thousand folds. With all that who can dispute it that the demos are ill-timed when the state resources are plundered with no restraints because the system is not working? What the organisers should know is that there will always be sacrifices made on behalf of the underprivileged poor Malawians. Those sacrifices could come in different forms like life itself, incarceration, hatred, finances, time etc. Obviously the cruel demonstrations Chakwera and Chilima held were fully funded by those people and organisations who are accomplices in the unabated corruption taking place in the country today ie the Sattars of this world.
Greyson Chapita is right by saying these demos need proper stategising. Fanning the protests to cover the whole country all at once will mean overstretching the resources and energies. There should be crucial strategic areas that could be target repeatedly and relentlessly. The agenda or objective of the demos shouldn’t be cumbersome but to the point, be objective and the aim/mission has to be outlined to enable every Jim and Jack to adhere and understand. To defeat a crook you need to turn yourself into one. Think, act, behave, operate and get used or acclimatised to the terrain you will be operating into, in this case it is the cities you will be operating in and among human beings who apparently are your targets. Win the confidence of the masses by re-emphasizing their predicament and assuring them that all you are doing is to win back what belongs to them in a peaceful and diplomatic way unless otherwise provoked. People say information is power and wars or arguments are won not necessarily by engaging into physical confrontations. That way of doing things through fist fights doesn’t belong in this age and time. So bottomline is sensitising the afflicted masses by enlightening them what exactly is going astray with their government system. Congregate your resources and have strategic targets that when attacked will have a telling result administratively as well as politically without casualties on the way. Therefore, I would say that was a good start but get organised, objective, pool your resources and choose your targets. Finally, demos to be effective requires repetitive and relentless action.