WHO IS YOUR RUNNING MATE?

Article first appeared in Malawi News

As the 2014 tripartite elections draw closer, calls for the Presidential candidate from various parties to reveal who their running mates are, are getting more louder. As one concerned citizens and one of the voters in next year’s elections, I would like to add my voice to such calls.  It is a fact, that any election is a competition and that different tactics may have to be employed to keep your opponent guessing about your next move. To the political parties and their torch bearers in Malawi, hiding the name of the running mate could be such a tactic.

However, in my opinion, by hiding their running mates, parties put themselves and the nation at a huge disadvantage. For instance, the running mate automatically becomes the vice president in an event that the parties presidential candidate has won. Just like it happened in April 2011, should a president  die or become incapacitated whilst in office the Malawi constitution guarantees that the vice president automatically assumes the presidency. It is because of such a provision that Malawians deserve to know who their potential vice presidents will be. By  not revealing the names of their presidential running mates now, the political parties in Malawi are giving us a raw deal and hoodwinking us into voting for a candidate we may not have wanted simply because we did not have time to scrutinize their credentials.

And yet, the fact that Vice presidents have a 50-50 chance of becoming presidents themselves, must compel us to critically examine those people who have the potential of occupying such offices lest we vote into office Mafias and vagabonds.  The Malawian political parties thus are in my view doing the nation a great disservice and are clearly demonstrating how desperate they are with winning the next elections than giving Malawians credible and transparent leadership. 

One sometimes wonders, what is it that lies in a running mate that he or she must be treated like a joker in some game. It is a pity that political parties believe that by hiding their running mates they are giving themselves a greater chance of going into an election with a stable party. Well and, Granted. Experience however, tells us that such stability is only short lived. If history is to go by, the relationship between the Vice president and the President in Malawi has been a troubled one.

The first Vice President in our democratic dispensation Dr. Justin Malewezi, had to resign from UDF when the fight for leadership with Dr. Muluzi, the political engineer became so intense.  The squabbling was there for all to see and Muluzi could even proudly shout it at his rallies in his famous wapakaliyala sayimba belu” slogan.

Then came Bingu Wa Mutharika, the much touted economic engineer. He too had a very patchy ride with his Vice President Dr. Cassim Chilumpha.  The allegations that Bingu made that Chilumpha was attempting to assassinate him, still hang on the head of Chilumpha up to now.

Well, only Chilumpha, and God knows whether it is really true that he attempted to kill his boss. Chilumpha, may have been imposed on Bingu by Muluzi hence their fall out. Nonetheless, in his second term, Bingu, had a chance to pick his own Vice president who, as is the practice he only revealed during the time they were submitting nomination papers. I am sure no one needs to be reminded of the results.

All the events above, just come in to underscore that no party can achieve stability by hiding their running mates. In fact, by hiding the running mates, the parties are being unpatriotic to Malawians as they place the interests of Malawians at risk. Assuming it is true that Chilumpha had indeed tried to kill Bingu, what sort of instability would have ensured from the same?

What about the destabilizing effect that the sour relationship that Bingu had with his Vice had.  The political squabbling in DPP then, led to the Office of the Vice Present being sidelined and some theories still indicate that some of the governance issues that led donors to withhold their aid then could have been directly linked to the fall out. As if that was not enough, the cat and mouse relationship between the two almost plunged the nation into chaos when Bingu died.

Granted these events, is it imperative that the Malawian must be able to know who their running mates are and do a thorough  analysis on who the potential vice presidents are. Malawians would be able to know whether these people are power hungry, self centred or the get rich quick type of people and be able to make informed choices when voting.

On the other hand, by choosing the running mate faster, the potential president has ample time to study the strengths and the short comings of his potential vice president hence giving the country a better chance of a stable leadership that what we have currently been experiencing.

The stakes in a running mates position, have always been high, but events  during the rule of and after the death of Bingu must teach us all a lesson on how invaluable the running mates are and hence they should not go without being analyzed. Political parties therefore owe the nation a great service of revealing who their running mates are sooner than later for us to ably do our thorough analysis on those people.

Equally, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) must put in place measures to force the parties to nominate their running mates during their conventions otherwise, Malawians are being given a raw deal.