President who lost control of his puppet

Came across this interesting article on the net:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090317/FOREIGN/537155120/1017/ART

Well worth a read.

Some extracts:

“We felt very, very betrayed,” Mr Muluzi insisted, referring to the successor he hand-picked as head of state and whom he is now trying to dislodge in elections in two months’ time.

The bitter struggle for power in Malawi, a small country at the southern end of Africa’s Rift Valley, is a potential object lesson for those leaders, such as Vladimir Putin in Russia, who hope to rule through proxies after their allotted terms are up.

Since his election in 2004, Mr wa Mutharika has proved anything but pliable, breaking away from the UDF to form his own party, sidelining Mr Muluzi’s supporters, and having his predecessor arrested for corruption.

“It’s the usual African politics when you find someone strong and popular,” he said. “Banda arrested me seven times; I won freedom for our people and the same thing is repeating. It’s usual in Africa. In 2004 this president actually won because I was there and assisting him; that’s why they are fighting me.”

The meaning of assisting him may be explained by Dumbo Lemani, a late confidant of Mr Muluzi, who was reported to have claimed that the party rigged the election in Mr wa Mutharika’s favour.

Mr Muluzi, 60, said he felt “very betrayed” by the incumbent’s split from the UDF, and it was the main reason for his attempting a comeback. “I believe in democracy. This man is taking us back to dictatorship. It’s terrible here in terms of human rights. I fought for pluralism in this country. Bingu is wanting to bring us back to a one party state. I’m not going to allow that.”

Humphrey Mvura, his party spokesman, went further.

“As the president if he wanted to plunder some aspects of the economy, he would have done a lot more than what’s being talked about,” he said.

“They see it coming from Morocco, they think this must be black money; they see it coming from Rwanda or from a bank in China or Taiwan, they think it must be black money.

“It’s normal, if you are a sitting president you ask your colleagues, ‘Look, I’m going through an election, can you assist me?’ It came straight from abroad into his account, there were no transfers from the reserve bank, no transfers from any government account.”

Behind the protestations it was an extraordinary admission, even though foreign funding of political parties is legal in Malawi, and Mr Mvura also insisted that having been elected on a UDF platform, the party could take credit for Mr wa Mutharika’s reforms.


In terms of electoral support Malawi is regionally divided, with Mr Muluzi’s backers – to whom he has a habit of tossing 50-kwacha notes (Dh1) – concentrated in the south, and confident of victory.

“We love Muluzi because he is a good leader,” said Barnett Nyumbu, 34, a driver, outside the compound.

But Nandini Patel, chairman of the Institute for Political Interaction, a think tank, …… expects Mr wa Mutharika, who has impressed donors since taking office, to win the poll she expressed deep concerns about him, pointing out he had given himself the title of Ngwazi, or chief of chiefs, an honour previously claimed by Banda.

“This is a dictator in the making,” she said, pointing out that relatives of hers have been threatened with consequences to their businesses because of her political activities.

“I was scared of Muluzi; I’m scared of Bingu. I never met Banda, but it’s no different, it’s the same. They all come from the same culture.”