The end of Saulos Chilima’s political career was in the beginning of UTM. A young man who was rising is now falling down, disappearing into a forgotten past.
It was Callista Mutharika who first announced that the DPP convention should elect Chilima as the party's presidential candidate for the May 2019 elections. But in doing so, Callista made a cultural mistake that killed Chilima in his political womb. (The two-part cultural mistake will be detailed in a story being written now.)
The story of Chilima shall be told for generations as an example of what not to do. Here is a Vice President who has become an embarrassment to himself and his supporters.
One family in Chigumula had so much faith in Chilima. The family supported him with vehicles and money. “We were foolish to help him,” a family member said recently. The family has lost faith in Chilima because of his actions since his loss in the May elections.
Chilima has been miscalculating his moves since he resigned from DPP. His plan to take over DPP from APM collapsed. Weeks before the convention, the situation became clear that Chilima could not beat APM.
UTM was not in Chilima’s political plans. He had flown too high and did not find the skies he thought would give him a political home. He fell down and, to cover his shame, formed the UTM.
He traveled to US, Nigeria and UK on fund raising mission but came back without the anticipated amounts. He had to find a way of raising money locally and loans may not be ruled out.
He told his supporters that he would win the election. He lost, a miserable number three. He told his supporters that he had a plethora of evidence that the May election was rigged. He has failed to produce that evidence in court. He helped organise and participated in demonstrations, saying Tipp Ex messed up results tabulation. But he has told the court in Lilongwe that Tipp Ex did not affect vote counting and tabulation.
Chilima is a man who was going to be an example of progress; now he is an example of regression. He was supposed to be in his second term as Vice President of Malawi but he has added the prefix “former” to his title. He was supposed to be in State House, but he is now standing hundreds of metres away from State House during demonstrations. He was supposed to be protected by men in camouflage, but he is the man in camouflage, matching on the roads of Malawi. He was supposed to be in a job, he is now jobless.
If he had been culturally and politically wise, Chilima would have been speaking at international conferences. He would have been an expert in the complex subject of balancing private and public sectors. Not so: a man who was supposed to be writing books on topics of global interest has now become a topic in books about failed politicians.
Chilima was supposed to be growing into an elderly states man, but he is turning into a boy, kind of ending in the beginning of his political life.
It was Callista Mutharika who first announced that the DPP convention should elect Chilima as the party's presidential candidate for the May 2019 elections. But in doing so, Callista made a cultural mistake that killed Chilima in his political womb. (The two-part cultural mistake will be detailed in a story being written now.)
The story of Chilima shall be told for generations as an example of what not to do. Here is a Vice President who has become an embarrassment to himself and his supporters.
One family in Chigumula had so much faith in Chilima. The family supported him with vehicles and money. “We were foolish to help him,” a family member said recently. The family has lost faith in Chilima because of his actions since his loss in the May elections.
Chilima has been miscalculating his moves since he resigned from DPP. His plan to take over DPP from APM collapsed. Weeks before the convention, the situation became clear that Chilima could not beat APM.
UTM was not in Chilima’s political plans. He had flown too high and did not find the skies he thought would give him a political home. He fell down and, to cover his shame, formed the UTM.
He traveled to US, Nigeria and UK on fund raising mission but came back without the anticipated amounts. He had to find a way of raising money locally and loans may not be ruled out.
He told his supporters that he would win the election. He lost, a miserable number three. He told his supporters that he had a plethora of evidence that the May election was rigged. He has failed to produce that evidence in court. He helped organise and participated in demonstrations, saying Tipp Ex messed up results tabulation. But he has told the court in Lilongwe that Tipp Ex did not affect vote counting and tabulation.
Chilima is a man who was going to be an example of progress; now he is an example of regression. He was supposed to be in his second term as Vice President of Malawi but he has added the prefix “former” to his title. He was supposed to be in State House, but he is now standing hundreds of metres away from State House during demonstrations. He was supposed to be protected by men in camouflage, but he is the man in camouflage, matching on the roads of Malawi. He was supposed to be in a job, he is now jobless.
If he had been culturally and politically wise, Chilima would have been speaking at international conferences. He would have been an expert in the complex subject of balancing private and public sectors. Not so: a man who was supposed to be writing books on topics of global interest has now become a topic in books about failed politicians.
Chilima was supposed to be growing into an elderly states man, but he is turning into a boy, kind of ending in the beginning of his political life.
1 comment:
Excellent analysis
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