Shocking for Atupele to use donors for his bid to become Malawi leader
That the UDF Presidential candidate Atupele Muluzi can lie to the nation that some donors have told him they will only resume aid if there is regime change is to say the least a sign of desperation. It is desperation to unseat President Joyce Banda in the May 20 elections.
The UDF presidential torch bearer has realised that a clean campaign based on facts will not do for him. The result, as expected, is that his lies have boomeranged.
Atupele Muluzi told a rally in Mzuzu that the European Union (EU) and the World Bank told him that the two development partners will only resume budget support if there will be regime change in the May 20 Tripartite Elections.
For someone seeking the highest office in the land, Atupele’s statement says it all. The man–or baby–as he is better known by the electorate, has nothing more to tell Malawians. It shows his party’s manifesto which he should have been explaining to the electorate is shallow. It has little or nothing to persuade Malawians to give him their votes.
How does he feel now that the European Union (EU) and the World Bank have distanced themselves from his blatant lies? Perhaps unbashed because he is a what he is–a baby in politics and this game is too big for him.
Of course, we all know how that he is being fronted by his father–who wanted an open presidential term, but was only stopped from making that possible because Malawians said no to it. This is the same man who is accused of abusing K1.7billion from the government’s coffers. The case is in court.
Atupele should actually be extremely grateful to the Joyce Banda administration for the humanly and dignified manner in which it has treated his father. This was not the case with the former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika. If the elder Muluzi is enjoying life today it is because of JB.
If he has been freely and frequently flying out of the country for medication it is because JB has a human heart.
If Government has been meeting Bakili Muluzi’s medical expenses befitting a former president, it is because JB is prayerful. If Muluzi gets all his terminal benefits as they become due, it is because there is JB on the throne. But that was never the case during Bingu’s era. It is even said that Muluzi now wants to hit the road and campaign for his son because he is healthy. All this is because President Joyce Banda has allowed Bakili Muluzi to forget the torturous Bingu era.
So for Atupele to run a smear campaign against President Joyce Banda using donors smacks of the highest order of ingratitude.
- The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Nyasa Times. Contributors are invited to write on opinion columns on any topical subject.
