Callista sold her senses to politics, cheaply so: Malawi ex-first lady

Some days before Callista married Bingu wa Mutharika, I met her mother at their family home behind Mitundu Secondary School. One aspect that characterized our discussion was how people in her family were happy that their own daughter was going to be mother of the nation.

One thing that her mother said was that Bingu’s had spotted Callista because she is humble and polite. Looking at the mother’s etiquette I was so convinced that Callista’s upbringing must have been constructive and focused.

The day came and Callista exchanged matrimonial vows with the former Head of State. And she indeed became the “mother of the nation”.

However, a few months into her “state motherhood” she surprised us all when she adopted her husband’s battles as her own and her first victim was Joyce Banda who at that time was Vice President.

Shocking is the fact that she took the lone battle to every other function she attended including that at Zingwangwa Secondary School where she was “Guest of Honor” at a Blantyre girl’s forum. At this function Callista spent some five minutes attacking Joyce Banda. I never understood why she bombarded these sweet teens with filthy and frustrated rhetoric in an irrelevant manner like that. In any aspect she is supposed to be a model not these girls not an angel of hatred and confusion.

This woman is a politician and her weakness is that she has allowed her political character overshadow other aspects of her humanity. That is why all she sees is politics in the recent arrests. She deliberately ignores objectivity in some of these issues.

We appreciate that Peter Mutharika promised Callista during Bingu’s funeral that “You will never walk alone”. We will not stop Callista and Peter from doing what they deem fit for their promises to each other but if she picks a bone with the Head of State then she draws the daggers further against the majority of the citizenry.

Her interview on Zodiak Broadcasting Station while at Southern Region Police Headquarters was characterized by a lot of emotion and her voice was shaky and with full of anger; all this with very little sense in the content she wanted to communicate.

Callista, as any other citizen, is free to say what she wants but she must be responsible enough with her tongue because Malawians will not allow their President to be insulted.

Why is it hard for the former First Lady to understand that this country is not a village operation? We are a civilization that is oiled by laws and anyone who dares scratch the law card must be ready to answer before independent courts.

She must be knowledgeable enough to appreciate the roles that the Commission of Inquiry, the Police and the Judiciary are playing in as far as this issue is concerned.

We even wonder why one day Callista is trying to defend Peter while she is also at loggerheads with Bingu’s children as she salivates for the fortune of the departed leader. Is Peter more important than Bingu’s children? Are they not all one family?

Now listen to Callista when she accuses President Joyce Banda of failing to forgive those that have been arrested?

Which law; religious or civil, does Callista think bars justice to be undertaken?

Who said forgiveness means overlooking the mistakes and cutting legal corners just to favour a few citizens who nearly caused chaos in a peace loving country a year ago? Does she know that God is also happy with justice when it is executed rightfully by those commissioned to do so in our societies?

We know Callista is trying not to walk alone as per Peter’s promise at the funeral. Yes she will miss Peter (the promise maker) but all she has to do is to wait for the law to take its course. Peter is innocent until proven guilty so there is no need to stress.

Just make sure you don’t call our President “stupid”. That we cannot swallow.

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