POLITICS OF PERFORMANCE

Politics of performance By Ananiya Alick Ponje It is oftentimes said that modern governments live and die on their economic records. This is in virtue of the fact that a government is never recognized as a vibrant one if its economic performance does not inspire anyone, especially foreign investors, to invest in the country. The fact that modern governments live and die on their economic records is applicable in both industrialized and developing ones. During the last five years of economic performance and subsequent analysis on the part on the government by different analysts, it has been observed that Malawi has performed quite well on economy with the last development being the country registering another 0.5 decrease in inflation. This is not something that many come on a silver platter, but there is need for someone to mastermind it. The brain behind it has a task of strategizing procedures for achieving the same. And this is connected to other dimensions of performance which might not be very economic in nature. President Bingu wa Mutharika’s political performance has tackled sufficiently all areas affiliated to it. One thing that should not be discounted about political performance is that a good political performer encompasses other dimensions as well which may seem not to be political in nature. These dimensions create the whole bundle of political performance as one thing. And in most instances, regardless of how many they are, if some of the them have flopped, a regime’s political performance is dented. Yet in Malawi, we have a leader whose political performance has been rated as one of the best in Africa. Such an achievement may seem mean to a layman’s perception, but it is in actual sense, an historic one. The ultimate analysis has been drawn out after discovering that Mutharika has done well in all areas, despite a few hiccups. Everywhere in the world, with the priority of democratic states, citizens expect the government to maintain order, to resolve conflicts in peaceful manners, and to provide a peaceful and free climate where people can live without fear of being harmed or even killed. These are some of the things that will determine the political performance of a government. Citizens also expect their government to be able to formulate policies which will ultimately respond to their basic needs and problems. All these aspects are, at a lower level, supposed to be carried by legislators and cabinet ministers. Even if they did not vote for a particular candidate, citizens will still expect free and fair treatment by government authorities. They also have all the trust that the authorities will use public resources for the defined purposes of government and not to satisfy their own interests. That is why the president has since his re-election been extolling the virtues of burying the hatchet and moving forward for the good of the masses. In common Malawi, it is now common that citizens expect the authorities to excel at being democratic, at safeguarding civil and political liberties, honoring the provisions of the constitution without tampering with it even if one side has a majority that would enable it to. Here is where the Mutharika administration will be required to show citizens that these aspects were not withheld during the past five years because of lack of the political muscle due to minority of representation in the National Assembly, but that the administration did everything in good faith. However, there have already been some concerns from a number of individuals and stakeholders who have described the current administration as one that is only ruling by decree just because it has the majority to do whatever its leaders want. I am reluctant to comment on this assertion from the public. Since it is now entirely accepted that Mutharika is a great economist and a political performer, the last analysis is based on what his performance in the next five years will be now that he has the ‘majority temptation’. It is bound to have immense social and political effects, thereby producing a far-reaching loss of confidence from the populace, should the president mess things due to the majority of representation in the National Assembly that he has at his disposal. Of course, he has already assured Malawians that the majority will be used to the advantage of Malawians in general, and not the DPP as a party or any individual. On the other hand, it is expected that the president will shoot his political performance, especially on the dimension of economic performance, because despite registering a great economic upheaval in the last five years of office, the president had inherited an economy that had been lying in tatters. On the other dimensions of political performance, particularly freedom, order and security, there is a clear assurance that this administration will maintain them and even improve if the measures that are already there will be re-employed and strategized further. Mutharika will also be labeled one of Africa’s great political performers should he ultimately view the opposition as a necessary entity in the government system despite having the muscle to tramp over it completely. He might be the first to implement the aspect of majority rule and minority rights. However, since the government is the one with the majority rule aspect, the real tension between the need for collective decision-making and respect for choice might not be of significance. To the new cabinet, the ministers are supposed to take things in a very professional way because this is the era of ultimate political performance where a non-performer will not need to stay. In their different capacities, they will be required to achieve certain goals which might not be vivid, while the president might have already set for them. They need to be aware of the fact that cabinet reshuffles come to purify cabinet. Overall, citizens must be put first. As a practical matter, issues of public importance are seldom resolved by a unanimous decision. Opposition will always be there, but it might not matter at all. In virtually every instance, there will be losers and winners, but the best justification for majority rule is that it provides a legitimate and realistic way to make collective decisions. The most significant thing is that the government accepts the fact that there is no higher authority than the citizenry. And this is the time for the opposition to experience some kind of a bumpy ride since they will no longer have that power of rejecting bills wantonly as has already been vindicated in the last sitting of Parliament. Their authority will be vanquished beyond measure. However, all they need is to accept that this is another era of Malawi politics where the opposition is only necessary in the government system while mattering very little or not at all.