By Comrade Jumbe 25/06/25
In the Yao language there is a proverb which says “Changapikana wachitelechele mwiponda,” meaning “One who rushes without care steps on their own toes.” Atupele Muluzi, this is a proverb that fits your political journey today like a tailor-made coat.
You stand today at the crossroads of history, driven by the thirst for quick riches and the dangerous desire for shortcuts to power.
You flirt with alliances not born out of ideology or vision for Malawi, but out of transactional greed and political desperation.
As the old wisdom says, “A man who sells himself cheaply in the market should not cry when bought by a butcher.”
Malawi has warned you. The people have spoken—loudly, clearly, and repeatedly. Yet, like a moth drawn to the flame, you seem determined to ignore the voice of reason and the lessons written by blood and tears on the pages of our political history.
If you so wish, go ahead. Receive the silver coins. Shake hands with the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Sell the soul of the United Democratic Front (UDF) to the highest bidder. But know this: all will end in tears.
Who are you, Atupele, to believe you will be spared by the hungry crocodiles of the MCP?
Have you forgotten that the same waters that swallowed seasoned swimmers now lie still, pretending to be safe? If graves could speak, maybe Saulos Chilima himself would have warned you.
If the MCP had an ounce of gratitude, patriotism, or love for its political partners, the hero they would have celebrated, the man they would have crowned with honor, would have been Saulos Chilima. Let’s not rewrite history—it was Chilima who fought tooth and nail for MCP’s return to power.
He campaigned with energy that shook the nation. His charisma, his eloquence, his gift of public persuasion became the ladder on which Lazarus Chakwera climbed into the State House.
Chilima traveled every corner of this country, speaking with fire in his bones so that the Tonse Alliance would win. And yet, when power was won, how was he repaid?
Where were you, Atupele, when Chilima was repaid with public insults on podiums by the same mcp which he helped?
Where were you when false arrests were orchestrated to humiliate him by the same Chakwera whom he helped?
Where were you when demotions became his reward for loyalty and tremendous job he did for Chakwera and mcp?
Where were you when threats to his very life were whispered and shouted in both corridors of power and on public platforms?
Where were you when Chakwera and the MCP hijacked the entire government machinery and kicked out all alliance partners as if they were disposable tools?
Perhaps you atupele you were abroad but dreaming that your handshake with these same people will make you president some day it is but a pie in the sky.
You have become a political trader—auctioning yourself and your party like a sack of maize at the market. But let history teach you something: “Those who dine with the devil must use a long spoon.” And looking at your short-sighted hunger for quick rewards, you don’t even have a spoon at all.
MCP politics, as Eisenhower Mkaka once shamelessly declared, is like that of an owl: “They do politics at night.” Deceit, betrayal, backstabbing—it’s the game they play best.
You may think you’re joining hands, but you’re only extending your neck.
Here is a simple and free piece of advice:
Go ahead, make your alliance with MCP. Take the money. Appear on the same campaign stages. But when the dust settles, you will come back to tell this nation what you found there—that is, only if you will be lucky enough to come back alive, both politically and personally.
This is not hatred. This is not jealousy. This is Malawi speaking to you.
This is the voice of history screaming from the graves of betrayed alliances and forgotten comrades. Ignore it at your own peril.
“When a drum beats too loud in the night, it awakens the spirits that should sleep.”
Atupe
