By Suleman Chitera
There comes a moment in national life when silence itself becomes complicity. Malawi is standing at such a moment.
The recent remarks by Gerald Chavez Kampanikiza, a former MCP representative for Dedza Boma Constituency, should jolt every honest citizen out of political comfort. His words were not rehearsed, not diplomatic, and not convenient. They were raw, painful, and revealing. They exposed a bitter truth many have long suspected but few inside the system have dared to say aloud.
Kampanikiza admits that while he and others were on the ground chanting party slogans and defending the government with sweat and conviction, some within the same political family were allegedly busy sharing the taxes of poor Malawians. Taxes paid by market women, bicycle taxi operators, subsistence farmers, and struggling civil servants.
“We were busy saying ‘this is the government until 2030,’ without knowing that our own colleagues were looting.”
That statement should haunt the conscience of the nation.
Betrayal Wears Party Colours
This is not merely a story of corruption allegations. It is a story of betrayal—betrayal of trust, of sacrifice, and of hope. Political foot soldiers campaign without allowances, defend policies they did not design, and endure public hostility for the sake of party loyalty. To then discover that some leaders were allegedly enriching themselves through opaque and questionable payment systems is a moral insult of the highest order.
When leaders eat in secret while the people starve in public, politics ceases to be service and becomes organized deceit.
The Poor Always Pay the Price
Malawi’s corruption scandals follow a cruel pattern: the poor pay, the powerful play, and accountability arrives late—if at all. Every kwacha misused is a clinic without medicine, a school without books, a road unfinished, a hungry family ignored.
What makes this moment different is not the allegation itself, but the source. This is not an opposition attack. It is an insider’s cry of frustration—an admission that loyalty was exploited and honesty punished.
Slogans Are Not a Substitute for Integrity
Political slogans can mobilize crowds, but they cannot replace integrity. Chanting loyalty does not build hospitals. Party colours do not feed children. What Malawi needs is not louder propaganda, but cleaner leadership.
If investigations are ongoing, they must be allowed to proceed without interference. If wrongdoing is proven, consequences must follow—regardless of rank, surname, or political usefulness. Selective justice will only deepen public anger and erode what little trust remains.
A Call Beyond MCP
This is not an MCP problem alone. It is a Malawian problem. Every party that comes into power inherits the same temptation: to treat public office as personal reward. Until leaders fear the law more than they enjoy power, the cycle will repeat.
Kampanikiza’s words should be a warning shot—to parties, to leaders, and to citizens. Blind loyalty is dangerous. Democracy demands vigilance, not worship.
Conclusion
Malawians deserve leaders who remember that public money is not party money, and government is not a private enterprise. If those entrusted with power forget this, history will remember them—not as liberators, but as looters.
The question now is simple and unavoidable: will Malawi confront corruption honestly, or will we once again shout slogans while the nation is quietly robbed?
