By: Malibongwe Chavula
Every time Malawians are about to go to the polls, Malawi becomes the land of comedy and drama. As the saying goes “mvula ikagwa kuchuluka zoliralira”. This time there is no exception.
As I was enjoying listening to fork tales of wisdom under the mango tree in Nthalire, my nephew in Nkhatabay called me to watch an exclusive interview on one of the TV channels.
Soon after watching the interview, gogo Jere laughed and just said talk is cheap, I have lived long enough on earth.
When we thought we had seen it all under the Chakwera administration, we never knew Malawians would be subjected to yet another joke in one Cedrick Ngalande.
Here is one man who is so busy buying relevance in our political sphere, where every time he is given space, all he does is to flaunt his aerospace engineering credentials and his stay in the US, as being the only reason why he thinks his name should be listed among some of the 2025 presidential hopefuls.
On Saturday evening he was featured on Times Exclusive. In the first place, I even questioned why they featured him anyway, because Ngalande hasn’t done anything worth the salt for this country to deserve such kind of attention.
I laughed out loudly even more when I heard the host Brian Banda asking him if he is interested to run for president because his name is being mentioned in most of the circles as a potential hopeful. Which circle?
Apart from the few boys he recruited from DPP, who later dumped him anyway, in the name of “media team” Cedrick’s name doesn’t appear anyway within the 2025 narrative.
The Times Exclusive Interview only managed to expose him. The guy is too pompous and far away from the reality on the ground.
Throughout the interview, Ngalande kept on saying “I have heard” “I am told” etc. meaning, he doesn’t know anything regarding the present sufferings of Malawians.
The host even gave him the chance to respond to one question in Chichewa, but instead, Ngalande chose to stick to his English. He was even told by the host that the question was meant to test his Chichewa.
Here is a guy who says he comes to Malawi once every year, mostly in December and thinks he has the magic wand to turning around our misfortunes? How?
To show that Ngalande is naïve; he went on to say those that were arrested under MCP should first clear themselves with the courts before running for president. This reasoning is flawed. It only shows Ngalande doesn’t understand MCP politics.
Since Chakwera came into power in 2020, his party has arrested almost anyone. You write a post on Facebook criticizing him, he locks you. You share something on WhatsApp against his government; the police will pick you up.
We all know that most of the arrests made were politically motivated, that is why some DPP officials that were arrested by MCP have not been charged two years down the line, while some cases keep dragging in court.
Ngalande has also proved that he doesn’t understand politics in Africa. Most governments in Africa use handcuffs in dealing with their opponents. In Zambia, President Hakainde Hichilema was a ‘kabwelebwele’ under Edgar Lungu. He was actually charged with treason in 2017.
MCP is well known for arresting its opponents. MCP arrested Bakili Muluzi, Chakufwa Chihana, Kamlepo kalua and many others. Does Ngalande even know about the assassination of the “Mwanza Four”?
In cold blood MCP assassinated Aaron Gadama, Twaibu Sangala, David Chiwanga and Dick Matenje. Does Ngalande really believe that these four were guilty of any criminal offence since they were labeled “rebels?”
That’s MCP for you.
So to say those arrested under MCP should not run for president only exposes Ngalande’s political acumen or lack of it. Sensationalism is cheap. Let him come and walk the talk and smell the coffee.
And with the current state of Affairs in Malawi, Ngalande thinks the country needs an aerospace engineer hahahaha! I think Ngalande’s services are more needed in the US to be flying balloons there. Especially now that China is busy flying balloons in the US airspace, that’s where Cedrick’ needs to invest his time and money in.
All said and done, gogo Jere reminded me that most aspirants to Plot number 1 promise many things, and yet they always fall short of explaining how they will implement and execute the promises. The one who will come along and show us how the promises will be executed is the anointed one.
As for this young man who was being interviewed, he is just one of the usual ones if not worse off.