By The Forum
Presidential hopeful and Malawi’s Vice President Michael Usi has the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) sized up, and there is no sign he intends to ease up on his ferocious attacks, chief among them allegations of corruption blamed for stalling development progress in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Why should he?
The Director General of the tax-payer funded Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), George Kasakula, widely known for openly propping up the current regime, thinks there is a good reason. He is on the same page with the party’s spokesperson Jessie Kabwila in labelling Usi as “ungrateful.”
Speaking on air, Kasakula growled: “After September 16, he will be former vice president. The state will look after him until the day he dies. That will happen because of [President Lazarus] Chakwera.”
Kasakula accused Usi of attacking the very government that had done him a favor when Chakwera appointed him vice president following the tragic death of his UTM party leader, Saulos Chilima, in a plane crash last June.
The UTM had formed an alliance with the MCP in the 2020 court-ordered presidential election re-run.
“The vice president and his family will never be the same. They should be thankful,” Kasakula said.
Political observer Anthony Simwaka echoed that view: “A little gratitude is required,” he said, adding that Usi’s claims of officials demanding bribes and kickbacks carry little weight because they sound more disgruntled — President Chakwera didn’t ask him to join the MCP presidential ticket — than constructive. He argued that if Usi is serious, he should start naming names.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the agency tasked with fighting graft, has struggled to deliver results. Under Chakwera’s watch, its director was arrested after a leaked recording revealed her frustration at failed prosecutions. Instead of defending her, Chakwera accused her of misconduct.
Five years on, Chakwera’s once-bold pledge of zero tolerance on corruption lies in ruins. Yet as he fights for another term, Usi slams his new promises as empty.
