AYIMANSO!: When history repeats itself, someone pays a hefty price

…History repeats itself; first as a tragedy, second as a farce

By Che J Grey

President Dr. Bakili Muluzi, after being drunk with power, considered himself a demigod on the way to becoming Malawi’s second president for life.

Dr. Muluzi was not an ordinary politician…still is. So shrewd and such a top-notch master-minder.

He had planted his praise singers all over and was good at dishing out cash at most of his political rallies, which became to look like “pay centres.”

In 2002, his bid for a second term gained momentum. Led by his Regional Governor for the South late Davis Kapito, the “ayimanso” chants were all over that they became our everyday’s business. It was “ayimanso! ayimanso! ayimanso!

A bill was drafted to amend the constitution, to allow Muluzi to have “open terms” in office. It was christened the “open terms bill.”

CSOs, the international community, the likes of Aleke Banda, Brown Mpinganjira, Justin Malewezi, and others within the UDF and all those that opposed Muluzi and his third term bid became enemies of the state.

From outside, the ayimanso movement looked so attractive. It looked big. These guys were sailing in the sea of Muluzi’s popularity.

All those that opposed Muluzi were called names, and others became punching bags for the notorious young democrats.

Alas! Muluzi didn’t know what Parliament had for him. The bill was tabled in Parliament. When we all thought Muluzi had the backing of other legislators from the opposition MCP, with only 3 votes, the bill was defeated, and Malawi was saved.

Zinali ngati zija za mkulu amaoneka pa National Geographic akusewera ndi ng’ona uja. Anamupha ndi matemba a mwinga umodzi, kungomuyima pakhosi basi, the man was gone.

In the morning after, we woke up to a headline on the front page of The Nation newspaper, which screamed in Chichewa, “SAYIMANSO.” Muluzi and his troops were humbled.

As we are talking now, Muluzi has even reached a point where he goes ku Sanjika kukajambulitsa ndi Chakwera basi. The “SAYIMANSO” spirits keep haunting him at BCA hills. Nobody knew Muluzi would at one day be even subjected to some court appearances over corruption cases.

Muluzi even tried it in 2009 to come back into power through the backdoor, but MEC rejected his nomination.

After which he teamed up with JZU, the theme of his outing was “ndiphwetse chubu chomwe ndinachipopa ndekha.” They even filled Njamba during campaign, bringing Blantyre to a standstill.

Came the May polls, Muluzi got a beating of his life. President Bingu Wa Mutharika triumphed, with a landslide to his name.The will of the people will always triumph over evil.

In 2020, the people of Malawi spoke. Even the system, from the Army, Police, Judiciary, etc, all rejected the DPP.

The people had their own reasons… those of us who were inside were told “everything was under control.” Even during the election case ruling, we were told “DPP yayiphula”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s keep watching as political trends are set to repeat themselves. This time atabandule izizi ndi achinyamata.

Chubu ichichi anapopa okha ndipo unlike Muluzi, ichichi aphwetsa ndithu. No phokoso, no we we we! Chikoka basi..