Why people become so obsessed with power when they assume such first citizenship? I totally agree with the author: "The lesson to learn from the Malawian debacle is that there are many false prophets on the road to true democratisation". Indeed its a Malawian debancle etc. Fortunately, the author suggested a solution to the stalemate in Malawi's politics which is already in place advocated by all Malawians: "Checks and balances should be put in place to prevent them from assuming power", meaning those political "false prophets" in Malawi through recycled politicians!!!!!!

Achimwene, that position and the powers that it brings are so tempting. It is very easy for someone to get obsessed. You will see when you assume it in the next ten years. Lol!!! The dude has the powers to fire and hire. The people who surround him will never say anything that is against his interests for fear of losing their jobs and as a result the source of their income. On the other hand, our economy is too small and almost all of it is controlled by government. If someone is in bad books with government, it is very difficult to survive economically. It becomes even worse when they cook up some charges and have someone arrested. It becomes very difficult for those with opposing views to survive. In a thriving democracy, opposing views should be part and parcel of the political discourse. The big kahuna should not be taking such views personal. Seriously speaking, there is an urgent need to reduce the powers of the presidency or else our democracy will die an unnatural death.