South Africa based prophet and Enlightened Christian Gathering founder, Shepherd Bushiri, on Wednesday, said that he has a constitutional right to stand as a presidential candidate in Malawi.
Asked during a press briefing held in South Africa at his Sparkling Waters Hotel if he has any political ambitions to stand for the presidency, the Malawian born cleric confirmed that he cannot be stopped from standing as a candidate of the first office, adding that it would even be good for the country for him to be a president considering that he is a young and successful.
“I have every right as a Malawian to stand as a presidential candidate. There is nothing that can stop me from standing. It would even be a good thing for the country considering that I am a young person, and I know problems that young people across the country face.
“Secondly, I would make a better president because God has already blessed me as a successful business person. Someone with a capitalist mindset is exactly what Malawi currently needs as a head of state to move the country forward,” said the Major 1, as his followers affectionately call him.
Further, the prophet compared himself to the African American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jnr and Malawi’s Reverend John Chilembwe, who respectively fought for human rights and freedom of black people.
“John Chilembwe, who was also a man of God as I am, was considered as a political threat for standing up for social justice. In the same regard, I am also saying that I love the nation and I would not allow, in strongest terms, my fellow Malawians to go through such a turmoil.
“But when I come out like that, just like John Chilembwe, I am considered a political threat to the extent that each time I come to do charity in Malawi, I am always hindered. I am not even allowed to donate some maize in some regions. At some point, this was so bad that I began to fear for my own life. I have faced a lot of political resistance across the country for my humanitarian works,” he said.
In what sounded like pitching his candidacy to both Malawi Congress Party and United Transformation Movement (UTM), Bushiri urged leaders of the opposition parties to speak to him due to the experience he commands in charity works.
“By now, the leaders of opposition should be talking to people like myself who love the country and who donate. There are so many people and organisation who are doing great for the country who must be approached by leaders of the opposition and even the government for their works. But I know there are even politicians who are scared to talk to me. Yet they are looking for help in their constituency but are scared to talk to me.”
Prophet Bushiri, however, maintained that despite having the right to compete, he does not have any plan to stand, saying it is easy to confuse people doing humanitarian works for a politician.
“Malawians are tired of politics, and the country’s problems are not political. Our biggest problems are hunger and poverty, not politics. I am here to preach peace, not politics because I am not a politician and I would never be a politician as I have said many times,” he said.
Nonetheless, the controversial prophet who is currently fighting money laundering and fraud charges in South Africa together with his wife, Prophetess Mary and is unable to leave South Africa without seeking prior permission from the South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation who confiscated his travelling documents said if he ever wishes to stand as a president, he would not start from the position of a politician but as a humanitarian.
“If I would come to stand as a president, I would not stand as a politician. Rather, I would stand from a humanitarian point of view to help the country not as a politician. So, if I am asked whether I would stand and help as a humanitarian, then my answer would be yes,” Bushiri said.
Up until now, Prophet Bushiri has kept his political ambitions from the public.
In July, amid protests in Lilongwe by opposition parties who wanted the Malawi Electoral Commission Chairperson Dr Jane Ansah to tender in her resignation after the disputed May 21 tripartite elections results showed President Peter Mutharika winning a second term, several unconfirmed reports purported that Prophet Bushiri warned Jane Ansah to resign or else he would throw the country into chaos.
The parties say she had mishandled the elections, helping Mutharika to win.
But Bushiri came out and shoot down in flames people behind the fake reports. His Communications Director Ephraim Nyondo discounted the reports as “outrightly fake and misleading”, saying that Prophet Bushiri, as a respectable and ordained church leader “does not, directly or indirectly, get involved in the local politics”.
The spox further warned people behind dragging the cleric’s name into politics, saying the long arm of the law will catch up with them.
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