Of Prof. Peter Mutharika boarding a minibus

Finally the campaign has started. Pointers are all there that we are in for a ‘brutal’ campaign for the 2014 tripartite elections. And the main issue is the economy but then a candidate with a best public relations/campaign team would carry the day

Today I find reactions by some PP supporters to be strange. It’s so ironical to read or hear from PP zealots ‘crying foul’ over the public relation stunt of one Arthur Peter Mutharika boarding a minibus going to Chinsapo. Ironically, when its Amai sitting on a mat (mkeka) or shaking hands with an old woman receiving her ufa donation, they all shout, ‘Amai, Chiongolero; PP yanyamuka’. Why this crying out loud you PP diehards? Can’t you just pull up your public relation stunt to out-do Peter’s?

My advice to PP supporters is that you need a better media and campaign team with a best strategy. Kugawa ufa or chimanga by Amai is no longer spectacular. It does not sell her; instead it decampaigns her. So far, I feel JB has a sleeping media and public relations team. They are not helping her spruce up her image to the masses. The sooner she dismisses this ‘dull’ team the better otherwise I can see her answering, on the podium, each and every campaign jab that will be thrown her way by her opponents.

Winning an election is not just about policy, it’s also about likeability/acceptability. A candidate has to connect with voters. We saw Obama wining the elections largely because he connected with the women, the aged and the youth. His economic formula was not balancing, just the same way as Romney’s but he still won the 2012 elections. Likeability is achieved through different ways but chief to them is public relations stunts that the candidate himself is willing to pull. We did see President Obama going to a pub and offering some folks some beers in the run up to the 2012 elections.

What Arthur Peter Mutharika did was to gain acceptance and likeability from the povos. Its not strange; he is not the first

Let the electioneering begin. And let the best media team help their candidates win the elections