In theory, Malawi is a sovereign and independent country but in practice, it is not. Its reliance on international donations and borrowing makes it a puppet to international pressure and demands.
Since its independence in 1964, many Malawians have been banking their hopes in the new presidents that they would transform Malawi for the better. Did they?
Have we laboured to ask ourselves why a small country like Malawi remains one of the poorest countries in the world? This discussion will therefore endeavour to answer such question.
1. Lack of patriotism
It is not a responsibility of a single person to develop our country. It must be a collective effort.
For instance, a common man just goes to the polls to cast their votes for their presidential candidate. It ends there. Then they will be waiting for another cohort of general elections.
How many Malawians have exuded the audacity to hold our leaders accountable?
How many people have followed up their vote to pin down Reverend Chakwera and Dr.Saulos Chilima for mismanaging our economy?
How many whistleblowers have reported corruption incidents to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)?
In fact, most Malawians have become conduits of corruption in government departments such as immigration, road traffic , health, police and defence.
No one has taken to task the Director General of ACB, Ms Martha Chizuma, for failing to address the rampant corruption in the country.
No patriotic Malawian has held the Chief Justice, Rezine Mzikamanda, for delayed and selective justice.
Who has ever condemned the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms. Catherine Gotani Hara for her partisan leadership in the august House?
2. Lack of transformative leadership
It is fallacious to conclude that there is no single competent and transformative leader out of 20 million Malawians.
The truth is that those people with leadership skills shy away from leading Malawi. In the end, we have leaders who have no ideas and those people with ideas have no power.
It is pathetic that we vote for people who are clueless about transformative leadership.
The business-as-usual and laissez faire style of leadership is taking Malawi many steps backwards.
For instance, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima promised Malawians that they would transform Malawi for the better. Independent ACB, reducing presidential powers and stamping out corruption were among their transformative promises.
Four years down the line, President Chakwera and his Vice Saulos Chilima are at the forefront promoting the very same vices they condemned. Whoever cursed Malawi did us a colossal injustice.
3. Politics of appeasement
In all the regimes, appeasing those who aligned with the government has been the norm.
The downside of the appeasement policy is that it compromises the quality and efficiency of public service delivery because mediocre and underqualified people are put in positions of power.
It is very pathetic that Tonse Alliance abandoned its own idea of conducting public interviews for crucial government positions.
No wonder it is mindblowing to realise that there were some politicians such as Billy Mayaya, Reverend Macdonald Sembereka, Timothy Mtambo and many others who masqueraded as human rights activists but were later appeased with diplomatic positions by the current regime.
4. Politics as an investment of self-enrichment
What is funny is that many voters do not know that politics is a business investment to some electoral candidates.
What this entails is that a voter is used like a condom that is dumped after the mission is successfully and erotically accomplished. This is why a voter remains poor while the winning candidate becomes a millionaire all of a sudden.
It is imperative that a voter must take extra care when voting candidates into power because politicians want to satisfy their abdomen first rather than assisting the underprivileged.
5. Corruption
Have you wondered why Malawi is losing a lot of millions of money to corruption yet we have the full ACB that is mandated to crackdown on corruption?
Are you flabbergasted that corruption has reached unprecedented level in Malawi yet Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima promised Malawians during their campaign period to stamp out the cancerous corruption without fear or favour?
Did you know that money lost to corruption could have improved Malawi’s poor road network, dilapidated healthcare system, unequal access to education and judicial system?
6. Tribalism and nepotism
The reality on the ground is that the voting pattern in Malawi is generally on tribal and regional lines especially in the southern and central region where population is on the upward trajectory.
With reference to previous elections, the major antagonistic major parties are the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whose strongholds are from central region and southern region respectively.
Because a political leader is mostly voted along tribal lines, a winning candidate is coerced to appease people from his tribe or region of origin. This is an unfair state of affairs.
In a nutshell, nepotism, tribalism and cronyism derail country’s progress because mediocre Malawians take up crucial public positions.
7. Porous government systems
One of the reasons Malawi is not making positive strides economically even after changing six presidents after the 1964 independence is that new regimes inherit porous government systems.
This is why the business-as-usual mentality accentuated by laissez faire style of leadership has escalated incidents of corruption, nepotism and inefficiency in the public sector.
It is pathetic that most Malawians justify corruption, nepotism, regionalism and mediocrity currently taking place just because previous regimes were replete with the same vices. Of course, two wrongs do not transform themselves into the right one.
8. Malawi is an agro-based country which highly relies on unpredictable rains
It is unfortunate that Malawi still relies on unpredictable rains to feed its agricultural activities.
What this entails is that whenever there are insufficient rains, the whole country descends on its knees to hunger and starvation.
Fortunately, Malawi is endowed with fresh water from lake Malawi which is an asset for irrigating our crops throughout the year.
It is high time that Malawi embarked on commercial and mechanised agriculture. I was challenged by one international friend as to why Malawi still sticks to a hoe as an indispensable tool in our subsistence farming. We can do better.
9. Malawi is a predominantly importing country
Malawi will only economically frog-leap forward if it ceases to predominantly import goods and services and thereafter venture into aggressive export of finished products.
It is laughable that Malawi drastically devalued its local currency as part of its economic recovery plan when it is not a predominantly exporting country. In fact, devaluation is meant to bring more forex after exporting the finished product. What significant exports does Malawi have?
10. Archaic laws
Malawi laws need to be changed to align with the prevailing global dynamic happenstances.
For instance, the state President has so much power and luxuries that he thinks he is running an estate. He can lie to Malawians willy-nilly without being taken to task.
The president, cabinet ministers and other officials can accumulate unexplained a lot of wealth without the ACB evoking Corruption Practices Act so as to pin them on the sources of their sudden riches.
Members of parliament, for instance, have taken a double role of concurrent being an employee and an employer thereby deciding their hefty salary increase while the poor and the underprivileged are crying foul.
In conclusion, it is envisaged that Malawi can economically make astronomical progress if all Malawians become patriotic to take leadership roles in cracking down on corruption, nepotism, tribalism and politics of appeasement.
It is the duty of every Malawian to hold our leaders accountable for their campaign promises. Malawians should be cautious now because there are some politicians who take politics as a self enrichment venture without considering the plight of the citizenry.
Malawi must embark on intensive massive irrigation scheme without relying on natural rains to feed its agricultural activities.
As a country, Malawi will only prosper economically if it puts in place policies that expedite the massive exportation of finished products.
Lastly, all archaic laws that impede progress must be repealed.
