Be worried, very worried, with APM’s leadership

I don’t know about you, but I think it is about time, before it’s too late, I asked: Is President Peter Mutharika really in control of his leadership decisions or, in the wisdom of my departed brother James Nyondo, the country is cruising on auto-pilot?

You see, running government, we all know, is a serious business. We, the people, expect this seriousness to reflect in every decision government makes on our behalf. We have such expectations because we believe those with power are men and women with right brains to think through everything before they make decisions.

However, in the past few weeks, I am sorry to say, the public has been slapped with certain decisions from government—quite questionable decisions that have left me, and many others, surprised, disturbed and confused. Be very worried.

In the first place, look at how government, like a dog that has lost its tail, is running wild searching what to do with the K12 billion realised from the sale of Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) and Indebank.

Let us face it: Are we saying all government did was to sit down, plan and execute the sale of the two banks and left it to the winds to decide how to use the proceeds from the sale? Be worried.

Last week, The Daily Times quoted Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwe saying government is contemplating using part of the money to establish what they are calling an Agriculture Cooperative Bank.

Whatever that means, but I think there is a good reason we should, again, be very worried with Mutharika’s government. In selling MSB and Indebank, we were told by the same Gondwe that government cannot run a bank. The private sector, they said, should take over.

Now, you sell two public banks because which, according to yourself, you cannot run them and, few days later, you contemplate using the proceeds to start another bank? Come on, Mr President, what kind of nonsense is this?

The tragedy with this kind of poor planning on the use of the K12 billion is that, few days from today, we will stop talking about it. When we do that, none—apart from Mutharika and Gondwe—will know how the money had been used. After all, with part of the money already deposited in Account Number One, some may have already started ‘Cashgating’ it.

Again, in the week that has just ended, I was disturbed, confused and surprised with news that government is receiving a loan, in form of a consignment of tractors, from India as part of Malawi’s drive to commercialise agriculture.

Fellow Malawians, this will not be the first time for Malawi to receive loans in form of tractors from India.

Departed leader Bingu wa Mutharika, courtesy of the Green Belt Initiative (GBI), received many tractors from India that, for years, remained stuck at government offices without being used until I saw an advert in the news about selling them to private dealers. Again, I don’t know how the money realised from selling the public tractors was used.

There could not be another reason to explain government’s failure to use the tractors as intended than that of selling public banks without knowing how to use the proceeds.

The question we should be asking ourselves, today, is: With new tractors already in, how sure are we that they will not meet the fate of the former? Did Mutharika’s government do a study to understand the failure of the former? Be worried, be very, very worried.

Malawi is buying these tractors, to mean, we, the taxpayers’, will have to pay back their money. Is this the way we should be using our money? Be worried.

Trust me, these two issues—use of proceeds from sale of public banks and India tractors—tells us so much about the kind of government we have today. It tells us about a government that just wants to be seen to be doing something—no matter how absurd the thing is. It is a government that is strategic only in what it says, not what it does. It is a government that lives a day at a time.

That is why we need to be worried, very worried with Mutharika’s leadership. For this is bad news for Malawi, a country that needs organised and transformative leadership to begin to develop. Thanks.