Goodall dares Kachaje to join politics
Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe yesterday added humour to pre-budget consultations when he dared renowned economist Henry Kachaje to join politics to appreciate external forces that affect implementation of policies.
In his presentation titled Financing, Transformation and Productivity during the Blantyre leg of the Ministry of Finance’s Pre-Budget Consultations, Kachaje, who is president of Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama), said there is need for evidence-based policy making, planning and budgeting.
Blantyre Thursday
He called for the need to learn from what works and what does not and use such lessons to sustain or abandon or even develop new programmes instead of having programmes merely for political expediency.
Said Kachaje: “The budget should help government answer the question: Is everything that is in the national budget needed to be there? Can we take out things that can best be handled by other stakeholders such as private sector, communities and civil society?
“The budget must introduce radical reforms that can enhance prudent public financial management that will culminate into sealing off leakages and discouraging public waste.”
The Ecama president proposed a critical review and redesigning of the capital expenditure budget, including entitlements for the kind and size of vehicles public servants can purchase.
He said: “Our economy is a bicycle economy. It cannot accommodate all people’s needs. Let us try to spend within our means… Let us move from starting too many projects and failing to complete them as we spread ourselves too thin.”
But in his response, Gondwe said while he agreed with Ecama’s proposal, it was important for industry captains and critics to appreciate that realistically some of the issues cannot be achieved.
Said the minister: “It may be interesting to know that in as much as these ideas may seem practical on paper, it is very difficult to implement them on the ground.
“I challenge you Mr Kachaje to join politics since you already said that you are going into politics. Once you join politics, you will realise that it is really difficult to execute the plans you had when entering into politics.
“Serving people is no easy task. There are a lot of things in between that you need to address. In most cases, you will find that what your are planning of doing for the people is actually different from what the people themselves are thinking.”
in understanding of both parties, i can see that politics angles someone not to perform to his full capacity. this has evidence by mutual agreement between Gondwe and Kachaje. one thing i might disagree with Gondwe is the planning not inline with people you are serving. this can only result from lack of super vision and lack of knowledge about your people.
the other thing i can highlight is the mismatch of judgement of who to serve. the main external force mr budget planner might be influence is the interest of political leaders not the people. The rest is simple puzzle.
Well said. In a nutshell what Gondwe is saying is that even the pre-budget consultation itself is just a smoke screen because at the end of the day what he will end up funding is what his master (the politician) wants him to fund, not what people are telling him during the consultations.
Henry, don’t fall into that trap, we appreciate your contribiutions as it is. If Gov cannot accommodate your contributions, then Gov has a problem.
Mocking my Chewa cultural heritage in a banter, one of my friends, George Zangewa, told me of a story of gulewamkulu who had stepped on a nail during a performqnce.
Gulewankulu is said to have stopped the drumming and singing and loudly said: NDAPONDA MSOMALI. Without hesitation, the drummers and the singers went full throttle with what they thought was a new song: Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali…. Gulewamkulu had no option but to carry on dancing with a nail in his foot.
Considering what Mr Gondwe had to say in response to Mr Kachaje, I cannot help to replicate the scenario between gulewamkulu and the drummers/singers. Mr Kachaje, ECAMA are innocently (and rightly pointing out) things they think derail development in our country. Mr Gondwe, on the other hand, seems to say ‘ Ana inu, ifetu timafuna kuchita zomwe mukunenazo koma mwini fiilimu yemwe inu simungamudziwe unless mualowa ndale ndamene amalamula zonse zochitika… Mukajoyina ndale muzazidziwa momwe zimakhalira ndipo mudzaona kuti ngakhale inu simudzakwanitsa kuchita zomwe mukunenazo.
Ife, instead of paying attention to Mr Gondwe’s careful wording of his response, tagundika nayo nyimbo ndi ng’oma. Tikumuyimbila nyimbo munthu wamkulu: Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali…. Ayi a Malawi anzanga. A Gondwe sakufuna nyimbo ya Ndaponda Msomali ayi. A Gondwe akuulura gently kuti dziko lathu lapweteka (Laponda Msomali) ndipo likufuna chithandizo chathu.
Just before his demise, President Bingu wa Mutharika warned us that the devil has taken root in Malawi. Instead of paying attention to what was being said, we went full blast; Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali…. Ndiye taupondaditu ndiumenewo!
May be it is time that we, Malawians, should learn to carefully reflect on what people are telling us. May be it is time we started repairing our country. Start by digging deep mawu a bambo Gondwe. In doing so, we might be very surprised t know who is the devil that Bingu was talking. That might also help us kumvetsetsa chomwe chimakanikitsa ma politishani athu kuchita chitukuko chothandiza anthu mdziko muno and find ways to uproot the devil and forge ahead.
Next time we hear Ndaponda Msomali, Ndaponda Msomali….may be we should urgently call time up gule. Instead of a new song, Salamba mmanja, kwawo gule and FIRST AID. Quickly!!!!
You have said it well and I fully support what you have said as Malawians we should start looking at the bigger picture instead of dwelling on small issues that don’t have any effect on our Nation. Coz if Dr. Gongwe says Mr. Kachaje should join politics so what. The issue is really what you have clearly stated in your contribution. And as a Malawian am glad that we have people that can see things your way in our warm heart of Africa.