Govt requires individual participation
The whole purpose of having a government is for people to be provided with an organised system of serving them properly. People always want to be looked after well. They want a government which sees to it that shortfalls are taken care of. It goes without saying that government is continuous and its performance depends on the leadership in power.
For a government to be successful, people must also play their part beyond just paying tax. The citizens must be allowed to be watchdogs on the leadership and the whole government set-up. The current government under President Lazarus Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance administration is well aware of how corruption and stealing of public resources can destroy a government. The best example is the previous administration under Peter Mutharika, when corruption and abuse of public resources were rampant by those people with power. This is why the current administration is busy trying to bring corruption suspects to book. It was impossible for people without any power to stop the abuse of public resources in the previous government, probably most people thought that it would have been better to vote the leader out and, in the process, he became a one-term president. Malawians worked wonders. In fact, a certain political analyst once said: “Leaders who do not listen will eventually be surrounded by people who do not talk.” This can be dangerous because it can mislead the leadership into thinking that the leader is doing well, only to be voted out of power in the end.
Voting is a development process. The other thing is when people willingly participate in development projects. At the moment, government’s priority is to control coronavirus as well as taking care and treating Covid-19 patients. To do this, the government really needs help. In the previous government some donors offered money for coronavirus treatment, but allegedly, some money was abused by some officials for hefty allowances whenever they had meetings. One can only hope that Chakwera will bring to book all the suspects of the unbecoming behaviour. In fact, there must be a way of such people paying back this money.
Meanwhile, it is pleasing and appreciated that some individuals as well as organisation in the country have made donations to the coronavirus cause. Individuals such as Stanley Onjezani Kenani and his two friends have already raised millions of kwacha to buy oxygen concentrators and cylinders. Such equipment is really in short supply in our hospitals. Kenani is appealing to many more people to donate since coronavirus has reached a desperate level. The donations made so far are a mark of trust on the President Chakwera—that they will be used for the intended purposes.
It can be said without any contradiction that Malawians who have made donations have shown that as Malawians, people should take their part in running their government, Malawi is a poor country and, indeed, it is overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to other problems.
But, surprisingly, some people blame Chakwera for not delivering on his promises. This is naïve. Any sensible person must know that the priority at the moment is the coronavirus pandemic; let it be contained first. After all, there is now a peace of mind which makes people free to contribute to government in cash and kind. Whenever there is a problem in the country, it is up to every Malawian to rise up and help to ease the situation. Those who have done so to Covid-19 must be praised. Citizens must show their worth.
