The suffering that Malawians are going through is a catalyst for the enthusiasm that people are showing for the 2019 elections which is expected to bring the desired change. There is a lot of hype as people re-align themselves with political parties of their choice. Even though the official campaign period is still very far, people are already deep into campaigning.
In fact, in this country, the ruling elite are perpetually in a campaign mode. The reason for this (though not disclosed) is that they have no particular agenda for the country. Therefore, they have to continuously appeal to the electorate to tolerate their legitimacy.
Meanwhile, the most important question to those people who are vying for political leadership is that why do they want to lead? According to Prof. Patrick Lumumba of Kenya, the quickest route to ill-gotten wealth is through political leadership. Experience in Malawi has shown that indeed what Prof. Lumumba said is the main reason that some people in Malawi fight for political power.
Naturally, no one would accept that he wants to enrich himself. But they all claim that they are getting into political leadership to help the people of Malawi live a better life. This is neither here nor there. What is clear is that leadership in Malawi is on a self-enrichment drive to the extent that ordinary people feel that they have no one to lead them. Political leaders have stifled all the opportunities for Malawians to live a decent life. Imagine, in an area the MP is the only rich man and people resort to begging from him for anything and everything. In the process, the MP finds it very uncomfortable to stay in the constituency. Hence he moves to town.
Malawi is now battling with corruption most of which emanates from the leadership. Indeed, the deep rooted corruption is their source of ill-gotten wealth. They are bribed with large sums of money by whoever is given a government contract. In turn they use some of the bribes for handouts to their supporters. This vicious cycle continues and creates millionaires from tax money for development. This high level of corruption by leaders is forcing Malawians to think that it is time for change and this change is highly expected to come in 2019.
It cannot be emphasised enough that Malawians deserve a leader or leaders who have an agenda for this country. People are even failing to have basic needs. When one looks around the region it is only Malawi which is lagging behind. This is all to do with the leadership that we have been having which has been concentrating more on self-praise and asking people to celebrate their intentions and imaginary successes instead of developing this country. The little development which is taking place is so haphazard that it is so difficult to know where it is heading. Therefore the 2019 elections should be a turning point. If people will choose leaders who have stolen from them in the past, this country will soon be history.
It is time for Malawians to wake up and not waste time with corrupt leaders especially those that want to be re-elected by claiming that they have programs that they want to finish. Such people should be reminded that government is continuity and whoever comes next will be able to finish the programmes already started provided they will serve the people pf Malawi. no Malawians should be cheated that to be patriotic is to stand with President but patriotism is to stand with the country.
