‘Malawi needs leadership that can turn words into action’

Last week, the Public Affairs Committee held the fifth All Inclusive Stakeholders’ Conference in Blantyre amid rising economic and social challenges in the country. In this interview with WATIPASO MZUNGU, Chancellor College political analyst BONIFACE DULANI discusses some of these challenges.

Q

:That the country’s economy is in bad shape is no secret. Who is to blame?

A

:From my understanding, donors have given us conditions which, if fulfilled, can lead to the resumption of budgetary support. Otherwise, donors are still providing aid, but not budget support. The fact that the donors are reluctant to resume aid suggests to me we have not fulfilled our part of the bargain. This is also true with our programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is currently off-track.

The blame, in other words, is on our government for failing to fulfil the donor and IMF conditionalities. We, of course, do not have to delegate the running of our economy to donors. The fact that we are so donor-dependent is yet again a sign of the failure of our leaders to devise strategies that can provide long-term and autonomous solutions for running the country.

Q

:Is there hope that things will get better as government claims?

A

:I can understand government trying to sell Malawians hope-that appears to be all they have at the moment. However, I doubt Malawians are buying this ‘hope’ theory. When the Institute of Public Opinion and research (Ipor) did a survey early last year, 70 percent said the country was going in the wrong direction and another 77 percent felt that the economic situation in the country was bad or very bad. I can only imagine the numbers are higher now when the economic problems have worsened and a large proportion of Malawians are experiencing food shortages. It is simply not a time when hope can sell.

Q

:Does it look like government has a clear way out of the current challenges?

A

:Unfortunately, our leaders appear to have resigned themselves to fate and hoping that a miracle will happen. We are hearing nothing reassuring from the top leadership, starting from the presidency down to the ministers. The Minister of Finance himself is reported to have handed over his responsibilities to God—which is the ultimate acknowledgement of defeat.

We are hearing nothing right now on how government is preparing itself for what is likely to be an even worse famine in the coming year, given that this year’s crop is failing due to the ongoing drought. At the rate we are going, it will be every person for themselves since our leaders appear to be clueless.

Q

: Given that other countries in the region such as South Africa and Zimbabwe are also facing drought and food shortages in

this growing season, it seems Malawi has nowhere to run…

A

: We are blessed with an abundance of water, so it is possible for us to come out of our perennial hunger problems. Indeed, we could even become the breadbasket of the region if we learn to utilise our resources well. However, this requires a leadership that can turn words into action. I was talking to a colleague who served in the Malawi diplomatic service who told me there are a lot of interested investors in the West willing to pump in resources towards irrigation agriculture. However, when they requested for Malawi to make available to them sufficient land that could not only produce enough maize to feed the majority of us but also to export to our neighbours, we demonstrated that we are only good at talking and no action. Instead, we have chosen to prioritise subsidising subsistence farming when all signs point to the failure of the programme.

Q

:Donors withdrew budgetary support to government and they now channel their money through other sectors. Is this mode of donor aid justifiable given the desperate situation Malawi is in?

A

:After 50 years of independence, we should not be worrying about what donors choose to do or not do. They are not answerable to us Malawians, but to their own people. As far as I am concerned, this gives them the discretion to use their money in any way they want, including not even helping us. Malawi needs to find its own solutions and learn to finance them in a sustainable manner. This requires creativity and a transformative leadership that is ready and willing to adopt tough but ultimately developmental policies. Unfortunately, our leaders often look for the simplest solutions that end up hurting the country even more. I have in mind here the punitive taxes that government imposes on the few Malawians that are taxed. Instead of such people investing, they are barely subsisting. Meanwhile, when government gets our taxes, they choose to spend it on areas that do not advance the wellbeing of the ordinary citizen.

Q

: What would be the best way forward, in your opinion?

A

:I always worry that we are often obsessed with firefighting instead of finding long-term solutions to our problems. Right now, we are talking of hunger, yet there are clear signs that next year will be worse, and we might not even have the luxury of purchasing maize from neighbouring countries that are themselves affected by the current drought. But there are no signs of preparing for that. The short-term nature of government thinking is further reflected in the taxation policies, which are killing a culture of savings and investments. As a result, we are not creating new jobs while companies are closing. I am also worried about government paying lip-service to reigning in expenditure. One moment the leadership preaches the gospel of making sacrifices, the next moment you hear an entire village has travelled to wine and dine in New York at government expense or the country has bought some expensive vehicles to service the top leadership.

Q

:Do you think it is possible to turn things around?

A

: Of course, it is possible to turn things around, although it will be a process. There are a lot of brilliant minds in this country that I am sure we cannot continue to fail.

Q

: Any other remarks?

A

: As the old adage goes, the first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge its existence. Our leaders, from the top to bottom, need to step down from their comfortable perches and acknowledge the challenges we are going through and demonstrate that they are working to find solutions. This is not asking too much surely. n