Messing around with Malawi’s economic disaster

As it were, Malawi has had its fair share of life threatening disasters such as drought and floods.

As if these are not bad enough, the country is now experiencing a mother of all disasters and this is the economic disaster.

It is common knowledge that a vibrant economy is a catalyst for development in the country.

It is equally true that a poor economy is a catalyst of all manner of suffering. By now the DPP-led government must be well aware that the current economic disaster is under their leadership.

Just like in the other disasters, the poor economy needs a lot of players to put it right.

Fortunately, Malawi is abundantly blessed with a lot of expertise in every field one can think of.

What remains is for the government to engage and work with such people regardless of their political affiliations in order to turn around the economy.

When thinking about Malawians who have ever turned around a bad situation, the first person who comes to mind is Mr Humphreys Mvula who was a chief executive officer of Shire Bus Lines.

The time he took over management, the company was almost finished. But within a short time the company was back on its feet with new and better buses.

Meanwhile, bluntly speaking, the DPP-led government has failed to correct the sick Malawi economy. Therefore, it is time for other people to get involved.

It is obvious that the government does not want to use people outside of the ruling party because they fear to be taken as failures. Unfortunately this is what they are.

Malawians have painfully watched their country descending from a booming economy under Dr Kamuzu Banda to being the poorest country in the World under the leadership of Peter Mutharika.

Just like the President, some government leaders argue that if other people, especially from the opposition parties have suggestions of correcting the economy, why can’t they come forward? However, experience has shown that this is just a window dressing statement.

If the President and his government found the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) report from the All Inclusive Conference unacceptable then what chance is there for an individual’s suggestion to be taken on board?

In fact people outside DPP cannot be listened to because they are taken as failures just because they did not win the 2014 elections.

The government seems to be myopic for failing to see that their political possessiveness in running the country is retrogressive.

It is needless to say that it is very wrong to assume that since DPP won the elections it, therefore, mean that it has the monopoly of intelligence in running the country.

Such wrong assumption is one of the reasons that Malawi’s economy is down on its knees.

So far the government likes using the 2015/16 drought and floods as some of the main reasons for the poor economy. This is just a scapegoat to say the least.

The government should know better that they have failed to stop corruption and Cashgate which have negatively impacted on the economy.

Honestly speaking, it seems the most corrupt people are those with some political influence.

Therefore, there is need to clean the political arena. If the Malawi economy is to improve, the Mutharika government must be accommodating other players instead of wasting time politicising solutions to the economic problems.