President needs to communicate

As 2014—the year Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM) was elected President of Malawi—draws to a close, MARTHA SANDE speaks with executive director of Church and Society of the Livingstonia Synod of CCAP Moses Mkandawire on Mutharika’s style of leadership.

Q

: We are exiting a year that APM was elected as President of this country. Do you think it was a fair deal for Malawians?          

A

: There were so many presidential candidates who wanted Malawians to vote for them where APM emerged the winner. It would be difficult for me to say whether it is a fair deal or not because Malawians, who are final decision makers, trusted him to offer the leadership they want. Of course, some Malawians have observed that as a leader, he must communicate to his people as a pilot does when a plane is cruising through some turbulence to prepare passengers.

Unfortunately, APM, as a pilot, is not communicating to his own people as they are passing through economic turbulence which has negatively impacted their lives. He should have prepared the people, although honestly he cannot take the blame of the challenges we are passing through 100 percent. Let us give him some time while asking him to communicate.

Q

:What do you make of his leadership style?

A

:  Leadership is not easy and nobody around the world would be given 100 percent in terms of managing and administering a country. Not everybody would look at APM as a good leader because of certain traits that he has shown.

Some quarters are happy that he has not been globetrotting and making frequent travels within the country like the previous leaders used to, and he has demonstrated the ability to differentiate between political and government activities. I believe on that he has a scored a point because there is reasonable amount of money that has been saved. We believe that he is dedicating most of his time to government activities, which is encouraging. The only challenge is poor communication. He is supposed to be communicating, assuring and bringing hope to the nation because majority of Malawians are living in uncertainty because they do not know what will happen tomorrow with the economic turbulence we are going through.

Q

: Currently, the country has been marred with industrial strikes. Are you surprised with this?

A

:  Not necessary because it is allowed under our Constitution as long as it is peaceful. These happen when negotiations have failed. I think many Malawians involved in these strikes have challenges; particularly looking at the sky rocketing cost of living because of the kwacha misbehaviour. These people need a little something to survive and have a minimum standard of good living, but the only challenge is that if two or three institutions of governance that would have been providing essential services to the common person are striking, the poor suffers.

For instance, there are so many people who are languishing in prisons because of the Judiciary strike. But let us also understand that government is squeezed because Parliament already approved the budget. I would appreciate it, if the strikes came before Parliament had approved the budget. That would have been a good time for government to adjust the figures. What needs to happen now is to accept the situation, and think of how best we can generate much more of our resources as a country and then a year or two years from today when the economy stabilises then we can demand much more. I know I might be offending some people, but I think this is the right approach.

Q

: Are you satisfied with how APM is handling the issue?

A

:  Not necessarily. That is why I am saying negotiations are proper. Currently, with one arm of government, the Judiciary on strike, who is negotiating with whom? There should be a mediator in-between because two institutions of government are at loggerheads. The Executive is saying we cannot go beyond this while the Judiciary is saying otherwise. This is negatively impacting the growth and development of our country. Therefore, maybe religious institutions or civil society organisations [CSOs] should act as mediators. There seems to be some kind of asymmetry on how the negotiations are being conducted. If negotiations were effectively coordinated and respected, this issue would have been resolved a long time ago.

Q

: What would you like to see?

A

:  I would like to appeal to both sides to speed up negotiations and be able to understand the situation we are in and compromise swiftly so that services can resume. If we are not careful we can destroy things by the end of the day.

Q

: Is the country on track with governance related issues?

A

:  The country needs more reforms. For example, since 1994 elections have not been properly managed and administered; that is why there is a call for a proper election reform programme being spearheaded by Malawi Electoral Commission [MEC] and Malawi Electoral Support Network [Mesn]. The revisit of the constitutional review programme and the calls for federal system of government are some of the issues telling us that our political system has not been properly designed to the expectation of some Malawians.

Another challenge is corruption which needs to be addressed to yield results on economic governance.

I would like to thank Malawians who are calling for reforms in different sectors where we are off track. But I think it is important to act and reinforce them. However, implementation, to a larger extent, will depend on political leadership.

Q

: Do you have any other comments?

A

 :  I would like to call upon all Malawians to work together and avoid hatred, nepotism, tribalism and greed. We should promote unity amid diversity and reorganise our political structure and systems. We should also put in place proper policies and monitor them. We should also work hard. If we do not take some of these steps we will remain behind, while our neighbouring countries are developing. We should own the country. It is ours.