Taking up leadership space
President Peter Mutharika was once quoted as saying he was committed to taking Malawi forward in the spirit of unity, peace and progress.
He also said that his administration is devoted to the duty of leaving no one behind. This sounded good, but it is far from the truth and the reality on the ground. There is no sign of unity and peace, let alone, progress in the country.
In conclusion, it can be said that the President says what he thinks people want to hear. This is not helpful at all. Malawians are interested in real progress and not just sweet talk.
Naturally, people of Malawi have great expectations of the President who will emerge after the fresh election on July 2 2020. It is not a secret that the majority of Malawians have suffered much more during the current administration than ever before.
Therefore, people are desperate for change. In fact, it has been said several times that for Malawi to progress there is need for change in the manner the presidency conducts its business. Surprisingly, every person voted into the leadership claims to be the right one. What such people deliberately forget is that there is no magic in the ballot box as Kenyan professor Patrick Lumumba once said.
According to him, if one is a dunderhead the ballot box will not convert him to anything else other than remain as an elected dunderhead. Obviously, this is not the type of leader Malawians are looking for. Therefore, people have to be very careful when going to the polls on July 2.
The country desperately needs someone who can add value to the presidency, and not a man or woman who brings nothing but to learn from the job. The country has had too many of such caliber of leadership who in the process quickly learn about how to convert public resources into personal fortune. This has been the basis of the Malawi tragedy because people close to the powers that be, follow suit. Ordinary Malawians pay the price through perpetual suffering as public resources are shared by those people with power.
At the moment, the presidential candidates for the fresh election are already in campaign mode. For goodness’ sake, it cannot be said enough that the campaign must be about competition of ideas and not who has the deepest pocket to bribe voters.
Truly speaking, people can end up with the wrong choice by voting for the one with a deeper pocket, because if he or she wants to maintain his style of buying power, he or she ends up stealing taxpayers’ money.
Candidates must refrain from campaign strategies which are just as bad as stealing.
Already there is an outcry about officials, probably from the party in government, asking people to surrender their IDs in exchange for a loan.
In essence, such officials are denying people their voting rights. An equally bad strategy going on is that of allowing underage youths to register as voters.
