‘This is a leadership failure’

Hon. Folks, Karma can really balance the assumption that our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with outstanding accuracy.

She (Karma) just reiterated her assumption on Wednesday in a leaked Ombudsman determination in the alleged irregular recruitment of one Henry Kachaje as Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer. The rest is history. Before the determination was released, Mera rushed to court and obtained an injunction stopping Ombudsman Grace Malera from proceeding to release findings of her office into the dispute involving the economist’s hiring.

I will not tackle issues that are in court, except to say if the leaked Ombudsman’s report is anything to go by, then Malawi has a long way to go to rid itself of hypocrisy and mediocrity that is mostly championed by agents of ruling parties. Even now, the Tonse Alliance administration is grappling with numerous scandals that contravene correctional policies that President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President  Saulos Chilima sold to Malawians to secure their resounding victory in June last year.

But it is not surprising to some of us that such high-profile scandals are happening under Chakwera’s watch almost at lightning speed because it seems there is now a principle of ‘neutrality’―the same that destroyed the future grits of some politicians.

Illustrating a similar argument one day, Chakwera―while in opposition―stood up ahead of the 2014 elections to re-assure Malawians that it was possible to have a better and prosperous Malawi under his reformed Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

He even used the famous Italian author Dante Alighieri’s theory that ‘the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crises, maintain their neutrality’. This was an indirect reference to former president Joyce Banda (JB) whom he had accused of inaction over the 2013 Cashgate in which billions of public funds were stolen.

“In line with Dante’s statement above, we in the MCP cannot sit and do nothing while our country is bleeding. We fought for this nation and [we] will continue to do so at any place and time,” declared Chakwera on October 2 2013.

As a matter of urgency, Chakwera then asked Joyce Banda (JB) to lift the lid of silence and respond to the then media allegations of corruption and fraud, investigate them and bring all the culprits to book. Just like in the 2019 campaign, he also pledged that all public appointments will be based on merit and not on political inclinations.

Fast forward to December 8 2016, Chakwera was at it again, this time his predecessor Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM) for putting Malawi in deep crisis due to bad governance.

“In times of national crisis, leadership is critical. But, unfortunately, the crisis we face [now] is one of leadership itself. Mutharika’s leadership is like a pair of scissors designed to cut that thread and send us all spiraling into the abyss of deeper levels of poverty…Mutharika is destroying this country,” Chakwera charged.

Now,  now. Is it not strange that Chakwera himself is currently almost trailing the footsteps of JB and APM? Of course, the irony is that the incumbent leader refuses to take responsibility for the socio-economic and political mess unfolding right under his nose. He would rather blame it on the DPP to stay safe.

The President wants every Malawian to believe that the country is falling apart because of ‘challenges’ and not as a result of his own failures to govern, including his indecisiveness on key policy issues.

I mean, when he was in opposition, he was fond of denouncing the very same things he is almost tolerating now—accusing past leaders of lacking talent to deliver the much-needed development for Malawians.

Please understand, I am only borrowing some lines from previous statements that Chakwera used to make in an attempt to punch holes in the previous administrations.

Today, I want to simply remind the President that he had his own way of describing governance failures by past leaders. For instance, he could stand up and look APM straight in the face and say ‘such, such and such’ are failures in your leadership, leaving APM angry at times.

This is what leadership is all about, and I wish Chakwera could revisit some of those past media statements to see what he said of others and compare if he himself is doing the right things.