Emily Mkamanga

Unattended problems delay progress

As it were government is a continuous process. Therefore, if there has to be any progress in a country each government and its leadership must make sure that they take care of the country, its people and hand them over to the incoming government in a much better condition than it was found.

Unfortunately, in a democratic Malawi the situation has been both the country and its people, especially the poor, have been deteriorating in terms of poverty. All this is because some leaders thought that being voted into power means no one is capable of leading the country. With this in mind they would treat Malawi as personal property. To them, whether Malawi was progressing or not, was irrelevant.

At the moment, it is President Lazarus Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance administration who are in government and in-charge of the country and its people. They have so far been in power for a year and already some people are raising concerns that the leadership has failed to deliver on its promises. What such people forget is that government is an ongoing process. Therefore, for the government to make a miraculous quick progress depends on the state the previous government of Peter Mutharika left it.

Meanwhile, it is common knowledge that Mutharika left the country in a mess, especially in terms of not sorting out corruption, stealing of public resources and total abuse of power.  In addition to this was indiscipline in the civil service. It would have not made sense for the Chakwera government just to proceed without sorting out the mess first. In his inaugural speech Chakwera emphasised that he would first of all remove the rubble left behind by Mutharika. This is not an overnight job, but a long process which involves the wheels of justice of which experience has shown that they turn slowly.

In addition to the above mess, the government faces even up to now the severe attack of Covid-19. This has been worrisome to most Malawians as so many people lost their lives. The concerns by government have been lack of facilities for patients as well as doctors and nurses. As if this is not bad enough, the assigned authorities went on Covid-19 spending spree through paying themselves high allowances after every meeting. In the end, the funds have been depleted. It is believed this style of abuse started before the Tonse Administration.

With all the man-made problems stated above, and many more from weather calamities, it is naïve for anyone to think that the Tonse Alliance administration has failed to deliver. Both, the President and Vice-President Saulos Chilima, have shown to be hard workers with nothing to hide. But there are too many problems, most of which are a carryover from previous governments. What people can learn from this is that every President and the entire leadership, plus the whole government, must ensure that they leave the country and the people better than they found them. 

Most of the problems that Chakwera and Chilima are struggling with are, indeed, by those with political power which forces them to think that they have the mandate to remain in power and, therefore, can go ahead and privatise public resources to personal fortunes. Imagine, how can one have more than 70 cars, hotels and houses in foreign countries when most taxpayers do not even know where their next mean will come from? What is more surprising is that leadership has no knowledge.

Malawi needs to progress and it cannot progress if authorities look the other way when there are problems.

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