What are bishops saying?

Living Our Faith is a Catholic bishops’ groundbreaking pastoral letter in Malawi. It sets the tone and pace for the country’s struggle for democracy, rule of law, participatory government, transparency, accountability and war on corruption.

The history of multiparty politics in Malawi is incomplete without mentions of the bishops letter and subsequent reprisals.

It is not surprising that 30 years on, the bishops had to reflect on this iconic pastoral letter of 1992.

On Sunday, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi released the 27th Bishops’ pastoral letter.

From Living Our Faith, the epistles  have attracted public attention even among  non-Catholics due to their prophetic messages on a number of social, economic and political issues in the country. 

But what are the bishops saying in their recent pastoral letter, Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Living Our Faith.

The 16-part booklet begins with  a call to respect human dignity and the unity of humankind. In the letter, the bishops lament the dehumanising poverty faced by Malawians while the rich few, including elected officials and their families or cronies, amass massive wealth and luxury without any concern about the suffering majority. Equality and social justice wane as elected leaders watch indifferently.

The bishops are aware that when people get into power, they become arrogant and stop listening.

The men of the mitre state that “it would be a failure on their part if they kept silent on matters which affected the day to day lives of human beings”.

This is an assurance that the consecrated  servants of the people will remain conscious of the masses and the voices of the voiceless.

As such, they disdain any attempts to muzzle the voice of the Church are in disdain.

Reading between the lines, one hears the bishops saying: “Let those who have ears hear.”.

Choosing not to heed the advice could be the start of our leaders’ downfall.

On calls for equality and unity, the bishops take sides with many people who struggle to  meet their basic needs.

They observe that the distribution of national resources, development projects and influential positions is not based on merit,  but nepotism, regionalism, tribalism and cronyism.

While this may sound generalised, it remains for the leadership to be cautious of these.

Painfully, from the bishops’ reflection, it appears no regime since the restoration of multiparty politics in 1993 has taken serious strides to improve education.

In its current state, the education system requires overhaul restructuring as does the healthcare system, which is described as being “on its knees”.

The bishops diagnose the governing Tonse Alliance with weak and indecisive leadership; plunder of public resources; politics of patronage and impunity; siding with those who loot instead of siding with the poor; and disastrous handling of the Affordable Input Programme and national disasters.

While I agree with the bishops on all these ills, I remain perplexed on how governance in the Tonse Alliance is a public concern.

To me, the alliance only helped Malawians usher in new leadership to govern this country.

Tonse Alliance is some utopian government arrangement, a campaign gimmick which President Chakwera and Vice-President Saulos Chilima sold the electorate.  Today, its existence remains speculative and non-existent in our government annals.

Briefly, what I read from the bishops’ letter is that there is still hope that by living our faith, setting our vision straight, we can  build a better Malawi for all.

The question remains: What is it that we are doing collectively to build the Malawi we want?