Will life improve under DPP in 2015?

In his Christmas festive message, President Peter Mutharika said his government will ensure a better and prosperous 2015 for Malawians. However, the way DPP runs the country offers dim hope for a better a future. It has becomes clear that senior positions in many public institutions are for people who support DPP or have connections with the party. Merit is no longer an issue, but political patronage.

One would have thought that with severe criticism tMutharika received in appointing his ministers, advisers and personal assistants, he would be repentant and turn a new leaf and start appointing people based on merit. This means advertising positions and screen people to pick the best for the job. The latest appointment is that of Friday Jumbe who has been appointed chief executive officer of the Malawi Development Bank (MDB). After the 2014 elections, Jumbe obtained an injunction restraining the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) from recounting the votes, but he later dissolved his non-entity Labour Party to join DPP.

How, I wonder, was Jumbe’s appointment made? Why was it not other people with banking experience such as Victor Mbewe, Dr Neil Nyirongo, Dr Wilson Banda or Dr Maxwell Mkwezalamba? Appointments similar to Jumbe’s are likely to continue in 2015.

As if political issues are not disappointing enough, the economy is unlikely to improve. Interest rates are high, making borrowing expensive. Inflation has soared to such a level that many people are failing to buy basic commodities, forcing the urban poor and rural dwellers to live on the fringes of life.

However, the DPP has no clear cut economic policy that government is following to revamp the economy. There is very little or practically nothing happening on the ground to give hope that things are changing or will change for the better. Worse still, government is unlikely to win donor confidence soon in view of the lack of financial prudence in handling donor finances.

If Malawians are to benefit from government programmes in 2015 and beyond, there needs to be political will to see change in all spheres of life. Unfortunately, that political will is not there. Mutharika has shown that he is indecisive and slow at acting. For example, the Judiciary support staff has has been on strike for more than one month now. One would have expected the President to engage the Judiciary on the way forward. But Mutharika is just quiet. One can understand his approach because even when he was Minister of Education, he never bothered to mediate in the Chancellor College strike for academic freedom when the issue directly fell under him. It took the uproar of Malawians to rescind the decision to hike his own salary, vice-president, ministers and MPs.

The procrastination is also extended to his ministers. The majority of Malawian ministers do not work; they just receive salaries and allowances for nothing. One would expect ministers to solve people’s problems under their ministries. Take transport as an example. You will find buses from Mzuzu to Lilongwe or Blantyre to Lilongwe overloaded with passengers with some of them actually standing. How can a responsible government allow this? Government has a duty to ensure passengers travel safely and in comfort. This practice should be stopped! Malawi is the only country in the Sadc region that allows passengers to stand on a long distance journey.

The Minister of Information and Civic Education Kondwani Nankhumwa is busy churning out propaganda for DPP. He neglects to look at important issues in the telecommunications sector which fall under his ministry. He does even know that mobile phone company services are very poor although they overcharge consumers. Government should have been fighting for marginalised and the disadvantaged by telling these companies to reduce their rates for the benefit of poor people. But the minister is quiet.

The business community is also busy exploiting consumers through high prices. Some of them are externalising foreign exchange either by hook or crook. Where is the Minister of Trade and Industry and Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning to stop this malpractice?

Immigration Department is riddled with corruption and a number of foreigners are working in Malawi illegally. Police officers are now feared criminals. What contribution is the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Paul Chibingu making to ensure his ministry is clean?

The list of areas of improvement can go on. But suffice to say that the impression that one gets at the end of the day is that Malawi operates as if it does not have leaders or the leaders do not know what they are doing. There are only very few ministers who talk about relevant issues that affect their ministries and are trying to initiate change.

So, 2015 is yet, another bad year for the majority of Malawians. If DPP is failing to do simple things, there is no reason to believe they can do great things.