By Burnett Munthali
We are still here in Malawi, two years down the line after the 2020 fresh presidential election, which was purportedly championed as the best alternative government aimed at transforming this country, President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse administration here we are still:
- Waiting for the right socio-economic transformation where most ordinary Malawians live and look forward to get their MADEF loans but to no avail.
- Waiting for cheap goods to be bought from markets and shops.
- Going to clinics and hospitals without any drugs for the sick.
- Sending their children to the same schools with no desks as some children write their Junior Certificate Examinations today.
- Working for little pay where some Malawians struggle with a minimum income of as low as MWK50 000 each month.
Generally agree that under President Chakwera’s leadership, many Malawians are suffering now than before and will surely perish.
It is therefore surprising when Tonse leadership is living in luxury and cannot explain to Malawians why the majority are suffering. It is the greatest insult by the President to claim that things have improved and we have reached the promised land of Canaan despite all the poverty around and the falling of the Malawi Kwacha.
The truth is that the Hi5 agenda has completely failed, not because of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP0, COVID-19 nor the war in Ukraine but for two reasons.
The first is that Tonse and its leadership have lost direction and is not communicating with the masses at grassroots level. Those at the top are in a different world, a world of tax free living, and have no idea of the prevailing economic hardships that they have forgotten how it feels to be poor.
They have forgotten how it feels to be a lowly paid individual and highly taxed citizen. They have forgotten how it feels to be a poor villager where they struggled and grew up from.
They have also forgotten how it feels to be poor farmer who cannot afford fertilizer and yet they secretly choose to reduce the number of beneficiaries without any explanation. They want the farmers to feel stupid and everyone else.
They can no longer see the poverty of Malawians they knew too well and understood before going into government.
The second one is corruption.
As such, the “2020 revolution”, rather than producing fruits for the majority, has proved to be as useless as a church mouse, as mischievous as a monkey.
This poses questions. However, certain things are clear.
We have an indecisive leader. Justifications to this fact are sufficient to refer to, too many to mention. The appointment and composition of his first cabinet, the time taken to reshuffle his first cabinet, the fight against corruption and speeches made against the Director of Anti Corruption Bureau. The list goes on.
Our leadership simply doesn’t walk the talk and they simply won’t because they don’t know a thing. They will continue to spoil the economy of this country as Malawians wait hopefully and patiently in vain.
Perhaps these guys can only try on infrastructure development. Otherwise, Malawians will be swallowed in a sea of economic mismanagement. This nation is drowning for sure.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor
