Together we can make a difference
A chievement of greater things begins from achievement of small things. There are many times when we dream of achieving big things before taking a step into the journey of achieving the small things in life. The challenge that comes to mind is the fear of the ‘unknown’. We are born with and we grow, get old and die with it, passing it on from one generation to another.
The cause of all this is the framing up of the mind. We grow and learn in school not to make mistakes for us to make it to the higher levels of education. These ‘mistakes’ are not doing bad things or having a bad conduct that negatively affect society, but mistakes made by failing to get a correct answer. The more a person fails in class, the more the ‘fear’ develops. This is why we see many people who have gone to school, acquired higher levels of education, but what they dream of is getting employed by someone else and not starting up their own ventures. Despite the fear, there is a little seed of faith in people which needs watering for it to grow and make a difference.
We will take Malawi as our focal point in this discussion. It is a country very rich in natural resources. We have rains, sunshine, fertile soils and hardworking people. We also have educated people that have majored in various academic disciplines living in Malawi and abroad. So where do we get it all wrong that our beautiful country can be rated one of the poorest in the world 50 years after gaining independence? The key factor is lack of ‘togetherness’.
Let us look our neighbours Zambia and Mozambique. Malawian kwacha was more powerful than their currencies. Now their currencies are much stronger than ours, yet it is possible to turn things around. For how long are we going to be begging the donors to be giving us money?
What we should know is that there is nothing for free, the donors do not have money just for spending. Their aid is aligned with their needs hence the conditions imposed on the money they give.
Can we not create a win-win scenario with the donors by improving ourselves first so that we turn our relationship with them into a partnership, not a beggar-giver relationship? Yes we can. But now how?
When we read the Holy Bible in the book of Exodus 17 verses 11-13…’ the people of Israel helped their leader by keeping Moses’ arms up during the war and they won’. From this story, we can learn that together they made a difference.
Malawians should support the President to turn Malawi for the better. It is not all about money, but doing it for a good cause. The media, corporate world, civil society organisations (CSOs) and even students should join hands with the President.
I believe we can hold hands with our leader and make a difference to our beloved Malawi. Let us put aside politics and just criticising for now and focus on the problem at hand, economic downturn. We know the problems in our country, let us offer solutions, take the tools and start working.
Can we humbly request our leader, President Peter Mutharika, to involve and engage Malawians from the village, district, regional and at the national level. Please create taskforces in which members from the different sectors can be put together to offer solutions and implement them. It is not about the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) alone to do the work. DPP is there to provide the leadership role and Malawians we do the work.
On another note, can our government restructure the national budget model to enable donors to finance direct the areas that make their 40 percent contribution to gain their confidence while we are rebuilding the 60 percent part which we finance ourselves while targeting to turn this 60 to 80 percent or more? Together we can make a difference.
