‘I will continue evangelising’

President Joyce Banda recently hired veteran politician Brown Mpinganjira as Minister of Irrigation and Water Development. He talks to our reporter Chrisopher Jimu on how it feels to be in Cabinet after a 13 year absence and other issues.

How does it feel to be back in Cabinet after 13 years?

Thank God that Joyce Banda has appointed me into her Cabinet after 13 years. You may look at it as a long period, but to me this was a learning curve. I have learnt a lot from God and men and basically during this time I have shed off my old personality and worn a new one. I am very grateful [to her] for the opportunity to be able to serve the people of this country under her leadership.

The current administration is facing various challenges; do you think you have what it takes to help run this government?

Some of the challenges that people regard as serious are mere speculation and the fear of the unknown. It is true that we are going through tough times. As a nation we have experienced the worst economic period in the last few months, but what is encouraging is that president Joyce Banda is on top of the situation.  In terms of the economy, the President inherited [it when it in] shambles from the previous regime, but she has managed to navigate this country through difficult waters to where we are now. It is true the reforms she embraced caused a lot of pain to Malawians, but those of us who are in the know ought really to salute JB [Joyce Banda] for the boldness she displayed in taking very tough and unpopular measures which are now beginning to yield positive results.

QThe water sector is currently facing a lot of challenges, including erratic water flows. Boreholes in some areas are not working, how do you plan to resolve these issues?

That is very true. We have serious problems and challenges but the most important positive development in all this is that the President is very keen to see the problems dodging the water sector resolved very quickly. I have had overnight meetings with officials of Blantyre Water Board and together we have developed a blue print to resolve water problems. We have engaged the Ministry of Finance to help us in resource mobilisation. It is not possible for the water boards to rely on government and donors only and we have asked treasury to allow the water boards to borrow from banks. We are hopeful that within the next two to three months we are going to see changes in the cities.

When you were in government you were accused of being tribalistic, where you employing people from your area, what should people expect from you this time?

On that one let me challenge you that you come here after seven or eight months and see for yourself if there will be people from my home. Those assertions are not true and if you are going to find people from my village working here after eight months we will pick it up from there.

I am not tribalistic to answer your question

Are you going to contest as MP in Mulanje Central in 2014?

I am going back into Parliament in 2014 on a [People’s Party] PP ticket. All this time, I was campaigning in Mulanje Central.

Some chiefs in  the constituency branded you as a political prostitute who hops from one party to another. Do you think people will welcome you?

On the assertion from chiefs, what I can say is that some chiefs are a very dangerous barometer for politics. There are chiefs who are genuine and can give you genuine and good advice and then there are also chiefs who are unreliable and want to feed from every other source available. There are also other chiefs who have no real understanding of manipulative systems and this group can be easily manipulated even by their fellow chiefs as well as greedy politicians. As a seasoned politician I am not worried with what they said before. I am more concerned with what they can say today. In fact, I have forgiven all those who said bad things against me. The government then had good reasons to use chiefs to despise me.

At a time the world is embracing youthful leaders, don’t you think you should be retiring?

We should be careful about making sweeping statements when we are in politics look at the situation in Egypt; a youthful leader has just messed up the country and has been replaced by a mature and veteran administrator. It is not ones age that enables you to do good things for the people rather it is your relationship with God. If you allow God to guide you, He will make you a good leader and fight your battles for you.

You have always aspired to become President of this country. Do you still have that dream?

On presidential ambitions, what I can say is that [former president] Bakili Muluzi pushed me to seek something that I had not planned to seek [presidency]. Unfortunately, I have been labelled ambitious ever since, but I am very happy and satisfied with the position I have been given.

Should we expect you to continue evangelising now that you have assumed a new role in the Executive?

I will continue evangelising. If it was required of me to choose only one of the two politics and evangelism I will choose evangelism. But the good news is that God wants people who can be used by Him to serve his people at all levels whether it is in politics, public service or even in the private sector. If you allow yourself to be God’s vessel for serving his people then you do not feel your age then serving becomes a pleasure.