Chakwera flip-flops again

On December 10 2023, a few days after President Lazarus Chakwera banned all external travels for himself and all public officers, I shared my skepticism about this declaration.

I doubted whether the President and all public officers will stick to the austerity measures they designed. This is a government whose leadership has shown, time and again, that they have no intention of walking the talk. We have seen them break their own rules with reckless abandon.

I spoke about how the austerity measures in 2022 were abandoned without explanation or remorse. They gave us one senseless excuse after the other why they had to abandon them.

On Thursday, I was vindicated. Chakwera, who has developed a penchant for flying, has ‘temporarily’ suspended the ban on his external travels and flew to DRC.

It is good indeed to once in a while visit your neighbors, but that shouldn’t be done at the expense of the country.

Right now, there is hunger in this country and a shortage of maize supply. This is not the time for leaders to be jumping on planes simply because they have been invited. Invitations can be turned down, politely and with good reasons. Saying the President has been invited, is not good reason for the country to be recklessly spending money.

Chakwera as a leader and his whole administration is characteriaed by indecision. They can’t just stick to their word. Several times they have flip-flopped on the decisions they publicly made and then completely abandon the rules they set.

We all need to wake up and hold our leaders to account. They cannot do as they please. This flip-flopping is not good for him as a leader and certainly not for the country. This also shows how weak he is that can’t be firm and stand his ground—not a good trait for a leader.