Greetings from the Munda wa Chitedze where everything is in peace, and only harmony reigns supreme.
The other Friday, for over three solid hours, we listened to President Lazarus Chakwera deliver his reative and crafty State of the Nation Address (Sona). In more than one way, it was a unique deviation from the norm of delivering Sonas.
Chakwera went far and wide to bring out the achievements of his regime in the past four years or so. From Chitipa to Nsanje, Nkhotakota to Mchinji, he belted out achievements in infrastructure such as roads and buildings for the education and health sectors.
He also pin-pointed successes in disbursing social cash transfers and loans from the National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) as his fortes.
Once he was done, his praise singers went to town on how strong he was for speaking for three hours. They went another mile: The district by district accounts were signs of a great leader, who was actually speaking to the people on the ground.
But the praise was short-lived as soon Chitipa said no to a health centre Chakwera said was already done. Machinga refused the existence of a mega farm. Phalombe said no to a road and some other districts refused the existence of houses for security organs. Very embarrassing, to say the least.
Chakwera’s lieutenants would not take it lying down. Malawi Congress Party publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila said the President could not be accurate in all aspects, as politics is more about perceptions. Those of us at the farm understood it that politics is about deception.
Then, came the funny disclosure from Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba that ministers would be going around to explain to Malawians the intricacies of the Sona. A clear waste of resources, since whatever the President said was recorded in The Hansard, Parliament being a House of records. Better communication from the Secretary to the Government should have been that they were tracking down the civil servants and technocrats who gave Chakwera lies, who should not only be fired for gross misconduct but, also, arrested and tried for uttering false documents and fraud.
Dear Diary, as we sat to watch the news on TV the other day, Richard Chimwendo Banda appeared several times. In one item said, as Leader of the House, he was happy with the speech as it showed Chakwera had done it all.
In another item, the news reader said Chimwendo Banda, the MCP secretary general, praised the President for the speech, saying a few oversights should not distract the overall delivery the President made. Call it whatever, but Chimwendo Banda’s shoe-shining antics are top-notch.
I am not sure what he said in his capacity as Local Government Minister, but it was something praising the President for raising the Constituency Development Fund. Dear Diary, one would have expected Chimwendo Banda to say that as a minister he would be confronting councils that use 70 percent in their daily operations, 20 percent on bills and the meagre 10 percent on actual development.
Dear Diary, looking at both sides of the coin, Chakwera committed unpardonable sins of omission in his address. Much as he highly attempted to win voters, he did not say much of what they wanted to hear from him.
At the Munda wa Chitedze Farm, we would have loved to hear from Chakwera why we should be buying five litres of cooking oil at more than K40 000 when we pay the least of the workers K80 000 a month? Why have the prices of goods gone helter-skelter?
We export most of our Chitedze, as you already know. We wanted to know what Chakwera and his cronies are doing about the kwacha losing its grip on the dollar. We are negotiation with clients so that they can deposit our earnings in a parallel market dealer who is offering K4 300 to the dollar.
Villagers heard about health centres being built but wondered why there were no medicines there. What is a health facility without essential drugs and professionals?
They heard about roads, but there was no mention on what is being done about the rising transport costs due to, among other things, fuel shortages that are synonymous with the Chakwera regime.
You see, villagers around the farm never got the so-called loans from Neef but they wonder how Chakwera thinks government will recover the fertiliser loans. Look, the price of fertiliser is driven by the dollar, so those who have access to these obscure loans, will pay in what terms?
Dear Diary, former presidents may not have given crafty and creative Sonas, but their speeches were not as empty on the real issues that matter as the State of the Districts Address (Soda) which Chakwera delivered. Chakwera’s sins of omission
