Change mindset for progress

At the close of the last sitting of Parliament the leader of opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa commented on how Parliament business went.  Among other comments he complained as to how come the Tonse Alliance government is seen to only arrest and imprison DPP members in its fight against fraud. Nankhumwa’s observation might be correct, however, he should know better that in this country some people especially members of ruling party and government have a tendency of not following the laws because they think that they will always be protected by the powers that be, even if they are involved in a very big fraud.  Such people do not even bother to think about how they can survive arrest if there is a change in government.  In fact, being blinded with power they do not dream about the possibility of change in government.  It is only right and proper that since the government has changed from Mutharika administration to Chakwera under the Tonse Alliance, the new government has to start by sorting out fraud cases to show that it will not tolerate such lawlessness.  Therefore, dealing with former DPP members is a wake-up call and warning to those people who had and still have a habit of abusing public resources.  Chakwera government wants to show that no party or government should have a monopoly of protecting thieves and corrupt officials and other non-law abiding individuals.

The Tonse Alliance government has repeated several times that it wants to bring change so that every Malawian can live a better life.  In Chakwera’s speech to mark the 100 days in power, the President emphasised that there is need for Malawians to have a changed mindset.  It will no longer be “anything goes” in Malawi.  In fact, the government under Vice-President Chilima shows that a number of things will not be done as in the past.  On this note President Chakwera when he was opening Sogecoa Golden Peacock Hotel in Blantyre said that he was disappointed that there were too many government officials from all over the country to attend the function.  He found this to be expensive to government and could not be justified in whatever way.  Therefore, he advised the SPC to always look at the number of people accompanying the President or Vice-President.  What everyone should know is for officials to attend the President’s function is not cheap, it is a drain on government’s coffers as they have to pay for fuel, hotel accommodation as well as food.

The other bad practice that Chakwera condemned was closing the road for hours in order to allow his motorcade to pass.  In fact, this has been a tradition in this country though motorists hated to be stopped on the road side for long hours.  All types of vehicles get stopped, including ambulances rushing to hospitals with very sick patients.  There have been stories in the past of patients dying in the ambulance having been stopped for a long time for a President to pass.  This is very unfair to say the least.  Due to the inconvenience caused to the motorists Chakwera directed that whenever is motorcade passes other motorists should not be stopped for more than 15 minutes.  All the past bad practices mentioned here plus government officials being at every function by the President came about because leaders then demanded special loyalty.  Just imagine whenever some officials absented themselves at the President’s meetings they could be reprimanded in one way or the other.  From the speeches of Chakwera and Chilima, people must change their mindset and work hard to show loyalty to the country.