Change needs sacrifices

Any change—be it social, political, economic or religious—needs sacrifice. At any phase of the country’s political change, some people made sacrifices.

Malawians can remember that when fighting for independence, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda and other notable leaders were imprisoned but they did not give up. Fortunately, at the time, most people were not doing it for personal benefit as it is the case today. They were patriotic and just wanted to free the country from the claws of the British colonialists.

As it were, even to change from one party system of Dr Banda to multiparty rule, it was not easy. Some notable democracy advocates like Chakufwa Chihana were imprisoned. However, the pressure was too much and Dr Banda was forced to call for a referendum so that people decide whether the country should continue with one party rule or embrace multiparty democracy. People chose the latter and the transition was smooth.

When former president Bakili Muluzi took over as the first multiparty president, most people did not know that corruption and stealing of public resources would be the order of the day.

It so happened that people who were in power got so rich through corrupt means and abuse of government resources. This was the beginning of corruption and stealing of public resources in Malawi. Surprisingly, the then government failed to end this problem.

At some point, corruption seemed to be institutionalised as some people would brag about it openly just because they were close to the powers that be. All these malpractices negatively affected the country’s economy.

Then, president Bingu wa Mutharika and his brother Peter Mutharika came into the picture and some privileged people seemed to have monopoly of government businesses and contracts. The economy was indeed in a downward spiral and corruption continued unabated.

It was the shoddy performance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government under Peter Mutharika which caused Malawians to sacrifice again to get rid of it. The DPP administration faced a flood of demonstrations which forced people to vote it out.

It was not easy as Mutharika would not easily let go. He had created a reign of terror through the so-called cadets who would pounce at the opposition and unleash havoc by burning their houses, cars and harming people.

There was no peace and people lived in fear. They would look over their shoulders as they walked in the streets. Due to pressure from the opposition, Peter Mutharika called for elections which he claimed he had won, but the opposition would not take it as there were many anomalies in the election results.

The opposition took the matter to court where it was decided to have a fresh presidential election in June 2020, which the opposition won. Lazarus Chakwera became President and Saulos Chilima, Vice-President. The new government has a big task to continue fighting against corruption, theft and abuse of government resources.

Malawians can support this fight a by reporting anyone involved in corruption to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The Tonse Alliance government has said it will not tolerate corruption, fraud, theft of public resources, and the like, as was the case with the DPP-led government.

This is why it is sacrificing a lot of money, which have been used to develop the country, to bring to book people who stole government resources.

Take it or leave it. This is delaying progress for the Chakwera administration. But it must be done. In fact, bad habits die hard.

Even in the Tonse Alliance government some people think they will be given jobs as a way of thanking them for their sacrifices. Such complaints are heard in the grape vine. Any sensible person should know that such demands and expectations are uncalled for.

The President and the Vice-President have shown willingness to develop Malawi. As such, Malawians should support them and not waste time developing schemes to bring down the economy.