Why Malawi hasn’t fixed it?

Honourable Folks,

I like the direction the discourse on fixing Malawi is taking. DD Phiri on Monday asked: If Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia—countries which like our own, are in sub-Saharan Africa, landlocked and do not rely on oil or minerals—are rated by IMF as being among the 12 fastest growing economies on the continent, why not Malawi?

Indeed, why not?

The question serves to highlight the need to fix something in order for us to move forward and claim our place under the sun. The question is: what’s wrong with us?

It will be a bluff for many of the 12 economic superstars to brag—as we definitely can—about enjoying “peace and calm, law and order” for a good 50 years. Uganda, for example, had Idi Amin the Lord’s Resistance Army and terrorists as distractions to progress. Yet, the country is counted among the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa!

In Rwanda, the 1994 genocide claimed 800 000 lives and tore apart the fabric used to bind ethnic groups into one nation. It’s a sad chapter in the history of Rwanda illustrated by a careful preservation of the skulls of the victims.

At that time, we, Malawians, were getting kudos from all over the world for pulling off the first change of government in 30 years since independence without spilling an iota of blood.

Yet, despite all that and the abundant resources God has given us—fertile soils, an expanse of fresh water running along the entire length of Malawi from Karonga to Nsanje, the chambo and Mulanje Cedar which you can’t find anywhere else in the world, the breathtaking beauty which makes our country a potential haven for tourists—we display characteristics of a failed State.

We are bundled with war-torn countries in the category of the world’s least developed countries. For the past three years, our economy has grown by less than 6 percent and the 16.5 million Malawians can only share poverty, not wealth. Why are we still crawling at 50?

Part of the answer is with us, the people. We rejected Kamuzu Banda’s one-party dictatorship along with the good values and principles he championed. People no longer ask “what can we do for country?” Instead they act based on “what’s in it for me?”

Villagers expect payment for taking part in what used to be self-help projects. Some do not just look to government or NGOs for that which they can’t afford such as fertiliser but they even expect help in the construction of their own pit latrines!

In the public sector, employees do not have to work hard to earn more. Huge pay hikes are almost always a result industrial strikes which also reward the lazy ones and those who abandon work to do their own things in equal measure!

So what’s needed for us to move on? The answer is leadership. We need the transformational leader who can inspire us to break sweat and die a little for our country. APM has only been in office for six months. What is clear though is that his administration waffles a lot on decision-making.

His closeness to the administration of his late brother, Bingu, may also affect objectivity in probing the Cashgate scandal and bringing the culprits to book.

The strikes rocking the public sector and civil society demands for secession, federalism as well threats to march in protest against the use of National Aids Commission (NAC) funds by bodies associated with the President indicate we are in for a bumpy ride, especially if there’s no respite to economic hardships.

The challenge for APM is to break away from the style of past presidents who expected to be served instead of serving the electorate. He should think deep about an inclusive government and avoid as much as possible making decisions that may be perceived to benefit one ethnic group at the expense of others.

Change starts with leadership you can believe in and trust, like respect, is earned.