Ordinary Malawians yesterday celebrated the country’s 57th Independence Anniversary Celebrations with mixed reactions with some saying it is not time to party amid the challenges facing the country.
In an interview yesterday, Mzuzu-based resident Macre Maere said while the country has had some leaders who tried to develop it, a majority have not delivered to the people’s expectations.
He said: “We could have made much progress by now but the challenge is that most of our leaders have been selfish and as a result, there has not been much that has happened.
“For example, we are still dependent on donors, we still have challenges in our public hospitals and our education system is still a mess. Learners still learn under trees 57 years on.”
On his part, Charles Zalira, a taxi driver in Blantyre, shared the same sentiments and stressed that corruption has been one of the major hindrances.
He said if leaders were firm on fighting corruption, the country would have made meaningful progress in terms of development as a lot of resources are lost through the vice.
“Corruption has negatively affected development to be honest. While our leaders have been telling us that they are committed to fighting corruption, I feel like much has not been done,” Maere said.
Blantyre-based Modern Education and Training Institute (Meti) lecturer Innocent Banda said while Malawians are facing challenges due to greed among leaders, the country has made strides in certain areas.
“At least we can say we have been able to choose leaders of our choice. Recently, we saw how we elected the new leadership. Maybe the challenge is that our leaders tend to change tune once in leadership positions,” he said.
And in a statement yesterday, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives executive director Sylvester Namiwa said instead of Malawians celebrating, they continue getting depressed, especially with the style of leadership and governance.
He said governance and leadership styles do not inspire and warrant celebrations befitting Independence Day, stressing that the situation is becoming worrisome.
Said Namiwa: “Malawians are not only being denied a decent meal, but are being tossed to trenches of abject poverty, denied the same human rights we gallantly fought for and oppressed socially and economically by this very insensitive administration.”
Efforts to speak to Minister of Information Gospel Kazako, who is the official government spokesperson, proved futile as he did not respond to our WhatsApp questionnaire by press time.
Malawi became independent on July 6 1964 and the day is a public holiday.
