We, Malawians, know what we want. Our political, traditional and faith leaders know what this country needs.
In 2009, we massively re-elected Bingu wa Mutharika as president because ka (Ngwazi) understood and fulfilled some of our wishes, needs, and wants. In 2019 and 2020, we rejected the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration because we felt the government had forgotten what we wanted the party in power and its partners to do for us.
The majority of Malawian voters chose the Tonse Alliance because it promised what we wanted.
We know what we want. We want jobs that pay good salaries. We want industries. We want electrical energy. We want a corruption-free country. We want rule of law and ethical governance. We want lasting peace and security. We want a good transportation system. We want good roads. We want good dwelling places. We want to be rich.
We know what we want. Since 1993 our needs and aspirations have been captured in manifestos of all political parties in Malawi; in all government policies; in all parliamentary Hansard editions; in all National Statistical Office surveys; in all pastoral letters, in all Afrobarometer survey findings, and in all social media discussions.
Published in 1995, Malawi’s Vision 2020 captured our aspirations and our dreams to attain the enviable middle-income status 25 years years later. Vision 2020 was aligned to international and regional development agendas and informed our national development policies and programmes.
But, by 2020, Malawi was deemed poorer than before. The industries that kept Malawi’s economy buoyant had been sold off to please the International Monetary Fund in its Social Adjustment Programme jihad. In fact, the leaders at the material time should be executed for failing stand up against institutions that want us to be poor.
A country that used to be a breadbasket became a food beggar. A country that made and exported some of the best fabric, such as Whitex Kutchena, slipped into and normalised kaunjika, even underwear.
A country that assembled buses, such those assembled by PEW, and cars, such as those by Mandala Motors, reduced itself to importing everything for automobiles, including door handles.
A country that had an enviable urban transport system, notably the city circular bus, lost out to minibuses instead of allowing minibuses to compete with the circular, time-conscious city bus network. A country whose trains and lake steamers worked. The country was sold off and the railway network abandoned.
We know what want. And the Malawi 2063 (MW2063) blueprint has captured what we should do to achieve it. In brief, Pillar 1 of the MW2063 says to improve and increase agricultural production and productivity, we have decided to mechanise and commercialise our agriculture.
So, why are our leaders still wasting money and time on small non-impactful approaches such as the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP)? In Chitipa AIP money was stolen by the AIP beneficiaries. In Ntchisi AIP fertiliser was were stolen by beneficiaries of AIP. Wasteful programme. And it must end now. AIP will not commercialise agriculture. Instead, it is cultivating beggars, who are institutionalized, ready to be used during elections.
We, Malawians, direct our leaders that from this year all AIP money should be invested in agricultural commercialisation and mechanisation.
Pillar 2 says we must build industries based on our mining, agriculture, marine and riverine resources and up our knowledge-based economy. Without realising Pillar 1 we can’t attain Pillar 2. Around industries, we will achieve Pillar 3: Urbanisation.
We all know that industries will produce jobs and products that may be exported to earn foreign exchange.
But, show us one industry that has started, four years later? Yet, our leaders and, especially, our lawmakers are busy wasting precious time discussing things that will not help us. Tiwonerani chaka cha mawa.
This time around we will not tolerate the usual excuses deployed to justify our dismal performance: Covid-19; Cyclone Gombe, Cyclone Sattar, Cylone Chido(do), cholera, and Aids as if Malawi were the only country to have been affected by these catastrophes.
Time is ticking, and popular scorecard is not forgiving.
