PP looks more and more like a lame-duck administration

“It is very unfortunate that we can stay for two months unpaid. Government as an employer has become irresponsible and untrustworthy,” Elijah Kamphinda Banda, Civil Servants Trade Union (CSTU) president, was quoted as saying this week.

I am not sure about not being paid for three months. I suspect the vocal trade unionist meant delayed wages for the said duration. But on the big picture question of credibility, I cannot agree more.

Whether the problem of the now perpetually delayed civil servants’ salaries is with the Ministry of Finance or ministries, departments and agencies is neither here nor there. The point is that government as a whole has completely lost whatever was left of its credibility and people’s confidence in its ability to deliver what is due to citizens.

And as has been demonstrated in interviews with the various public service spokespersons, there is enough blame game to go round and it appears that civil servants possess some basic debating and stage drama skills to entertain all of us. But we are not in the mood for second rate theatrics from Capital Hill, certainly not after cash-gate and the brazen executive arrogance that has followed the sordid details of this Capital Hill looting scandal.

The fundamental issue here is that government has almost stopped functioning; that after months of leaderless and, therefore, directionless wanderings, the rickety track that is the Republic of Malawi is slowly but surely grounding to a squeaking halt somewhere along what South African president Jacob Zuma calls pothole filled roads. That is what happens when an administration has lost the nerve centre of a moral compass. It crutches at strolls, hoping they can somehow turn into trees on mainland. While keeping at arms’ length those who offer genuine advice, it is hoodwinked by gold diggers masquerading as sympathetic ears and completely relies on their destructive counsel when the truth is they don’t really care whether the train crashes or not. They will simply jump on the next wagon.

Public Finance and Economic Management (PFEM) is at the heart of any legitimate government. It is what holds the centre.

Once it is discovered that the holder has given in to the allure of what corruption promises, everything curves in. And so it follows that civil servants cannot get paid on time anymore. Health budgets are heartlessly slashed. Donors can’t pump their money into the rotten national Treasury anymore. The education system collapses. The kwacha sinks on its knees. Our international credit rating takes some grave battering. Level headed clerics start issuing dire pastoral letters bemoaning decay. Civil society groups such as the Grand Coalition—as questionable as it is—start asking for the President’s head for dinner and plan to wear chilling black attires as if anticipating a funeral.

You also see respected groups such as the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) joining the bandwagon of resignation shrills and organising ‘All-Inclusive’ conferences just to drive that message home.

And, of course, nutty fundamentalists take advantage and move in to fill the leadership void with their own brand of governance, largely bordering on senseless religious fanaticism. I mean, what is that nonsense being coddled in Mangochi?

A group of religious zealots in the lakeshore district go on rampage, disrupting legitimate businesses and declaring the district a ‘Muslim State’ and the government just watches, fearing that antagonising what they see as a crucial voting bloc would be bad politics for the ruling People’s Party (PP).

These secessionists and fanatics have similar marks as those characters that confiscated a Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) television camera and government tucked its tail between its legs, went on bended knees and profusely apologised!

These zealots, sensing blood in the PP administration’s weaknesses, appear to be embodied enough. Having declared a district to be a ‘State’ before proclaiming it a Muslim one, what will stop them from chasing and terrorising people of other faiths such as Christians?

It pained me the other day to hear a close friend saying that “Bingu would never have tolerated the Mangochi behaviour”.

Now when a well-thinking member of society such as my friend starts going nostalgic on the late president Bingu wa Mutharika less than 20 months after a majority of Malawians celebrated his demise on the streets, then you know some something has gone wrong at the core of those that were lent the governing mantle while waiting for the next elections.

And if you really think about it, you begin to think that the PP has really lost interest in governing and have given up on winning the May 2014 Tripartite Elections.

If that is the case, then save the likes of PAC, Grand Coalition, Black Mondiers a lot of their breath, time and other resources. Quit. Stop being a lame duck administration. Otherwise, President Joyce Banda and her PP should stop looking away from problems in the hope that they will go away—because they won’t. Since voters want problem solvers, they will not hesitate to give dusted up villains a second look.