To attend or not to attend Unga

Former president Peter Mutharika is the country’s undisputed least travelled former president internationally when he was in office. He undertook few trips abroad, skipping many high level conferences, preferring instead to delegate his Cabinet ministers to foreign conferences. He was, for this reason, lauded locally for not being wasteful of resources. But he never missed the United Nations General Assembly, commonly known as UNGA. Even in 2016 and 2017 at the height of electricity blackouts in the country, Mutharika went to UNGA. And during all the years he was in power, forex or no forex, he went to UNGA. This can only be because he appreciated the importance of this annual main policy-making organ of the United Nations.

Comprising all Member States, UNGA provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations.

It is against this background that Mutharika’s blasting of President Lazarus Chakwera on Tuesday this week for making the trip to New York City for the UNGA must be dismissed with all the contempt it deserves. Mutharika himself defied all criticism from his detractors, especially in 2016 and 2017, and attended the UNGA, blowing hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money. To say nothing about the bloated delegations he took to New York, with chiefs and other people who had nothing to do at the General Assembly.

UNGA has been a forum for lofty declarations and rigorous debate over the world’s most vexing issues, including poverty, development, peace, and security. Mutharika knows this. There is no doubt that Malawi benefited from his presence at UNGA from 2014 to 2019. But I guess because he is no longer the president and it is not him attending UNGA, he thinks Chakwera and nobody else should attend the meeting. What kind of mntality is that?

For most leaders especially from developing countries such as Malawi, UNGA is their one-stop meeting centre where the leaders have an opportunity to meet and interface with other world leaders and heads of many international organisations and strike diplomatic and business deals for their countries. I guess this is also one reason for six years Mutharika made the trip to New York City for Unga. But for his ulterior motives which are no secret to many he does not want Chakwera who is attending the General Assembly in-person for the first time to avail himself the many opportunities he also had from 2014 to 2019.

So much is at stake at the 77th UNGA especially coming after the event has been heard virtually for three years due to Covid-19. For three years now, Covid-19 has dominated conversations around UNGA, and this year, for the first time since 2019, UNGA will be held in person in New York City. This is a big deal and Mutharika is well aware of all this. But he wants Chakwera to return home because of the forex and fuel shortage in the country. Chakwera does not have to be at State House to solve those problems. I heard someone saying by going to Unga Chakwera has abandoned a house on fire. My response to such statements is that when there is no food in the house, you don’t fold your hands and stay put hopping the food will drop from heaven like mana. You go out and hustle. That is what Chakwera is doing.

Vice President for Global Health Strategy Kate Dodson is of the view that “the return of in-person diplomacy could lead to some unexpected alliances and, hopefully, diplomatic progress that might not have happened in a virtual setting.”

But Kate is adamant that Covid-19 should still be top of mind as leaders meet in New York. “I think there’s a general sense that people want to put this pandemic behind us, but this pandemic is not done with us,” she said. “Omicron taught us that the next variant of concern is just around the corner, so we can’t afford to take our eyes off the ball.”

At the same time, leaders must contend with the erosion of progress on other global health threats as a result of resources being diverted to Covid-19. Chief among them are three of the world’s leading infectious killers. Access to testing and treatment of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria declined during the pandemic, coupled with a troubling rise in cases.

For Mutharika’s information and like-minded people, it is at this Unga that leaders will among other things have an historic opportunity to make what Kate called a “down payment” on a healthier future free of these deadly diseases through the replenishment of the Global Fund, an international partnership that has saved 44 million lives from HIV, TB, and malaria in the past two decades. Whether governments step up on September 19 and pledge the $18 billion needed to save 20 million lives and build a healthier, more resilient and equitable world will make or break UNGA’s success from a global health perspective. Mutharika cannot deny this. But he wants to deny Chakwera the shine that would come from his personal presence at the UN meet where such important decisions will be made. Let’s change the way we do politics when we are in opposition. It is perfectly in order for Chakwera to attend the UNGA.