Umodzi welcome, but…
On Thursday, President Lazarus Chakwera led Malawians from all walks of life in commemorating Umodzi Day, a day meant to promote peace and unity among Malawians regardless of political, religious, tribal and race affiliations.
Malawians showcased various traditional dances, music, dressing, food and, of course, languages. It was a beautiful day and smiles were overflowing.
In his address, Chakwera described Umodzi Day as “a fulfillment of the country’s desire to blur the divisive and dogmatic racial, cultural, sectarian, political, religious and tribal undertones.”
This idea, Umodzi, has been long overdue. Malawi has been a country divided on tribal, religious and political undertones—I would also add on regional demarcations where one is clearly labelled as a northerner, southerner and centre.
As a country, we have failed to tap into and leverage the diverse potentials and possibilities that our differences in religion, politics, tribe, culture and race provide. Instead, these have been used to tear each other down and, in the process, stunt economic growth.
Politicians have used our diversity to score cheap political goals. We all know how politicians of different shapes and sizes have used their tribal leanings to suppress those from different tribes. The divisive politics have led to us hating one another for no reason other than our differences in political inclinations. Politicians continue to weaponize our diversity for their political interests.
We are a people country that believes that only Lhomwes should belong to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and all Chewas are naturally-born Malawi Congress Party (MCP) supporters. This is because politicians have used political podiums to divide Malawians. They openly favour those from their tribe while disenfranchising others.
Hence, for this Umodzi to work, no politician should be the face of this initiative. Most of our politicians’ faces bring nothing but bad memories of corruption, nepotism and tribalism. Our politicians can’t be trusted to drive national agendas without getting us stuck in the political mud. This whole thing will be politicised to the detriment of Malawians.
Let some independent institution champion this cause if it will achieve its intended goals. All our development aspirations hinge on unity as a country. I strongly believe this country cannot progress in the absence of unity. But politicians have to stop sowing seeds of discord.
