Worst culprits are citizens
One of the most baffling things about the leaders of this country is seemingly their lack of knowledge and tactic on when to open or shut their mouths, especially on matters of national importance.
After all the high money drama that has followed the shooting of budget director Paul Mphwiyo there is not even a single sensible sentence that has come out of public office holders to try to address the puzzling question of just how millions of taxpayers’ money were diverted from where they were badly needed to provide public services and amenities to line car boots and ceilings of a few greedy civil servants.
President Joyce Banda did try to speak soon after the shooting incident, but the claims she made about knowing who had shot Mphwiyo only raised more questions than answers. Apart from the trivial facebook updates about who she has met or shaken hands with during her trip abroad, there is, so far, nothing substantial that has come from the President’s mouth or office to demonstrate to the bewildered nation that someone is on top of things.
The same way she opted for the luxury of keeping quiet when her government goofed about the South Korean youth jobs months ago, she has also chosen to go by a similar fashion of ignoring a crisis that, unfortunately, puts to question her style of leadership.
The Vice-President who, I suppose, is in charge of government business in the absence of the President, took rather too long to say something on the emergency and when he finally addressed a press conference on Thursday, he said nothing inspiring, but shamelessly echoed his governments failed promises of “fighting corruption,” when it is quite obvious that the levels of corruption are worsening under this leadership.
Then there is the men in charge of the Ministry of Finance, Ken Lipenga, and several highly paid technocrats, the likes of Accountant General, the Auditor General and Secretary to Treasury who have also chosen to find solace in silence, yet, they have a clear responsibility to explain to the public, how this mess happened on their watch.
Elsewhere, in times of crises such as this one, leaders—be they elected or technocrats— take responsibility for their failures and honourably resign, especially when their offices are directly linked to the disarray.
Meanwhile, those that remain in office constantly address the public to provide answers, but also build confidence in the governed.
But our shameless leaders mess up over and over again; they take no responsibility for their failures; they never apologise when they blunder; they cling to office and choose to remain silent when the public, to whom the leaders must be accountable, is asking questions.
And what do the citizens do? Sit, watch and tolerate.
The leaders are without question a problem, but the worst wrongdoers are, in my opinion, the governed who somehow stomach all the nonsense and fail to demand the best leadership standards in the so-called leaders.
