The country’s Catholic Church through its eight Commissions for Justice and Peace (CCJP) have asked the current President Peter Mutharika to walk the talk in addressing social-economic challenges Malawians are going through rather than concentrating in party politics, in just a year since he took reign of power from his predecessor Joyce Banda.
Through a press statement released on August 10, available to The Maravi Post which Chris Chisoni, CCJP National Coordinator has confirmed, the commissions including Karonga, Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Mangochi, Zomba, Blantyre and Chikwawa have accused Mutharika government of cooking up macroeconomic indicators that are unable to translate into reality towards locals’ welfare.
The church have questioned the wisdom of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leadership of hosting banquets to celebrate the passing of the national budget by spending huge sum of money in paying legislators who happened to attend, saying such extravagance tendency was a sign of misplaced priorities when public departments, agencies were getting less funds allocation in running various developmental projects.
The commissions have further faulted the countries cooperating partners for being unable to unlock aid support with the continual of budgetary support suspension at the expense of poor Malawians suffering while the few are eating the national cake.
“We, the Secretaries of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi comprising the National Office and Dioceses of Karonga, Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Mangochi, Zomba, Blantyre and Chikwawa gathered at the Catholic Secretariat on 27th July, in our normal Commission’s periodic meetings to, among other things on our agenda, reflect upon our nation’s socio-economic and political context. We do as we fulfill our role of building a just and peaceful society that respects the integrity of creation, the dignity of a human beings, the right to life for all, whilst taking into consideration the preferential treatment of the marginalized and the poor.
“Malawi is slowly becoming a nation full of anxiety, a nation that is becoming entrenched into poverty, a nation that is slowly forgetting peace, a nation that is growing impatient and is slowly sliding into disrespecting the sanctity of human life and a nation whose citizens are gradually emerging unpatriotic to the national values and needs.
“We, the CCJP Secretaries, are inspired, first, by our national duty as Malawian citizens who have the passion and the responsibility for the thriving of our country. Secondly, we are inspired and motivated by our Christian duty and calling to be good stewards of our society and to be light and salt of the world. Our message therefore, is of encouragement, hope, and peace but also of discernment to all duty bearers, citizens and all people of good will”, reads the statement tilted, “A quest for better and descent Malawi”.
Some of challenges highlighted in the statement, the country’s leadership must address including Shrinking or Total Lack of Financing for Public Service Delivery, misplaced Priorities, “Cooked “Government macroeconomic indicators, National insecurity, Introduction of new systems in public service delivery institutions such as at Road Traffic and Safety Directorate, Continued national food shortages and failure to utilize our God given natural resources, Contemporary donors’ position on the Malawi government versus the socio-economic rights of Malawian citizens, continued tensions and conflicts in local governance systems and structures and politics versus development .
“We, the CCJP Secretaries, make few critical appeals to the Government to honestly lead Malawi through consensus building and create an enabling economic and political environment for the transformation of mother Malawi. We further urge Government to thoroughly consult on national policies for the betterment of who those policies will serve.
“On part of the Donor Partners, must resume direct aid to our ailing mother Malawi as not to do so is slowly aiding Malawi into a deathbed. This, only upon getting satisfied with the government reforms and social accountability strengthening processes. There are serious problems currently with accountability and financial management systems, we have already urged government to swiftly improve and we are keenly monitoring the processes. We are hopeful that once beaten twice shy, together we can come up with lasting solutions to avoid a repeat.
As for political Parties’, CSOs, Media, Faith Communities’ Leaderships and the General Citizenry must remember that this is our country and we have no other. Let us rediscover the vision of our fore fathers and strengthen our destiny to build a better and happy Malawi nation by being loyal, obedient, united, disciplined to the socio-economic transformation agenda of mother Malawi. We still have time to rework our public ethics and work ethics so that Malawi can be a better place for all. It is therefore time we take positive action for mother Malawi”, recommend the commissions.
