By Rick Dzida
This is critical analysis by one of Maravi Post contributors Rick Dzida on President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse government two years in power:
- In the first place, the president has tried his best to provide a full cabinet list within two days of his promise. This is promising so far considering that he botched his own promise of instituting a cabinet reshuffle by the end of December 2020.
- The president has made drastic changes that seem to indicate that he is beginning to be in control of issues now. The shuffling of the Vice President , Dr. Saulos Chilima, Hon. Eisenhower Mkaka and Hon. Richard Chimwendo Banda proves the independent prerogative President Chakwera has over cabinet appointment which he really duly exercised. Truth be told, the general public has an impression that these bigwigs remotely controlled our president.
- President has done it right by removing the Vice President , Dr. Saulos Chilima from the ministerial position of Economic Planning and Development. There were no tangible economic policies that Chilima’s ministry formulated to cushion the effects of global economic crisis. Instead, his policies saw prices of goods and services skyrocketing with the kwacha nose-diving against the US dollar. The economic recovery plan which Chilima’s ministry formulated needed an investment of billions of kwacha. What a paradox!!!
On the other hand, it is surprising that President Chakwera has maintained Dr. Saulos Chilima as the minister responsible for public reform when the president failed to act on the report which the Vice President, Dr. Saulos Chilima, submitted over 6 months ago. We can therefore conclude that the President has acknowledged that it is his fault for not acting on the report. Therefore, the general public is requesting President Chakwera to RELEASE the report in its raw form NOW.
- It is good riddance that Hon. Felix Mlusu has been shown the exit door. Our economy was not ticking under the leadership of Hon. Felix Mlusu as a finance minister and Dr. Saulos Chilima as the minister of economic planning and development. It seems they failed to collaborate on economic policies.
President Chakwera has made the right choice to rope in Hon. Sosten Gwengwe who is known to be a performer. Even Dr. Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi, entrusted him with the position of a running mate. We don’t doubt that he is a hard worker and a man of high integrity.
For instance, while he was a minister of trade, his ministry managed to clinch a one billion US dollars dealwith Elsewedy Electric which will ultimately bring landmark investments to Malawi in sectors such as electricity, manufacturing, and tourism, among others.
Hon. Sosten Gwengwe is young, well exposed and energetic too. Sosten is a chartered Management accountant. He also possesses Masters in Business Administration and Bachelor of Administration.
- I was expecting President Chakwera to make changes on the ministry of Agriculture. The Agricultural Farm Input Subsidy Programme has been marred with gross irregularities with farmers being duped to buy bags of fertilizer mixed with sand. Some suppliers could not even deliver the promised agricultural items. There were no innovative ideas of green belt initiatives or irrigation schemes. We hope Minister Lobin Lowe will look into these issues seriously.
- Another expectation was the change of minister of health. Much as she tried her best, but lack of essential drugs in the public hospitals is a gross negligence. We have lost many lives and we continue to be losing innocent relatives and friends due to scarcity of drugs in the public hospitals. Hon. Chiponda needs to look seriously into this issue. It is important to note that more people are dying of other diseases than COVID 19 pandemic alone.
- We also commend the President for shuffling Hon. Eisenhower Mkaka who allegedly charted a plane to an international conference which could have been attended virtually. No previous minister had reached this far. It was an abuse of previlege. The president has also shown that he is not being controlled by him despite the fact Hon. Mkaka once disclosed that it was him who negotiated with President Chakwera to accept the offer of leading the Malawi Congress Party. We hope Hon. Eisenhower Mkaka will put the welfare of Malawians first as he is discharging his duties as Minister of Natural Resources.
- Removing Hon. Richard Banda from Homeland security is another sign that the President is in control of issues. Much as Hon. Richard Chimwendo Banda has been very responsive and open to pertinent and current issues, the Malawi Police Service is still not reformed. Inspector of Police is still following brutal archaic laws of persecuting political dissidents who are deemed to have insulted the president.
At one point , it was paradoxical for Richard Chimwendo Banda to incite mob justice to rape suspects. A suspect is deemed innocent till proven guilty by a competent court of law.
The case of the Police raping innocent wives, mothers and sisters in Nsundwe and Bwatalika is still hanging. We want justice to be done to those police men who raped our innocent women. This should be the first task for Hon. Jean Msendeza as the Minister of Homeland Security. Repeal all archaic and brutal laws. Memories are still fresh when law and order was restored in Malawi during the reign of the Inspector Mary Nangwale.
- We also expected Attorney General, Thabo Nyirenda, to be shown the exit door as well. He has failed to provide competent legal advice to the government. Instead he is making legal blunders one after another. First, he proposed to punish a suspect of fraud by withholding his salary. Second, he formulated a 60 days amnesty to fraudsters without any basis of the law. What legal advice can he give to the Government then if he is the first to flout axioms of natural Justice?
- Much as the size of cabinet has been slightly reduced, we want to remind the President to reduce the presidential advisors as well. Cabinet ministers are themselves advisors to the president in their line ministries. Why duplicating roles then?
- The Ministry of National Unity is irrelevant. Up to now, Malawians have not seen any output from this ministry. In fact, we are more divided along regional, religious, tribal and political lines than ever before. Days of appeasing Hon. Timothy Mtambo are over. The President could have found something better for Hon. Timothy Mtambo.
- We would like to commend President Chakwera for accommodating more women in the cabinet. We hear that it is a cabinet comprising over 41% women which conforms to Section 11(1) of the Gender Equality Act
- Oops, Hon. Agnes Nkhusa Nkhoma was erroneously ommited, so they say and I just heard it now, so this strengthens women inclusion in the cabinet.
- It is also a great honour to the northern region for appointing Hon. Harry Mkandawire to be the Deputy minister of defence. People should also take note commander general, Mr. Vincent Nundwe also comes from the Northern region. Issues of national security are of paramount importance and President Chakwera has put his trust on these sons of Malawi who happen to come from the northern region of Malawi.
- Congratulations to all new faces in the cabinet. We have an academician Prof. Blessings Chinsinga heading ministry of Local Government. He is suited for this ministry since his first degree is public administration. Other new faces are Hon. Sam Kawale, Hon John Bande, Hon. Enock Phale, Hon. Deus Gumba, Hon. Harry Mkandawire, Hon. Monica Chang’anamuno, Hon. Ibrahim Matola, Hon.Albert Mbawala and Hon. Mark Katsonga. Many Malawians are expecting you to perform to your best ability. You should be seen to be working for Malawians and not for your bellies.
- Congratulations are also in order to Hon. Abida Mia, Hon. Jean Msendeza and Hon. Vera Kamtukule for their promotion to full ministerial position. Frankly speaking, they deserved it.
- It remains a fact that all cabinet reshuffles have casualties. Sadly, we miss some faces too. Under Hon. Felix Mlusu, we saw our economy worsening with no recovery plan. Hon. Ulemu Msungama was more like a playboy concentrating on hair transplant instead of sport development. Imagine the whole minister spending days and days during the whole tournament in Cameron burning ministerial allowance everyday. Hon. Kezzie Msukwa chose to follow the footsteps of Hon. Newton Kambala and Hon. Ken Kandodo tasting the cool waters of fraud and corruption. Hon. Rashid Gaffar was so quiet that you would not know that he was appointed a minister in the first place. Hon. Roy Kachale failed to understand the essence of being a minister. He thought being a working minister involved inspecting a bread bakery or advising shop owners on how to display their merchandise. However, some quarters are wondering why the president chose to drop Him. Chrissie Kanyasho who was seen to be performing. In fact, not all ministers who are dropped from cabinet are bad performers but others may be dropped due to the president trying to balance other selection criteria. At the end of the day, it still remains the prerogative of the president to appoint or fire a cabinet minister.
- It must be frankly pointed out that the success of the cabinet ministers depends of the leadership style of President Chakwera. I vividly remember when Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika publicly announced that all ministers should furnish him with monthly reports. I hope President Chakwera can emulate the same.
- In a nutshell, it is a well crafted cabinet with ministers from all walks of life including technocrats,women, youths and political zealots. Congratulations to all the appointed ministers. As for those who lost their cabinet positions, reflect on where you went wrong, work on them and probably you will appear in the next cabinet reshuffle.
Feedback: Rick Dzida, email: rdzida@gmx.com
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor
