“Mayday, mayday”….is Malawi about to crash land in stormy weather since she is broke or fly like an injured eagle to the sun to be miraculously healed?
This is how best to describe the cries and concerns of many Malawians on the streets of Blantyre and other districts as they wonder which direction the captain of Malawi is taking this country to and what exactly the future holds.
Malawi is in an emergency and distress mode hence the Mayday alert!
MALAWI IS BROKE as the President Peter Mutharika confirmed during a recent press briefing but not all hope is lost.
The country has seen the cost of goods rising silently, the Malawi Kwacha dancing and getting weaker to the dollar and many complaining of being broke although working and some businesses struggling to survive as sales decrease among other negative things.
Things are not okay in Malawi is one thing many can agree on but what is the way forward out of this mess and what policies has government put in place to win the confidence of skeptics?
Some people are even considering withdrawing money from banks to invest in different things because they’re not sure if we will witness a Greece or Zimbabwe scenario where the economy collapsed and some reportedly lost their savings many years ago.
Making matters worse Malawians have heard an SOS from President Peter Mutharika painting a gloomy picture of hunger and a food crisis expected to affect nearly 3 million of the country’s population.
There are also whispers of this year’s El-Nino ranking among the strongest in records worsening the Sub-Saharan Africa food crisis which includes Malawi.
And to put icing on the cake, the latest Mo Ibrahim Foundation report on governance in Africa indicates that Zimbabwe is better than Malawi, in terms of adherence to good governance principles!
This is despite the fact that some of Zimbabwe’s leaders are still reeling from sanctions imposed by countries such as Britain, which, ironically, happens to be in good books with Malawi according to The Daily Times newspaper.
The ‘Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG)’, used four indicators which fall into four categories namely: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.
“Overall, however, the report indicates that progress on governance has stalled in the last four years and shows signs of deterioration.
The report adds that Malawi has registered an overall marginal decline in governance since 2011.
This is despite the fact that President Peter Mutharika has told the nation that he and his “DPP government” is in control and that Malawi’s emergency situation began when the donors withheld aid because of the Cashgate scandal during the leadership of former President Joyce Banda.
On his return from the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York where he was accused of taking a bloated delegation, Mutharika told the press his government inherited arrears which “coupled with the withdrawal of direct budgetary support by development partners” worsened the situation for his administration.
He told the nation he has ideas and needed people’s support.
However he was optimistic that things will start improving before the end of this year but Malawians are waiting to see how and when since it’s already mid-October.
Commenting on the reported bloated entourage, Mutharika described the reports as ‘garbage’ which was only meant to discredit his government according to The Daily Times newspaper.
He also acknowledged that the Malawi delegation was 106 but “only a few officials were sponsored by government, adding that the rest were funded by UN agencies and other non-governmental Organisations.”
No one else saw the list to verify it.
Banging on tables and being emotionally charged Mutharika also challenged and verbally attacked civil society Organisations, the opposition and the Media.
Said President Mutharika, “People of Malawi, you need to verify some of the claims that you say. If you had cross checked you could have found out that I only hired the said plane for five and half hours from Malawi to Dubai.
“The plane was hired at a very reasonable price and a discount was given to make sure that less money is spent”.
“You need to respect the office of the president as Malawians; I tell you that I had to stay at the airport for ten hours awaiting a plane as if I am a fool. Those of you who were making these irresponsible claims should come out and apologize,” added Mutharika in media reports.
Commenting on the economic situation in the country, the Malawi leader said, it was due to over borrowing that the government is doing from the reserve Bank.
“International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves that we can borrow only 37 billion from the reserve bank but due to the high demands on the salary increments by the civil servants, government had to double the required amount and this has put us off track,” he was quoted as saying.
“Brace yourself for serious change. I have ideas, I need your support. No single person has come forward with an alternative. Don’t think you are hurting me when you go on strike. I was already a millionaire when I became President. My salary is only K1.4 million. I was making 10 times that when I was out of the country,” charged Mutharika who however answered all questions Malawians had been asking.
Reports of Mutharika being emotional charged or angry in reaction to media questions about how tax-payer’s money was used will not help win him the much needed confidence he needs from an angry public which does not belong to the DPP ruling party.
This is where his spin doctor will have to work hard because he is not only the President for DPP but for every single Malawian citizen including some in the opposition and of different ethnic groups, religions and working classes among others who want a better Malawi.
They say in unity there is strength and the government in a democracy is also the people so the President needs to first unite the nation because there is a lot of potential in Malawi.
The government needs to put a foundation to cushion future disasters beginning by changing the way we have been practicing partisan politics by looking at the good of the nation as one united Malawi and not political parties.
Once that happens, many brilliant minds wasting somewhere will be able to contribute what little they have to various sectors including Agriculture that needs to improve in these days of Climate Change and unpredictable weather patterns with irrigation a must while others can work on how to introduce compulsory education and so many other drastic measures needed to move Malawi forward.
