By Saunders Jumah
Political landscape of Malawi needs extra ordinary overhaul, taking advantage of the political illiteracy of the citizens, our leaders and torchbearers live in denial always.
In the government the ruling party is always right even if there are profound evidence of failure. Though manifestos and promises have not been kept Malawi politicians live to deny and want to look like computers despite visible failures and lies.
This attitude and mindset have killed our nationhood. Side effects of this evil are seen on how the well being of political parties survives. No member of a political party can argue a bad policy or behaviors of the party or leader till he/she is out or jumps ship.
Does it mean we see political failures and mistakes after we get out? This is the tragedy that is bringing our nation backwards. This evidence shows that even if we see weaknesses, failures and mistakes in our leaders and parties we will not speak out as long as we are in, we will speak the day and time we are out. This is political pathetic of Malawi.
We must stop living in denial. Only when we realize our mistakes shall we be able to correct.
Examples are profound, recently the government under president Peter Mutharika was caught offguard after presenting a budget cut due to insufficient revenue, president Peter Mutharika had declared the state of bankruptcy and broke. The minister of finance Goodall Gondwe added by cutting off the budget to billion from the intended trillion.
DPP government instead had money to the tune of MK4 billion that it thought could be distributed to selected constituencies as a token of extra development. The fortunate constituencies are 86 out of the 107 others.
This allocation was inserted in between the lines under the Ministry of local government and rural development. Despite exposition by media houses and the entire house of parliament the government lives in denial for wrongdoing.
Civil society organizations including MAENGA have showered questions that pushed the minister of finance Goodall Gondwe and president Peter Mutharika mouths agape but still insist no wrongdoing.
Shame must be to our sleeping judiciary of the country which was supposed to awaken this country’s deniability syndrome by faulting these politicians of misleading the nation with their deniability attitude.
Ever since we unblanketed ourselves from one party era, it seems our life is twined with deception and distortion.
This attitude has and is killing our nation.
Apartheid had to be destroyed from within after one of its own found fault and spoke against. Slave trade ended when the trader realized it was wrong.
When is Malawi going to realize denying the undeniable is wrong and a mistake? When are our leaders going to stop this shame?
Our nation is continuously deteriorating and in dilapidated condition because we want to paint a wrong picture that the president and the minister never go wrong, this is the greatest mistake our nation has allowed to live with.
The deniability has forced our nation to be looted, and become the most corrupt state.
Case in point president Peter Mutharika denies he is presiding the most corrupt administration. He denies that he has failed the country yet the Nsanje in land port is unopen 4 years of his rule, he is the man who melodiously qeaked he will open the port 7 days of his government.
He perfected lies by promising the international community and citizens that he will root out corruption and state looting that brought cash gate in the country.
Instead of rooting out state looting and corruption, he has promoted the scourge because all who are caught stealing are free while others are on bail.
President Peter Mutharika’s administration in four years has seen billions of money lost in illicit deals, cash gate of Capital hill has even come to the homes of ministers where bags and bags of cash were found in senior ministers home.
Instead of taking this as a precaution to command the same exercise into the homes of all ministers president Peter Mutharika started working out a modality on how his deputy in the party George Chaponda could be defended.
It took almost a while before Chaponda was detained. To prove this Dr. Chaponda was arrested 17hrs and got released the following morning before noon. This is the president and government willing to curb corruption and state looting.
13 files that are rumoured to involve 7 cabinet ministers are hidden, despite the activation of “information bill” in parliament noone can demand the publicity of the said files whose corruption cases involve a whooping MK577 billion.
President Peter Mutharika only spoke of this when he trimmed the stolen figure from MK577 to MK236 billion. One will wonder what is his interest in trimming of the figure not the vice itself?
A whistleblower expozed a corruption in the President own house involving his wife, MAENGA enquired but Peter Mutharika missiled with threats to the point of criminalizing the organization that revealed the expozee.
The Chairperson of MAENGA enquired from state house for clarity to find out the ownership of Beam a trust company known to be owned by the first lady. The president and his family went mute without providing the details to disaprove the allegations of first lady swindling MRA through Roza Mbilizi who is officer in charge of our taxes at state revenue collector.
The nation that lives in denial never develop, if you cannot accept wrong you have no room for correction to change. This is the situation of Malawi 31 years of dictatorship and 24 years of democracy.
There is no change, we live the past, practice the past, plan in the past, and force the past.
Time has come for Malawi to start living in reality, where Goodall Gondwe and Kondwani Nakhumwa went wrong must be known, where Peter Mutharika did not fulfill after promising; say so!
George Chaponda must be in jail. Goodall Gondwe and Kondwani Nakhumwa must resign or get fired for deceiving the nation.
Courts of Malawi are the only organs that can bring sanity and force people to live the present to start “telling as it is” in Malawi.
Saunders Jumah the Utopian
Commandant General “Fighters of corruption and state looting”
MALAWI ENGAGEMENT GROUP [MAENGA]
