• My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. – 1 John 3:18   

• 44 But I tell you “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” – Matthew 5: 44

• 18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? – 2 Samuel 7:18

• Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.” – Psalm 32:11

Malawians must learn again how to love, respect, and protect the honor of their country; these all fall under the umbrella of patriotism, nationalism, unity, and common heritage. In all these concepts are enshrined in the respect of all our leaders, past and present, from the presidency (president and vice president), ministers, parliamentarians, councilors, clergy in all religions (Christian, Islam, Judaism, Sikh, Hindu…). Regrettably, since 1994, Malawians having been led to disrespect their first leader (in a bid to remove him from the office of Life President), stopped esteeming, honoring, and respecting all leaders that we have elected into this highest office in the land.

I am here to tell my fellow Malawians, that when we treat our leaders the way we treated our first president, with unquestionable love mixed with fear, 99 times out of one hundred, such a person, will easily morph into the leader that Malawians had treated Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda: a demigod, invincible, lion of the nation…. Since Kamuzu, no leader has enjoyed this accord and all of Malawi’s five leaders after Kamuzu, have got the kick into the dustbin of history where the memory of Kamuzu Banda languishes. 

From Bakili, Bingu, Joyce, Peter, and now to Lazarus, Malawians’ love for leaders is soon lost; and the leaders whom we have happily danced with into the state residences, soon become the butt of our collective scorn and ridicule. Young Malawian children do not know how to love and respect their national leaders; all they hear from the adults in the room is scorn, ridicule, and disdain for anyone in elected office. One can easily ask “are all these 5 blokes and 1 lass really all that heinous and bad, or perhaps we, all of us Malawians, millions of us so looney and mad as dogs, that we elect into the highest offices of our country people of lesser metal than is required?”

Leaders we have been electing do not enjoy the love and respect that the office calls for in our Constitution. Such disdain and disrespect is often given a megaphone from outsiders. In an instant, our history is being recorded with twisted truths and hyperbolic images that Malawi youths are ingesting from local and international media.

I am here to let Malawians know and permit into your minds that ALL of our leaders, our presidents, were five of the greatest men and one of the greatest women to come out of Malawi. We are, in part, a respected nation when the truth is told about our leaders, ALL SIX OF THEM.  SINCERELY. We have come this far because we held them up in our prayers through our God (Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah….) and our God listened to these prayers. 

As we enter into our 60^th anniversary of independence, let us give the memories of each one, the due respect and honor. I remind you of two memories I have of each of our five former and one current president as follows:

Hastings Kamuzu Banda

1. He broke the “stupid Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland” with words, not guns. Other parts of Africa and areas of the world lived through wars and cross border conflicts. Malawians have known nothing but peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.

2. Kamuzu united the country from the 1884 Berlin Conference and made Nyasaland into the nation of Malawi. He set up systems which we still use today; entered into relationships with people (Tiny Rowland) and countries (UK, SA, Taiwan, Israel, US and others) that brought unparalleled progress to a country with no precious minerals such as gold, diamonds or oil.

3. A tall statesman of the moment, after ruling the country for 31 years, he accepted defeat after the 1993 Referendum election and the 1994 Presidential elections; congratulating his rival as Malawi’s new leader. This he did effortlessly and allowed Malawians to move to the next level. Bravo.

Bakili Muluzi

1. As Malawi’s first leader in multi-party Malawi, Muluzi helped Malawians to accept and move on with life without Kamuzu. His easy banter and jokes from the podium allowed Malawians to loosen up and see another side of life in Malawi. He also led the country to mourn our first president. 

2. Muluzi brought into the country the Privatization Program. Although on the big screen, this brought massive countrywide poverty to the country, on the other hand, the PP paved the long painstaking, but great opportunity for Malawian businesspersons to rise up and create business empires. Bravo.

Bingu wa Mutharika

1. Like Kamuzu Banda, Bingu another Malawian who, having lived outside the country for many years, got to know how the international governing system works. He side-stepped the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank’s “Don’t do that” warning and introduced a government-backed Farm Input Subsidies Program (FISP). This propelled Malawi to enjoy country-wide family-level food security.

2. He ditched Malawi’s longtime diplomatic partner Republic of Taiwan and embraced China instead. The new bilateral partner brought numerous developments including the Mausoleums of the country’s first president, a statue and the building of the new Parliamentary building, and most noteworthy Nsanje inland, giving Malawi its window to the sea. It is regrettable that successive administrations at the State House have failed to embrace this massive development entity (reduction of cost of imports into Malawi). Malawi has yet to work with Mozambique  to ensure the mutual benefits are reaped for both countries. Bravo. 

Joyce Banda

1.The first Malawian woman and the second woman in SADC and Africa to be elected president of their countries. This is one brilliant accolade and in itself a sufficient call to celebrate her. As president, Joyce Banda went on a fundraising spree on the Africa continent: she negotiated from Zambia to sell to Malawi oil on a soft loan basis from Zambia, cattle from Botswana, promissory assistance from Nigeria, and South Africa.

2. A total of 36 presidents visited Malawi during Banda’s two-year rule. Her popularity is currency that still ka-chings for the former president. Following her in the post-presidency era, locals and internationals are benefitting from this first woman president in a predominantly male-dominated country. Bravo.

Peter Mutharika

1. Even before he was elected to the office of the president (2014-2020), A. Peter Mutharika, played a crucial important role as the country’s 1995 Malawi democratic constitution chairman: this document is a living document, and it defines how we move forward as Malawians.

2. Democracy got its real metal test in 2019, when Mutharika when unduly declared the winner, bowed and accepted the Constitutional decision for the country to have Fresh Presidential elections. Upon defeat, then President Mutharika magnanimously, like Kamuzu, that his fellow candidate Lazarus Chakwera won Fresh Presidential Elections of 2020 that was called for by the 5-person Constitutional Court. Bravo.

Lazarus Chakwera

1. Like Bakili Muluzi did after Kamuzu, Chakwera showed his party that there is life after John Tembo, the most influential person in the Malawi Congress Party platform. His move from leader of the Assemblies of God of Malawi to leading Malawi’s oldest party (a reality he informed us that it took a battle with God for his change of scenes from the pulpit to the state house), Chakwera effortlessly moved to the larger stage of national politics.

2. Chakwera is commended  for joining hands with nine political parties, forming the Tonse Alliance. The TA is literally limping, bleeding at the sides, and can be blamed largely on Malawian voters’ gullibility compounded by an inability to embrace, love, and protect the new leader; the inability also is for citizen’s inability to accept that there is one state CEO at a time. The vision of the Tonse Alliance (through reading between the lines), without being told most likely was

a.      In 2020: Lazarus for President; Chilima for VP

b.     In 2025 Chilima for President; Chakwera for Vice President. Bravo.

Chakwera has weathered the storm, despite being equated with Dr. Banda every time he does something wrong.

But because Malawi citizens are what Malawians are known for being best at what they do for: demonizing anyone or anything that threatens to jolt the apple cart. As warms, they seek to stay in power through their head of state; consequently a slew of them are bent on throwing under the bus any person or entity that threatens the coveted worms’ positions on the apple cart

ERGO: all the fuss and heck, all the noise from near and far, from clergy, philosophers, all the clergy and other civic leaders, all the VIPs and plebeians and pedestrians, end up either LEAVING THE CART, or from the other side SHAKE THE BLOOMING CART UNTIL IT BREAKS. 

Both choices have been at play, making leadership in Malawi having thankless citizenry. Leadership is made to be a most undesirable position in the land.

I cry out: O Malawi, Malawi how I pray for you to be “a land of peace!”