“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. — Matthew 12.33-35
In what can be called a news blitzkrieg, bombardment fashion by United States Ambassador and his counterpart from the United kingdom censuring the Malawi government, highlighting their countries displeasure in mishandling of the anti-corruption campaign, and other internal issues like the interdiction of a n employee of the government. The two governments, specifically the US ambassador David Young and UK acting High Commissioner Sophia Willitts-King using social media and our newspapers issuing threats, intimidation, and even bully-pulpit language in castigating Malawi in the corruption saga.
On its part, the Malawi government after a closed door meeting of the Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Information ministries Honorable Nancy Tembo, Honorable Justice Titus Mvalo, and Honorable Moses Kunkuyu, responded by saying that Malawi Government, out of respect for international laws, including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, will engage the US Embassy and Ambassador through diplomatic channels to address the concerns raised. Well done Malawi!
It has been 18 months since the US, UK, and EU have bee baking up Malawi, a sovereign nation’s neck, even getting involved about who can or who cannot be removed from a national office. Several questions form part of the big picture about the actions of these foreign nations. Malawi is a sovereign, free, independent nation, it is not a toy of any of these countries. Malawi is guided by the Constitution, which three years ago, was used to remove a president fraudulently elected and held a rerun of the elections in an unprecedented manner. Whatever challenges the country faces, no one should come here to pick our noses. These countries must leave our legal system alone, stop influencing the citizenry. Malawians know their left feet from their right feet. The plea in this discussion is for the ambassadors to be ambassadors, which is they are diplomats guided by international protocols such as the Vienna Convention.
The diplomats that are guests in our country must not treat Malawi and its fellow 53 African nations like toys, playthings, with them standing on high moral ground. Their actions this week have spiraled them down the undemocratic pit, reminiscent of the mindset of Germany in the 1914 and 1939. To put un-mildly, the foreign big-power nations (bully-pulpits) desire to keep African nations as poor, beggars, and being highlighting at every turn as a people that cannot tie own shoes; often lumping Africa as a country and not a continent of 54 diverse nations states!
The hypocrisy of the two countries and EU needs to stop. Firstly the word corruption is an English word. In the countries that are all over Malawi for corrupt practices, in the US two former presidents (one two times, and another resigned before he was impeached); a former president, his vice and current president were caught with classified documents in their possession; the former president is being investigated and facing elections influencing charges, and other cases of an undemocratic nature, Supreme Court is loitered with a myriad of challenges, black voters are prevented from voting, they are killed discriminately because of the color of their skin. In the UK, the prime minister resigned after it transpired that he held parties during the COVID-19 lockdown. One European country has billions of dollars, much of it belonging to deceased African or other impoverished regions, the UK is shielding the corrupt Sattar while harping on leaders in Malawi. The EU country and UK must release the funds to give grants that will remove African countries out of poverty.
Lastly in these saga of white privilege is most rife with the European Union through deliberations on the ACP-EU post-Cotonou agreement, that wants to turn 79 countries of Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific islands into their puppets, taking away their votes at international forums. It seeks to turn the paltry 27-member agency into a 106-strong member voting entity. With the stroke of a pen from these poor countries in exchange for development assistance, would bring back colonialism and eliminate the sovereignty of nations at the international forums, they seize to exist. Nothing could be more corrupt than this EU scoop.
With all these democratic anomalies, to the best of many analysts’ knowledge, no African, Caribbean, or Pacific island ambassador has gone to CNN, BBC, Fox News, NBC, or other news outlet to question, lambast, or berate the actions of the leaders of the countries where they are guests, where they are diplomats guided by international conventions and protocols.
These western allies (UK,US, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, and others) after plundering Africa for human resources (in the form of slaves in the 1600s), then in 1894 (minus the US) the Europeans in 1894 divided African into nations that became their personal chattels, spheres of influence and later the supplier of precious minerals like gold, diamonds, and uranium.
As a race and as with the other non-white races, we are resilient. In the US, the contributions of black folk to the development of the US are enormous. On the African continent the colonial masters miscalculated then they incorporated the citizens of their colonies in World War I and World War II that were waged by Germany led to Africans, Caribbeans and the Pacific peoples to be drafted into the wars that were ironically fighting in a war a villain (Germany).
Today that villain is dressed in a suit, calling itself the watchdog of democracy and champions of fighting corruption anywhere but in one’s own country. Today that villain is the US, the UK, France, and even Germany. What kind of democracy is it when one sovereign is disparaged, undermined, scorned, have its nose picked in front of your citizens, the people one rules?
Where is democracy when a sovereign nation is harassed, intimidated, and threatened by a diplomat through social media and using that nation’s local print and broadcast media?
Where is democracy when a diplomat lambasts and attempt to embarrass the country that hosts him, pitting the government against its people and even the legal instruments that government relies upon? How audacious of the US and UK turn the Malawi Law Society against the government about the society that worked with the president that gave us the 2020 presidential rerun elections!
It is highly undemocratic to turn a people against its leaders.
Foreign diplomats need to understand that they are guests in the country. Behave! Pastor John Smoot on December 9, 2017, declared that “John the Baptist accuses religious leaders of being a “brood of vipers” because they feel that they have the power of life and death in their hands. They saw themselves as divinely ordained gatekeepers for God, judging who was worthy to go on living and who deserved only of death.
The western allies (US, UK, France, Germany and others) , must stop being undemocratic. Getting people of a nation to disrespect their leaders, is not what democracy looks like.
The poor countries are not your toys.
