“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? – Matthew 7:3

If you are reading this sentence, Happy New Year! We are blessed that we crossed over into 2021. As the events of 2020 are tucked away in the corridors of our history, look forward to the new beginnings of another 12 months Malawi has much to regret, much to think about re-imaging, designing, or outright throw away, and much to be thankful for. We regret the global pandemic that continues to threaten lives everywhere. Malawians are grateful that in response to nationwide demonstrations, the Judiciary ordered fresh elections that brought in a new government led by the Tonse Alliance team of President Chakwera. 

However alarming reports are breaking bad daily of stewards behaving badly. Is there a way out of the nation-wide corrupt operations?

On the last Sunday of 2020 the first public item on the To-Do list for State President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and First Lady Madame Monica Chakwera was to visit former President Professor Peter Mutharika and former First Lady Gertrude Mutharika; at their new residence in Mangochi. The event that culminated in a picture of the four that immediately after it was released, went viral on social media. This was something new and refreshing. It speaks volumes about the manner of folk that reside at Kamuzu Palace.

Malawi has six handover ceremonies and six presidents. The first handover was by former British colonial leader Queen Elizabeth II, represented by her husband, Duke of Edinburgh handed power to the first Malawi leader, Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. Great pictures exist of the 1964 event and are as uplifting as last Sunday’s picture of the Chakwera’s and Mutharika’s. But this is all we have in presidential handover ceremony pictures. There was no formal hand-over from Kamuzu to Muluzi. While there was a hand-over from Muluzi to Mutharika, the love between these was short-lived as six months later Mutharika ditched the party that helped him “win the presidency.”

There was no hand-over between Mutharika to the first woman President Joyce Banda since her elevation to the presidency was due to his death. Regrettably, Joyce Banda was not able to hand-over power to Peter Mutharika. Likewise, there was no proper hand-over of power from Mutharika to Chakwera. But Chakwera, being a follower of the scriptures, put all the animosities and desired to enter in the New Year with no animosity, no unresolved, no unsmoothed matters between him and anybody, including the former president, thus his giant act on the last Sunday of the year, he visits his predecessor.

Bravo President Chakwera, and Frist Lady Madame Chakwera! 

Bravo former President Mutharika and former First Lady Madame Mutharika!

As Malawi enters 2021, it enters into the New Year with humongous anomalies, foibles, quirks, faults, kinks, and eccentricities by various operatives, officials, and stewards of numerous agencies and departments. The first on this list (there are many throughout the country), is the former RBM of Malawi governor Dalotso Kabambe who was receiving K27m ($36,000.00) per month. His defense for his salary was that it is linked to the private sector. Ironically, during his tenure as Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kabambe ordered that diplomats should take loans on furniture instead of having the government purchase them. He cited this would be part of cost-saving measures that would save the government much-needed resources. This premise implies that making diplomats comfortable and at par with residents in countries they serve, is a waste of resources.

Another official is reported to have been living in a Malawi Housing Corporation House, but also receiving a housing allowance for the same house. At the same Housing Corporation, another official allowed DPP MPs to refuel their vehicles during the 2019 campaign period.

The same Members of Parliament have proposed that Malawians should contribute K1,000 towards the health budget. If the government can pull this off, it would net a whooping K18 billion for its coffers. Ironically, MPs are entitled to 2 duty-free SUVs every five years, multiply by 195 MPs and Malawi is denied  K4 billion uncollected tax revenue. They also do not pay duty on imported items. Lastly, every session almost always starts with a salary and sitting allowance hike for themselves.

In this New Year, while emulating the servant leader Dr. Chakwera, Malawi must rid itself of the eccentric self-serving people and replace them with persons that are willing and ready to serve the interests of all Malawians.

Malawian officials must desist from illegal and/or legal forms of self-enrichment schemes.