Tag Archives: Watipaso Mkandawire

Politics

Free advice to President Chakwera: “Bring in a mature press team, fire SPC Chikhosi”

MaraviPost

By Watipaso Mkandawire

press secretary Brian Banda

 The economic and social situation in Malawi is not in intensive care and governance is not at its worst situation. No one can run away from Malawi claiming asylum elsewhere due to political reasons or draconian laws. There are countries surrounding Malawi that are in worse situations economically, politically, and socially and yet there is no such agitation and frustration. Are Malawians simply impatient?

The answer is yes. And for good reasons. Malawians have been on the receiving end for a long time with every past leader and government categorizing the people as docile and easily lied to and bought with little brown envelopes and some petty positions. And they got away with it.

Many Malawians before social media emerged, could not express themselves and be heard and there were few people that were informed or understood some of the shenanigans by the politicians. What we are now experiencing, including the questioning of each and every decision of the executive, is partly a response to four key things or perception:

Firstly, high expectations of the electorate because of the comparatively “good quality” of current leadership;

Secondly, the growing impunity and condescending tendencies of those that are the President’s lieutenants.

Thirdly, the weak and inept leadership of the public service in general and civil service in particular and lastly, the inability of the government to clear the rubble as promised and signals that the rubble has absorbed the new administration sharing the spoils.

There is still hope for Tonse if in the next couple of weeks they can open the eyes, heart and ears. There are a number of policy directions and actions, for instance, push for railways development, de-politisation of state institutions, and others that are good for the future of this country if sustained. But good things are always forgotten when fundamental trust is lost and impunity starts emerging.

They should learn from People’s Party (PP) short stay in power. There are similarities emerging.

What they should realise is that if elections were held today, at this rate, they would lose the election. They however, have time to stop and listen or/and ask for help from capable Malawians right there in Malawi.

Some of the easy wins to regain the confidence of well-meaning Malawians include the following:

1. Do not renew the contract of the SPC. He certainly qualifies as a major liability at the moment based on the performance of civil service so far and the many blunders from OPC in the past year

2. Civil service needs a major overhaul and quickly. It needs a decisive, experienced, and professional leadership that understands the role of politics and appreciates the importance of public service (This is from P1/S1 to P4/S4).

3. The State House needs to bring in a mature press team that is less condescending and are “servant leaders”. The current team may not be able to change.

4. The presidency should appoint a capable and professional Chief Strategist who has domestic, regional, and international (Global) experience and connections and understands Malawi development needs—not “petty party cadre needs”.

5. The government should stop making promises to please the masses especially when these are based on begging from well-wishers. The campaign is gone. Just deliver what you can.

6. The country should hear more from delivery ministries on the work on the ground than being given a Presidential diary. State House briefing should be about announcing key Presidential decisions or responding to questions regarding President’s decisions and not presidential meetings and itineraries.

6. The government should have a functional Cabinet by filling in the vacant position of Ministers and strengthen key service delivery ministries.

7. The government should accelerate the decentralisation programme and this means Local Government, being a critical Ministry needing strengthening.

8. Tonse Administration should not abuse the current goodwill out there. They should Nurture it and grow the trust of those that believe in them by being honest and walking the talk. Learn from PP.

Source: The Nation

Opinion

Opinion: Election’s success will be measured by the ability of Malawians to send DPP Packing

Maravi Post Reporter 5 Comments

May 21 polls

Written by Watipaso Mkandawire

Watipaso Mkandawire wrote on his wall page: I will speak for myself, The DPP has failed Malawians in the last 5 years in terms of meeting development aspirations, whether these Malawians voted for them or not in 2014. They have shown unbelievable arrogance and governed with frightening impunity. They deliberately killed systems and manipulated or ignored the constitution at every given opportunity. A case in point is when the Local Government Act was “raped” in broad day light.

The first entry point was the civil service which they turned into a party organ and made government parastatals cash-cows. They have abused power and resources and have built a cadre of opportunist who have systematically misappropriated government resources and corrupted officials. They have deliberately created an environment where opportunities for corruption and fraud have grown to alarming levels at all levels of government.

Fraud and corrupt practices have been rampant starting from simple things like “fuel vouchers”. How do you justify a fringe benefit of fuel vouchers worthy 1000 litres per month per person for local running for probably more than 100 people? Of course, these were liquidated for cash. Fraud and corrupt practices have also become rampant in provision of land and delivery of many other government services.

Then they turned the youth into “Muppets” killing their future to become responsible citizens. They Conveniently started using these “Muppets” for clandestine jobs. Meanwhile in civil service, cash-gate intensified through fraud such as “allowance-gate” distributed among Staff of various government organs for meetings/seminars which never took place or staff never attended.

For a President not to able to see the country-decay speaks a lot about the leadership or lack of it and the direction our country has been going. It is embarrassing and shameful that the cream of DPP are highly educated people – some who built a reputation outside the country and others can be considered the elite of our country. The complicity displayed by this bunch of elites and even pretending that all is well, tells me that they have personally benefited from this fraud and abuse and want the status-quo.

Any well-meaning and patriotic Malawian cannot accept that we should continue with this bunch of “grabbers”. My vote will not count this year, but my voice can surely count. Go vote in numbers but not for DPP.

The biggest success of the May 21 Election will be a BIG and Resounding NO to DPP. Let DPP Go. Let those that have stolen, return our resources. Time for DPP to sit in the opposition benches. Maybe they can learn why this country belongs to us all. We will ensure you do not rest in peace. Mwatikwana

Final word. This election’s success will be measured by the ability of Malawians to send DPP packing.

On a lighter touch, Please, could someone drop EC back at Ginnery Corner on 22nd May

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the Publisher or the Editor of Maravi Post