By now, even the most optimistic Malawian must have conceded that we are faced with a leadership crisis that needs serious and urgent redress.
You do not need to go far for pointers but flip The Nation newspaper of Thursday where Jappie Mhango and Vuwa Kaunda are pictured one playing with his mobile phone while the other was nonchalantly reading the newspaper while serious deliberations were in session at the Pac stakeholders’ high level conference.
In case you are not aware, Jappie and Vuwa were at the conference to represent government.
We are talking of a conference where crucial national issues and ideas that might move this country out of this current stagnation were discussed. But, here we have two government officials— one a cabinet minister and the other, a presidential advisor— showing detachment to the happenings around them.
Clearly, the two—and I am sure many others from the government side—just went to the conference to while the hours away. Of course I do not expect anything of note from the likes of Jappie and Vuwa but since they found themselves at the conference, the least we expect from them is to pay attention to what some well-meaning Malawians were saying other than going on a show of total indolence.
The attitude of Jappie and Vuwa shows us the extent of leadership woes that we have in this country. Our leaders— if at all they deserve to be called so—are fine example of how leadership should not be like. Most of them seem to be preoccupied with trivial and would rather play on WhatsApp while the country burns in the economic furnace that is threatening to bring the nation to its knees.
I agree with whoever opined that we are a nation that is rotten from the head. If you look around, there is no one who is inspiring hope.
Our president looks drained of ideas, his ministers are just falling all over the place and all they are focused on is how to hold on to power beyond 2019.
They seem not to give an ounce of thought on how to correct this current mess we are in.
I was appalled the other day when I saw a post that screamed APM 2024. Shockingly, there are still some people out there that are still tantalised by the Peter Mutharika magic and they would want to see him at Kamuzu Palace beyond the expiry of his first term.
Somehow, I am tempted to believe that there are some people who are using Peter to achieve their sinister motives and would push the old man to remain president for as long as he can.
It is cruel for people to be pressuring Mutharika—who we all know is not on the good side of years—to continue bearing the heavy load of leading Malawi when it is clear that he is staggering and struggling with the responsibility.
Peter will be close to 80 years in 2019 and obviously, at such an advanced age, his energy would have waned severely and his mental faculties weakened.
I am one of those who believe that Peter Mutharika was dragged into politics by first, his demised brother Bingu’s desire to veil his shenanigans and later by people who believed only the Mutharika brand would get the DPP back in power. Peter has always seemed to be a disinterested figure on many occasions. His dilly-dallying in making decisions clearly shows that he is being tortured into running the nation. Like Jappie and Vuwa, Peter would be comfortable playing with his phone or flipping pages of dailies.
Peter needs no introduction in the world of lackadaisical leaders. In facts he should be somewhere at the top.
Once upon a time, Peter was Minister of Education and he presided over one of the most shameful periods of our education history. That time, colleges remained closed for close to a year and when asked to intervene Peter curtly dismissed the crises saying it was not a big issue.
At the ministries of foreign affairs and justice, Peter also messed up and his time there was one we all would want to forget. In simple terms, our good old Peter has proven how bad he is at leadership.
Strangely, after miserably failing in smaller jobs, Peter was rewarded with a bigger job of running the country. And look what has become of this country.
Ironically, Peter is the most educated president this country has ever had yet his performance mocks his academic credentials. It is obvious that by becoming a professor, Peter is an achiever in the field where he is interested in other than where he is shoved to like politics All these problems we are currently having in this country are because we have leaders that are disinterested. You don’t need to look further than the figures cut by Jappie Mhango and Vuwa Kaunda to realise that we are being governed by a slothful lot.
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