Government has over the past few days gone on some sort of counter-attack; defending itself against some resolutions at the much talked-about all inclusive conference hosted by the Public Affairs Committee (Pac).
So interesting is the resistance that traditional chiefs have had to be ferried all the way from Karonga and other far corners of the country to Blantyre to address press conferences on behalf of the government with regards to the Pac conference.
This is surprising considering that government had a high level representation at the conference that had the chance to explain government’s position as well as providing answers to some questions raised at the conference.
The conference, which drew participation from various sections of the Malawian society, tackled several issues affecting the country and in the end made suggestions on what could be done by the government to address the problems.
In a democracy where people are expected to participate in governance issues, the government should take such gatherings positively and treat them as an opportunity to listen to views of the people and even get some ideas on how some of the hurdles prevailing in the country can be handled.
Such forums where people are free to discuss difficult issues affecting the country can also help cool off some tempers that have developed among many people in the country due to various problems people are going through.
The conference also provided government with an opportunity to provide explanations to such a representative gathering and clear some misconceptions regarding the cause of the challenges and what the leadership is doing to address them.
It was therefore encouraging to see government assigning several senior ministers and presidential advisors to the conference and that seemed like an indication of how seriously government regarded the conference.
Coming just a week before Parliament starts meeting in Lilongwe, the conference may also have provided pointers to the legislators as to what issues they are expected to discuss in the national assembly.
Pac should therefore be commended for organising such a conference, those who attended or sent delegations should be applauded for placing importance at the meeting while those who made presentations should he thanked for the time they took to research on various topics of relevance to Malawi’s situation and providing insight on their dynamics.
And the government should be hailed for making sure that it was represented as the discussion could not have been very useful without the presence of those who are charged with the responsibility of running affairs of the country to listen, provide answers and take suggestions as made at the conference.
Of course not everything could have gone without hostility towards the government at such a conference where delegates included representatives of opposition parties and other interest groups whose desire is to always see the government fail or viewed in negative light for the sake of their own political interests.
Hearing some of the delegates suggesting that the government should step down should therefore not have come as a shocker to many as that is what opposition parties always crave for by their nature.
So instead of focusing on and spending time responding just to the call for the government to step down, the government needs to look at the broader issues as discussed at the conference and find ways of addressing the challenges.
There were various critical issues that were discussed at the conference, with reasonable suggestions made on how the country can move forward.
The government needs to take time to analyse the issues as discussed at the conference and suggestions made and see what can be taken from the conference to help in finding solutions to various challenges affecting the country.
What will decide the future of the government are not calls for the leadership to step down as made by some politically charged delegates at the conference but how quickly and effectively the administration can restore normality in as far as the economy and food situation in the country is concerned.
Spending government resources ferrying chiefs and accommodating them in expensive hotels to defend the leadership through the media will in no way bring food and slow down price increases on the market as expected by many people in the country.
Make maize readily available at Admarc and contain government spending to slow down inflation. That’s what will invalidate the calls for the government to step down.
While the call for the government to resign is now primarily coming from opposition parties, more sections of the society, including the masses, could buy into the idea if things will continue to worsen in the country. The ball is in the government’s court.
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