Chakwera’s 100 days of hope and betrayal: Malawi at a crossroads
In 100 days, President Lazarus Chakwera has given us hope by not taking us back to Egypt but, at the same time, betrayed us by not putting us on a clear path to Canaan.
As the nation stands today, we are in the doldrums, at a crossroads where we are not sure if we should smile or cry.
Let’s face it, before June 23, Malawi was in Egypt—the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ruined the spirit of the nation to core.
Journalist Idriss Ali Nassah captured the six years of DPP and Peter Mutharika worse in few words when he wrote:
“They took Isaac Jomo to the UN General Assembly in New York; made Everton Chimulirenji vice president; gave Mulli K11 billion of our money; allowed Norman Chisale to be a self-imposed Prime Minister, had that nauseating airhead Steve Maseya pontificate nonsense on MBC TV, let Gertrude Mutharika and her son steal all they wanted; schemed to jettison the Chief Justice from office; had a thieving Cash Madam masquerade as a successful businesswoman; employed and promoted unqualified cadets at MRA, Escom, MERA, MACRA; spent years shamefully lying to Malawians that Gertrude Mutharika was a ‘Professor’; turned my brother Mark Botomani into a blubbering, blundering motor mouth, Walter Nyamilandu into a beret-wearing cadet and Lloyd Muhara into an unthinking automaton.”
When he got into office on June 23, President Lazarus Chakwera’s job was clear cut: reverse every symbol of worse instituted by Mutharika’s DPP and then put Malawians on a clear path to progress.
Riding on public goodwill, Chakwera took quick measures to bring sanity and confidence in the system.
He brought in new faces in the country’s key governing institutions such as Reserve Bank; Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Malawi Police Service (MPS), the office of Secretary to the Cabinet and Government; brought back Nundwe to the military and secure the tenure of the Chief Justice.
Further, the 100 days also saw Chakwera’s leadership reversing some key elements of lost Constitutional order of the country.
For instance, to enhance transparency and accountability, his government gazetted the Access to Information Law; the President appeared before Parliament to answer member’s question; and State House started weekly media briefings.
Notwithstanding that, in these 100 days we saw also an interesting collaboration between Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and police in apprehending those suspected to have taken part in the looting of public coffers, abuse of office and, also, any form of criminality.
Equally important is the move, in the first 100 days, by the President to restore dignity in our international relations by cementing relations with our neighboring countries through State visits to Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Through these moves, it is evident that Malawi is currently no longer in the Egypt of abyss and hopelessness where DPP left us. Chakwera has managed to take the country from fire.
But the question is: after taking the country from abyss of fire, where is he taking the country to?
To understand where Chakwera is taking the country to, is not, of course, to listen to his flowerily speeches; rather, to gauge who he really is. Gauging who Chakwera really is means paying strict attention to people he chooses to associate with through his appointments.
Through his many appointments made, it is becoming evident that most Malawians are beginning to doubt if, after being taken from Egypt, Chakwera has put in place the right team to put Malawians on the desired path to fair and balanced economic development.
His bloated cabinet, punctuated by a few technocrats here and there, left many uninspired as it was slewed for being nepotistic, gender imbalance and used as a tool to reward his political cronies.
Further, in his recent appointments of Board of Directors, Chakwera has earned himself a wrath of civil society organization for defying gender protocols. Some analysts have already questioned the president saying he has announced a clear intention to reinstate a system of government based on patriarchy and sexism in Malawi.
Not only that.
Scores of women continue to dance for the president at the airport, a relic of a hated past where women’s role in politics gets narrowed praise singing without tangible consideration in the larger development matrix.
This list could be long. But everything about Chakwera’s 100 days boils down to what I earlier said—in fact, it beautiful to end this article where I began.
In 100 days, President Lazarus Chakwera has given us hope by not taking us back to Egypt but, at the same time, betrayed us by not putting us on a clear path to Canaan.
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Shupiti. No direction. We may be heading towards a cliff and we may not know it. At least we have known where we are going. 100 days! Next it will be 200 days, etc. The clock is ticking. So far zero out of ten.
All you mother cunts saying malawians are lazy . I think the laziest job is being a greasy ape like chakwera or any other politicians including the mass murdering HASTINGS FOREIGNER KAMUZU BANDA while lying to people in the villages, in the slums that you have done something to change their lives. All politicians are scam artists. PR Reps but most of all they know that they don’t work for the masses but themselves and their cronies
The worst 100 days of any presidency anywhere in the world. Chakwera is clueless. Saulosi must be smiling how easy it will be to wrestle power from chakwera. The guys is daft and clueless
Eagerly awaiting the 5 month assessment of cabinet performance and action therefrom
All those who are making noise about wasted 100 days ( 3 months) you have you achieved in the last 100 days worth writing or talking about. I think we expect too much from politicians. You have to be a bonehead to expect that in these 100 days all that was promised will be delivered.
MCP+UTM is waste of Time and as we all know that Malawian Politicians are Self Centered and MCP Since 40 have been Trying to Cone Back but could Not Why? MCP and its Politicians are NOT Right for Malawi they are too Corrupt
These 3 Months Corruption has NOT gone down in Any Govt Office still it is going on ?
Palibe chomwe mwachitapo inu. Just a waste of good 100 hundred days. Opening of Area 18 Interchange and arresting Chisale 3 X can not be classified as achievements.
A country that has had its institutions abused and basically no any clear direction since 1994 can’t magically be fixed within 100 days. People are struggling the is no denying that hence this lack of patience from majority of the population but to really expect a government that’s been in power for 100 days fix issues we have had in this country for the past 20-30 years is simply ridiculous and unrealistic.
It’s so absurd to discredit the President Chakwera’s tangible achievements within 100 days in the light of progressive policy framework and institutional reforms that outweighs the microwave mindset.’ Campaign promises cannot be achieved in 100 days, and it’s no rocket science to comprehend the process. Today’s assessment the Tonse government has unveiled short/medium goals that will have astronomical effects towards destiny to prove cynics wrong. Three months ago we had a historical court case that left chaotic economic crisis and imported Covid cases by the thuggish Dpp regime, full of unfulfilled promises. Due to the exceptional stewardship of the President & his vice 2 -3 years from now we’ll see exploits that’ll make opponents ran for their money watch this space.
Gentleman the first 100 days of Chakwera have been successful. Immagine the Area 18 interchange and all the Weekly Convid 19 updates. He has started well.
Area 18Inter Change is a His Excellency Professor Peter Arthur Mutharika project. Nothing to do with Chakwera. Papani, but truth is the truth. Chakwera so far has achieved zero, and will achieve nothing during his term.
Interchange yomangidwa two years pomwe apumbwawa angotha three months ikhala bwanji yomanga Chatsika? Mukhalira yomweyo yolodza za Pitala kuti mwachita zaka five wooo! Admission of failure, palibe kkkkkkk
Malawians are just good at criticizing. We are clueless people and very lazy. We are good are reaping where we never sowed. The journey to prosperity requires everyone to participate. The Chakwera slogan or maxim is “Nothing for us without us”. Do you think Chakwera has to breastfeed us? We are busy rewarding each other with money that one would not have earned in his lifetime. That is a sign of stupidity. AG wake upu.
Mwazidziwa liti zimenezi poti even nthawi ya chair zimene zimayenera kuchitika.u wanted DPP to breastfed u not its with your nonse alliance. Its begins with u that’s what every Malawian of goodwill must do.
Ana anjoka u wasted your time pointing fingers at APM yet he needed support together to develop Malawi.
Kkkkkkkk nothing change here in malawi we are still Egypt
Mr Talk Talk Chakwera is simply clueless. Don’t beat about the bush. He has not yet set any national agenda so far. The 1 million jobs is still nowhere to take off. No universal fertilizer, no free electricity and water connections, no stipend to our grannies, no cheap passport, no loans for civil servants, no medical scheme for civil servants, no non-renewable driving licenses, no progress and no development with abusa . This Mr talk talk Chakwera has no clue at all. We were already on our way to Canaan during DPP but this pastor of yours has taken us back to Egypt. Or else let him mention the development project agenda which he has initiated.
And, moreover, the stolen money is still with the thieves.
Some of us really dislike MCP. Yet the truth is Dr Chakwera has just been elected president. This discussion of 100 days is unhelpful. We can all see the president is a sincere man who is trying his best. He has Chilima and Chikhosi to guide him in running government. I even like him for starting his international visits with neighbouring countries. I wish he would have included Mozambique and Angola as well. We need the Nacala railway for trade. And we too need cheap oil from Angola. Let’s wish the President the best, after all we are all on Team Malawi.
Just wait guys. 100 days is nothing. Give the government 1-2 years to see or notice any changes.
It would appear the only plan our presidents have is to become the president of our country. Apart from that they do not have any new, clear vision for the country.
Our major source of income is reliance on a crop people no longer want.
Our foreign policy appears to be for a world that existed 30 years ago.
Extremely concerning.
This a well balanced article that makes a writer a good to read. Mike continue on this trajectory.
We are still in Egypt. Poverty, hunger, diseases are rampart
Well put
Just like udf after MCP. it seems like the only plan was to get rid of the DPP. Anyway as long as you are a Malawian, we are in this together