DPP must listen to criticisms by opposition

Being at the receiving end of criticisms is not comfortable. It’s even worse when it comes from those who are not in your camp.

This is how the responses of the DDP led government to the oppositionin almost every instance the opposition criticises the government, particularly the President, should be seen.

In this article, I will dwell on the recent criticism which, according to Nyasa Times, the leader of opposition in Parliament, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, criticised the 46^th Parliament session’s SONA delivered by President Peter Mutharika, saying it was too short and without substance.

There is an awash of comments to Chakwera’s assessment of the SONA, the majority of them criticising the leader of opposition for making, according to them, such an insensitive criticism whose objective is nothing but to criticise the President, just for the sake of criticising.

As usual, Chakwera’s opinion on the SONA has ruffled feathers in a tough critique of the opposition in general and  Chakwera himself in particular. Most critics of Chakwera seem to base their argument on the fact that some donors have hailedAPM’s “short and sweet” SONA. “Donors have hailed the President’s SONA, so who is Chakwera to come up with a different opinion”, so say most of Chakwera’s critics.

I have read the SONA myself, line by line, and the issue to me is not Mutharika’s record breaking 25mins. I wouldn’t even have a problem if Mutharika had broken the record in 25 seconds.

The issue to me is as to whether the SONA is substantive enough in providingsolutions in addressing the social-economic ills causing indisputable miseries to the majority of Malawians.

A responsible government addresses the problems of its citizenry and in so doing it instils hope in its people. Just telling Malawians that the donor era is gone, which might please donors, without coming up with tangible solutions to Malawi’s social-economic ills (and they are so many), is as good as saying nothing.

The donors who have hailed the SONA have based they opinion on their own point of view. In the same vein Chakwera’s opinion is based on his own point of view. But unlike the donors, Chakwera will respond to the SONA.

It is only when Chakwera has responded to the SONA that his opinion can authoritatively be challenged. Until that time any criticism to Chakwera’s opinion on the SONA is simply premature and in my opinion a criticism just for the sake of criticising.

It is unfortunate that the DPP led government sees such critiquesas attacks and notcaring advice. Those in the opposition who have bemoaned the DPP’s moral decline and the direction in which it is taking Malawi have done so, in my opinion, for the love of the country.

Similarly those who bemoan DPP ethics have done so in the belief that a government that adheres to its ethics is essential to achieving a corrupt-free Malawi. But the hostility with which the opposition’s criticisms have received, particularly MCP, just shows that the DPP led government adamantly just wants to close its ears to any criticism from the opposition.

Considering where Malawi is now, it is high time Malawi’s political landscape firmly refocuses on the mind of our nation. As a collective, we need to regain the dignity, our nation once had.

As a nation we need to leave behind rhetoric and pompous pronouncements including criticisms just for the sake of criticising if we want to really create a fully inclusive and understanding new order in the country.

For this to happen, our political leaders must be out there encouraging unity instead of propagating disunity. The unity should not only be in our distinctive cultural diversity, but also in multiplicity of our needs and aspirations that unite us all, Malawians.

For the sake of our country, the DPP led government must start listening to the opposition and get out of the “election winning” hangover and start delivering. Almost one and half years down the line, there is nothing tangible the DPP lead government has done to uplift Malawian lives.

It has always been fire fighting and finger pointing, which is not good for the country.