New Year resolution for President Mutharika: ‘Sort out electricity problems for Malawians’

We have just started a new year- people have sat down and taken stock of their lives. Others have made the decisions to make drastic changes on their lives while others have set themselves goals to achieve in the New Year.  Before we go deep in the New Year, I thought an opportunity not to be missed is to remind our president that on his list on New Year resolutions – he should not forget the thing that most Malawians are craving for at the moment – the days of undisturbed electricity.

I was reading the New Year speech that our president delivered at his end of the year address. Surely on paper one would get excited that this president has achieved a lot.  As per list of his achievements, he claims  inflation has fallen to 7.7, The economy is growing with GDP at 6.4%, The launch of the National ID Project, Fuel prices not increases and many more  that he has made Malawians aware of .

However, as has been the recent trend, Many of the achievements can easily be contested as it has largely been blowing his own trumpet, trying to convince Malawians that things are working and we are making progress when reality is that Malawi is quickly becoming a failed state- and that is being diplomatic as probably, one can’t be blamed if they say Malawi is already a failed state.

There are many things that I can talk about which our president might need to focus on in 2018- but let me on this occasion focus on something that is long overdue and that is Electricity. Many times you find a lot Malawians questioning as   to when will solving electricity problems be a priority for this government?The year 2017 saw our president make a well documented promise assuring Malawians that electricity will normalize considering that government was doing everything possible to invest in the power sector. Yes, back in October the president told Malawians  that government would import heavy duty generators which would arrive by end of December. “Blackouts will be history in this country and I can promise that,” That’s what he said at the time while addressing the MulhaknowaAlomwe cultural festival.

It is no secret that  Malawians have not yet seen the promised generators and blackouts are not history yet as per Mutharikas declaration. One wonders why the whole office of the president would choose to make a public statement  and giving so much hope to the many disgruntled Malawians only for the government not to live up to their promise.

2019 is a crucial year for President Mutharika. Practically it’s the year he has to show that he is delivering before the verdict on his performance is thrown into the hands of Malawians in the 2019 elections. There are issues that dominate elections, and am sad to remind our President that he has left if too late for Electricity not to be an issue that people will judge his presidency on  ‘No country in the world can claim that it is developing when its people are left in blackouts everyday. ‘

I have observed of late that the President has chosen to blame lack of investment in the electricity equipment by the previous governments- well since the days of Kamuzu as he claims. A good point I would say , but then what has he himself and his government  done in the 3 years they have been in power. They are in government to bring practical solutions to problems not as analysts working out why and how certain problems started.

All is not lost though, the new year has began and new resolutions are being made. I am sure solving electricity problems will be a perfect gift Mutharika can give to Malawians in the year 2019.  On his new year’s speech the presidents highlights that In 2017, his government has taken electricity to most rural places in the country. That’s a positive development, but not very positive when  those rural areas are still being left in the dark  and  people not enjoying the real beauty of having electricity all the time.

It is worrying when people are sceptical about believing what their leader says. Just as the promise that was made about 2017 those blackouts will be history, the same promise has been made for 2018.  Does the president really mean it, or its just becoming a line easily thought of by his speech writers. In 2018 Malawians want an action government. To sort out all these overdue problems so that the country can move forward and focus on other things.

Let me remind our dear leader that Malawi is awoke “Dzuka Malawi”. Gone are the days when politicians can make empty promises without being held accountable for the promises they made.   We all know the 2019 elections will be heavily contested, but a New Year resolution for 2018 to provide Malawians of electricity will just make the campaigning job slightly easier for president and the DPP Government.

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