The PAC frank talk that annoyed Malawi govt: Fr Mulomole says there is too much ‘executive arrogance’
Minister of Information, Communications Technology and Civic Education who is also sovernment spokesperson, Patricia Kaliati has accused Public Affairs Committee (PAC) of being confrontational, saying government is not happy with the grouping following a published interview of PAC spokesperson Father Peter Mulomole to reflect on the meeting with President Peter Mutharika to submit recommendations from the 5th All-inclusive Stakeholders Conference and other concerns.
Nyasa Times reproduces the interview which appeared in Nation Publications by Albert Sharra.
Q:Are you happy with the way the meeting went?
A: We are happy that the President finally met us. That in itself is quite an achievement. We all remember that the audience failed to take place on 29th March 2016. So, we are happy for such a gesture.
Q: Did the meeting achieve what PAC wanted?
A: Not really. PAC had assumed that we would submit the recommendations and actionable resolutions. There would, of course, be comments and questions for clarifications. Then the President and his team would sit down and seriously and systematically respond to our recommendations. He almost said he was going to do that. But then turned around and began responding to them there and then and in a very casual manner.
He trivialised the whole exercise and made us feel like we were wasting his time since his government was already doing most of the things we were recommending. While PAC had put more time and effort into the exercise to enable the President appreciate people’s feelings on the ground, he ended up saying practically that it was no news to him and he was already taking care of most of the things. His rhetoric seemed totally out of tune with majority Malawians today. The President and his Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]-led government are living in a world of their own. It was really a lost opportunity for the President.
Q: Contrary to tradition, the meeting was captured live on television. Was this part of the plan?
A: Though we were alerted about it, few of us took it seriously. That scenario had its advantages and disadvantages when the Head of State himself was our dialogue partner. There are some things that you don’t want to say for fear of embarrassing the Presidency in public. It worked perfectly well for the President since he could say anything and hoped that PAC would not come in immediately to correct him out of respect. Remember, PAC was there to submit the outcomes of the 5th All-Inclusive Stakeholders Conference and provide clarifications to questions and not really for a direct confrontation.
We wrongly assumed that the issues that we were placing before the Head of State and government were serious and of great national interest and, therefore, needed time on his part to respond since it was he who had asked for help. However, it seems the President did not see it that way. For him, it was just one of the many audiences he holds every day and so it was business as usual.
Q: On several occasions, PAC officials seemed to be disorganised and struggled to justifysome of the issues they raised in the petitions presented to the President. Why was that so?
A: I beg to differ. We were just shocked that the Head of State seemed not to be aware of some critical issues when, in fact, his officials have been attending our conferences where all the issues raised in our presentation were generated. We had a tough exercise to discuss with the Head of State in a live broadcast given that he maintained from the outset that he had been transformative and that there was no need for some of the actionable solutions. And yet those issues have constantly been raised in all the three regions of Malawi.
Then the second part has the actionable resolutions, well-articulated. In the end, he himself admitted that we had done ‘brilliant’ work. We have circulated the report after the audience and people will judge for themselves.
Q: Mutharika complained that you submitted a fresh document to discuss just 30 minutes before the meeting when he had another document which you submitted in February. What happened?
A: Definitely not 30 minutes before! In Malawi, akulu salakwa [you cannot fault a leader]. First of all, it should be understood that we shared the communiqué with State House in February not necessarily directed to the Head of State for his action, but to inform Malawians generally in terms of the general outcome of the 5th All-Inclusive Conference.
Secondly, we had to package all recommendations and actionable resolutions for Mutharika’s action. The latter were shared to the President a day before and this can be confirmed by PAC secretariat. We were also surprised that he had received the document 30 minutes before the meeting when PAC secretariat had a conversation with Office of the President and Cabinet [OPC] and presidential adviser on non-governmental organisations [NGOs] a week before regarding the document to be deliberated on. We feel it’s more about their internal challenges than ours. We do not want to dwell much on this matter. The PAC board was updated on these processes a week before the meeting. We have emails sent to his officials sharing draft documents. So, it is surprising that he had it 30 minutes before.
Q: What is the way forward?
A: First of all, we now expect a written response from the President as he did before the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections with the 19 points PAC had presented to him. Then the PAC chairperson asked for technocrats from both sides to develop a way forward to the Actionable Resolutions, especially those points the President found difficult to understand. In short, the follow up meeting of technical people will aim at clarifying and changing the documents. The President and his DPP may hate deadlines, but Malawians do not. So let the President not belittle what the conference has recommended. Malawians should not be taken for granted.
Q: Any last comment?
A: Malawi still lacks a listening and bold servant leadership. There is too much Executive arrogance. We lack the kind of leadership that is ready to make hard decisions the country needs on various issues such as Fertiliser Input Subsidy Programme, Green Belt Initiative, crop diversification, fiscal discipline, reduction of presidential powers, our flawed electoral system and reactionary Constitution. Most of the decisions that administrations have been making are for political convenience and not for real national development
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it’s difficult for me to understand the one who will stand for the WORD of God, the nation, religion, organised religions and all people have denied the Him. There is no such in the Bible that the church should be organised this causes people to take the mark of the beast. The bible teaches me to respect the leader not talk rubbish, insult, confront but obey and respect him. here the problem is of the DEMOCRACY (demon crazies/ demon law) which the whole world has blinded with, that’s why even we see church also preach of demonic politics instead of the WORD. Democracy is leading the world to socialism new world order/great tribulation and we see vision less preachers taking part in these issues. to me it laughable!!!.
I found the meeting to be very entertaining as the president took time to school the less knowledgeable PAC membership.
PAC presented their report in a demeaning manner to the president. I congratulate the president for being calm despite the vivid hostility from his visitors. It is obvious that PAC came to fight and insult the president and not to present national concerns. They spoke as if they represented disgruntled losers in the general election and are therefore desperate to rule by the back door.
Here is an example of good and respectful presentation of a negative observed behaviour:
“We have noticed that you do not have transformative leadership skills.” Bad presentation and demeaning
“We are concerned that there are no significant changes in the national development front since your government came to power.” Objective presentation. You avoid attacking the character of the President directly.
Even then this observation could be flawed as it is apparently based on hate and distaste for the President rather than fact.
How can comprehensive national transformation take only one year to accomplish?
Another observation was that PAC was asking the President to abrogate his constitutional duties. If the president uses powers beyond those stipulated by the constitution, then take him to task. Unfortunately PAC never cited any constitutional provision that the President breached. What I saw was the aftermath and frustration from the results of the General Election.
It is a frantic bid by some individuals to rule the country against the provisions of the constitution.
Probably the way forward is to review the constitution to be in line with your wishes, otherwise the whole exercise is futile and ill-advised.
This idea that a certain section of the country is ignored in terms of development projects is laughable and has regionalistic undertones. I believe that projects are distributed according to strategic reasons for the good of the whole country in accordance with available financial resources. Strictly speaking, Blantyre is underdeveloped, Lilongwe is underdeveloped and so is Mzuzu.
Mulomoleyu mukuti ndi munthu wa uzimudi amene uyudi? I wonder!
PAC’s approach is commendable and the issues presented to the president are all pertinent for Malawi’s development. I agree fully that there is too much executive arrogance and unless that changes, this country will sink. This is a timely wake up call to our leaders – you take Malawians for granted at your own political peril!
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! No wonder the President and his 20 cabinet ministers including his crowd of advisors cannot see what we are seeing! But let them hear this: inuyo nonse you will one day leave office but Malawi will always be there. Malawi is more important than you, some of you will not be there even in 20 years time, because of your ages. Why should the whole Malawi suffer because inuyo you dont want change? Udindo umatha, so be visonary and let history judge yoh fairly. PAC is spot on about the DPP govt!
Verily verily I say unto all Malawians that if our current leaders were the ones ruling in 1994, they would have even resisted the introduction of multiparty democracy because of their selfishness! They only think about politics and prolonging tneir stay in power but NOT the peoples welfare, shame!!
Number 11. Eni eni ake a report akudziwa zimene ziri mu report ndi ife tidamva. The meeting was live on Mbtv. Sorry that you missed it.
Vuto ndiloti anthu ena akakhala atsogoleri amawona ngati anthu ndi Sabwe. Atsogoleri ngati achemwali a Patricia Kaliati amadzipopa kwambiri. Abale, mukakwera mu mtengo osamanyoza apansi chifukwa mukagwa adzakutolani ndi apansi womwewo. Mu chaka cha 1993 a PAC anatithandiza kubweretsa Boma la zipani zambiri ndikuthetsa bungwe la nkhanza la MYP. Ndikhulupilira akhoza kuthesanso atsogoleri a pangozi.
Fathala,
Even if you were the president, submitting an important document a day before such a crucial meeting shows lack of maturity and hidden motives from your side. There are many protocols and procedures for the document to reach the head of state even if it was for an MD of a company surely it might have taken some time to reach him. You also had a wrong assumption that the president had nothing to do apart from waiting for PAC.
My advise-please be objective when advocating for change rather than be driven by emotions and hatred. I,expected PAC to have more facts and make realistic actionable demands than what you did-you seemed you were not familiar with your own report then who sent you??
Ultimatum and deadline are two different things where the former uses force to get results and the later you agree on time to deliver results. Its unfortunate that you can’t see the difference and giving the president ultimatums to resign is unfortunate. Please not that the president was legally voted by all Malawians and not PAC and the only legal ultimatum we can give the president is through a referendum. I am not happy with the current situation as a,country but I get more angry when the opposition and organizations like you become disoriented in representing people’s views.
Kodi ku Malawi kulibe Julius Malemia ngati ku South Africa???
Now you have it. The P took the opportunity to dramatize his reaction to the notion that he does not know what is going on. muisova.
kodi number 10 akukamba ziti ndipo nkhani take it I. misplaced comment read the story before commenting.
Abusa ndakhumudwa nanu ndidamvera meeting yanu yonse. Mukulankhula zosiyana. Malawi ndiyathu tonse koma mukuzipusisa anthu a Mulungu bwanji ife tikuchita manyazi nanu. Mwina simudziwa abusa about the duties and roles of the three arms of government. Nenani tikuphunzitseni. Parliament singagwire ntchito ya executive ndiye adziatcheka ndani? Nanji ntchito za president, kungodutsamo civil servise and subvented organisations/ parastatals heard or minister wake ndi president since 1964. Speaker kapena Chief Justice alibe appointing powers as a way of filling vaccant possitions. There are prosidures which are followed. Its a dynamic process. Ntchito ya speaker ndi kupanga malamulo. Ntchito ya president ndi kuona kuti malamulo amene speaker wapanga akutsatidwa ndiye amalemba anthu ntchito ogwira ntchitoyo. Pamene Chief Justice ntchito yake ndi kumasulira malamulo amene speaker amapanga. Ndangodutsamo abusa koma ndiri okonzeka mukafuna kukuunikirani. Andale asakupusitseni coz ndife nyali youndikira ndikuonetsetsa kuti munthu aliyense adzigwira ntchito yake osasilira yanzake.
Thank you Fr Mulomole for your honest assessment of the PAC-Mutharika meeting. DPP may not agree with you but one thing for sure is that politics is about perception and it will be good if DPP manages well the perceptions of people with regards to leadership. I entirely agree with your last comment.
Confused PAC. Just shut up!
O……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………O
“Vuto la a Malawi ndi kuiwala.” – Bakili Muluzi
. . . My only humble task today therefore is that of reminding Malawians and other peoples.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>THE IDES OF APRIL ARE ALMOST GONE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
. . . As we only have few minutes before the month of April ends.
And nothing unusual has happened between February and April. And seemingly will not happen. Zuma is still in power and seemingly will be, till his term ends AND the Rand has outperformed the USD between Feb and April.
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. . . All am waiting for now (if now = tomorrow) is that South African-based columnist Tebego Motalaote, to come again and confirm his thoughts; coz he is the one who took the trouble of searching for events in the whole of Southern Africa (no matter how small or commonplace); and impose them (events) on those stray fly-by-night thoughts or predictions or whatever anyone wants to call them.
AM WAITING . . . JUST WAITING . . . NOTHING BUT WAITING . . . WAITING . . . WAI . . . W . . .
O…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..O
The problems we have as Malawians is that we tend to talk too much on matters that affect our livelihood mainly when we want to advance our own goals. We usually complain that things in a democratic dispensation need to be handled with transparency, yet here we are, the president decides to be more democratic by beaming live the meeting and here we are seeing PAC complaining about this arrangement. Is the complaint genuine, knowing well that the public had a general and open overview of the preceedings, that they made their own conclusions based on the live conduct itself? Is PAC crying foul because they were caught with pants down? In the first place Father Mulomole shouldn’t have commented on the meeting which was shown live other than just tell the reporter to make his/her own analysis based on the live meeting. It is like PAC expected APM to respond according to how they wanted it but instead he replied differently hence their whinging. When pastors, priests and reverends are the ones in the forefront trying to throw spanners into the government administrative machinery to disrupt government business because of party affiliations, then I would say we certainly have a very big problem as a country. Much as we are aware that in modern times not everybody becomes a preacher on a calling because others do so as an employment, let them desist from portraying their true colours knowing well the responsibility they are carrying on their shoulders, for surely God will punish them. I would implore them to be objective, progressive and transformative for the benefit of all Malawians because at the end of the day PAC does not represent a particular political party, a particular tribe, a particular region, a particular denomination but the general cross section of Malawians.
IF THE PAC REPORT
IS CONFROTATIONAL
OR WHATSOEVER
CALL FOR A REFERANDUM
PEOPLE WILL RESPECT YOU
GOD HAVE MERCY
ON MALAWI
WITH GOD THINGS WILL
NEVER BE THE SAME
ALWAYS.
I listerned to the PAC/ President meeting on MBC. Fr Mulomole was very rude, defensive and personalised the issues despite noticing the President’s calmness and diplomacy. Fr Mulomole is hiding behind the church. But as a clergy man he should have known that Malawi problems are the people themselfs. Therr is always politicss behind everything. Next time Fr Mulomole meets the President he should regard him more than his flock. Thanks to the presidenti
PAC is a waste of time.
A Che Mulomole mumalephera kuyankha mafunso a professor. lero aja adatukutumani aja akukochani ndiye mwati muoneke a nzeru. Zomwe akuuzanizo zikathamo mmutumo muyambenso kuzipaka chitosi chanu chomwe. Osangokhala phee bwanji? Mmene Joyce amaba muja mudangoti ziiiii ngati akukumetani. lero mwaona APM ma scone kaw inu ziii ndiye mwati muoneke ngati madolo. By the way, which elections put you guys in this political party office? Muziseweratu bwino game yanuyo DPP simudzaigwetsa come 2019. We shall silence you once and for all after we hit you with a landslide. Ifetu chathu ndi chitukuko. Tabalongololani.