It is amazing how people suddenly change when they assume positions of influence. When most people ascend those ladders, they suddenly feel too big and see themselves as some gods that are beyond reproach.
They start doing what those who have failed before them did, and they always feel the need to add some vacuity of their own – a personal touch, salt to the soup. That is how our institutions have fallen, and it is the same reason this country refuses to develop.
This attitude is even worse in political leaders we entrust with responsibility. With them, there is always a team of non-thinking beings who rally behind to support their failures and miscalculations.
Most of these beings live miserable lives and they can barely survive in a failed economy like ours. These politicians become their gods and they are brainwashed to the point that they cannot imagine life outside the mercy of these deities.
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When you find yourself in a situation where you live by licking the boots of some momentary big man or woman, know that you are one of the things that are wrong with this world.
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It is absurd that politicians easily forget their responsibilities when we finally put them in positions of power. We choose a president or a member of Parliament as a representative because all of us cannot occupy those offices. It is not that this person we choose is the most intelligent among us.
It is rather that we think them rational enough to take instructions from us and turn our dreams into reality. Political leaders are elected on trust and they are supposed to serve the people.
But here, there is a crooked sense of logic where these people suddenly evolve into masters, gods and monsters. The worst thing is that there is always someone defending their folly.
To put matters into perspective, most of us expected better from the Tonse Alliance administration. This is a regime that came into power through the collective effort of the people of Malawi.
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At that time, all well-meaning Malawians agreed that we could not stand the Democratic Progressive Party regime anymore. We went to the streets and protested.
We had Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima leading the way. These are men who spoke our language. They said no to impunity. All of us wanted a state where there was fairness, equality and justice in all aspects of life.
We were fighting for the same cause and we gave them the mandate to lead this nation.
Three years down the line, these two men have failed to deliver on almost everything that they promised. Their reign has seen one of the worst economic crises in the history of this country.
The cost of living is unsustainable. Businesses are failing due to lack of forex and fuel. Maize and fertiliser have assumed the price of gold and there is no room to breathe for the ordinary Malawian.
What is even worse is that the two leaders seem to have no clue on how to solve these problems. One is conducting business as usual and the other went into hibernation – a strategy, they say.
And when a group of concerned Malawians decide to go to the streets to demonstrate, demanding change, a group of thugs has the freedom to attack these people while the police watch.
In fact, the police apparently joined these thugs to chase away the protesters. And in those running battles, things were said that we do not want to hear in Malawi today.
There were undertones of tribalism and regionalism. Some of the thugs even said that Lilongwe was a no-go zone for questioning Chakwera’s administration. These thugs are those people who are suffering, but they can gather the energy with which to defend their gods.
What happened in Lilongwe last week is just unacceptable in a democratic dispensation like ours. 2023 is not a time for practising archaic politics of oppression and suppression of human rights.
The fact that the leadership of the Tonse Alliance did not say anything about the violence speaks volumes of the kind of leaders we have. They are people who do not care about the average citizen for as long as their needs are met.
They are high on power. Unless the gods at the palace condemn those acts, we will assume that they agree with what happened. This may be the new normal.
