Ignore Evangelical Association of Malawi at your own peril
A true reflection of the country’s economic and development status has been revealed in the Evangelical Association of Malawi’s (EAM) pastoral letter released Saturday, which is backed by opposition political parties.
EAM has observed that the country is sliding back to bad governance citing, among other things, rampant corruption, lack of decisive, ethical, selfless, transformative leadership, nepotism, violence against people with albinism and increased cases of political violence.
And the message is vital to President Peter Mutharika and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
The pastoral letter is a call to Mutharika, who has to rise above politics of patronage as well as nepotistic tendencies responsible for the over-hiring of ‘experts’ in praise-singing and not in technical capability because this has contributed to the country’s political and economic mess. It has also contributed to the bad practice of channelling money from the public purse to few individuals with no relevance to the common good.
Mutharika and DPP’s second-coming was thought to be a beacon of hope for the eventual self-determination of the oppressed and marginalised people.
The President was handed an opportunity to prove himself either a prodigious success or an ignominious failure at running the affairs of the country and glow in his glorious success or wallow in the ignominy of failure.
Certainly, Mutharika and his DPP have failed to not only find their leadership ‘sweet pot’ but raise their leadership tent whose canvas represents all of the possible competencies a leader might display, including patriotism.
Mutharika and DPP have fast forgotten their pretence to govern and become who they were under Bingu wa Mutharika and, of course, who they in truth are – skillfully arrogant and nepotistic.
In many respects, they are even worse than their predecessors.
The thinking across the sweeping ranks is that the DPP’s methods of governance as well as development are a reflection of lack of ethical leadership and integrity.
The DPP is, in short, but predatory leadership which erodes the country’s central public administration, which ends up using public resources for its own aggrandisement.
Observers have noticed that, in order to strengthen and ensure that their leadership is secure, and also to hide their misdeeds, it is common for predatory leaders to surround themselves with tribesmen or praise-singers as noted by EAM.
And a growing disgruntlement seems to stem not only from EAM but other equally relevant institutions in Malawi and beyond and majority citizenry at large.
Surely, Mutharika and DPP can ignore the message at own risk.
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