By Deogratias Mmana & Pemphero Malimba:
President Lazarus Chakwera Thursday challenged Malawians to embrace the sacrifice of losing excess weight, repentance and endurance in order to bring about lasting change to the country.
Chakwera said this when he presided over the dynamic leaders and gatekeepers forum in Lilongwe.
He cited the slow pace at which the government operates, people that lack competence and capacity and the bad habit of refusing to enforce consequences for slowness as some excess weight which needs to be burnt off because it slows down development.
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He singled out slow government procurement processes as excess weight which, he said, needs to be redesigned by Parliament.
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“Within the gate of governance where I operate, one of the great frustrations and hindrances to lasting change is a culture of slowness that we have accepted across the country and has infiltrated the public service over the course of the 60 years that we have been a self-governing people,” Chakwera said.
“We, as a people, walk at a snail’s pace, talk at a snail’s pace, work at a snail’s pace and function at a snail’s pace. We lack a sense of urgency in many areas because we do not realise that time is never ever on our side,” he added.
Chakwera said people need to move with speed because evil forces are working in the spiritual realm and using their agents to frustrate the country’s efforts.
He said Malawians also need to move with speed because the country is behind in development and progress when compared to other countries.
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The President also said many leaders need to remove pride and ego because it entangles them by making them closed to new and better ideas.
“Or maybe for some of us, what that pride and ego does to us is to make us feel entitled to things that are not ours, things we have not earned, and things that are meant for the benefit of others. And, so, this sense of entitlement causes you to start taking undue advantage of your position by siphoning resources illicitly and rewarding yourself instead of sacrificing yourself in order to achieve lasting change for Malawi,” Chakwera said.
He then challenged leaders to develop the ability to endure despite any circumstance.
“Endurance is in short supply today, especially among leaders, because, for a long time in this country, we have entertained the spirit of sulking, the spirit of kunyanyala. And if we say that we are really leaders and gatekeepers, we cannot be the first to tell the people we lead that they must give up, that they must no longer practise endurance,” Chakwera said.
Dynamic Leadership and Gate keepers Forum Executive Chairperson Reverend Zacc Kawalala said Malawi has potential to become a better country in 52 days if citizens embrace patriotism.
“We have to rebuild our country with what we have and where we are. We need people who are ready and brave enough to be hated by others,” Kawalala said
Malawi School of Government Director General Professor Asiyati Chiweza said the country’s development starts from achieving results at a personal level.
“How much time am I spending on myself. How am I performing on any level? These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves,” Chiweza said.
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority Director General Daud Suleman said Malawi needs to make more investment in digital technologies.
Suleman said digitisation is key to economic growth, especially now that the country is advancing the Malawi 2063 agenda.
“There is a need to make more investment in information communication technology, improve digital infrastructure and cyber security,” he said.
He said this can be done if challenges in the sector are addressed.
Suleman cited the digital divide emanating from the high cost of smartphones as one of the challenges to address.
“Only one million Sim cards out of 14 million registered Sim cards are working on smartphones,” he said.
The forum, which was founded in 2015 by Word Alive Ministries International General Overseer Kawalala, is an all-sector network of influential Christian executives and societal leaders from across the country.
