Malawi should treat Trump with fire and fury

Tom Sangala January 26, 2018

507 4 minutes read

I am not raging with fire and fury at all but I feel the government of Malawi should stop treating the US President Donald Trump with kids’ gloves.

Instead, let our government join the African Union and other fearless African nations in treating Trump with fire and fury over his recent racist remarks directed towards Africa and Africans.

I know the excuse the government of Malawi would give for not joining the fray of condemning Trump over his racist remarks is diplomacy.

However, Trump throws all the diplomacy and etiquette away; therefore, he needs undiplomatic fury.

I am very disappointed that the government of Malawi, my government, is always timid and shy on such issues.

I am extremely disappointed that the government has not summoned the US Ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer to reprimand her over the racist remarks of her boss.

Africa should be united against people who utter racist remarks in this era and century and must be condemned regardless of their standing in society.

I, therefore, expected Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to summon Palmer and make the stand of the government and the people of Malawi very clear on that matter.

Let me hasten to say it here that Palmer has nothing to do with the racist remarks but by virtue that she represents the Trump government here in Malawi, she is a Trump herself.

I know Palmer as a very nice and wonderful woman who has and is doing a lot to improve lives of ordinary Malawians here in Malawi only that she is caught up in a situation beyond her control.

Let me as well add that my assault, if you can call it that way, is not directed to the government of the US and the great people of America, not all but to one individual, Trump who uttered the racist remarks.

I was not, therefore, surprised when I heard the African Union and other great African nations such as Nigeria reacting with fire and fury over the racist remarks.

It is unfortunate that up to now Trump keeps on denying that he made the remarks when it is crystal clear that he made the unfortunate remarks.

We all know that Trump has an erratic and unpredictable behaviour not befitting a person holding such a high office in the world.

I have been forced to comment on this matter because last year, I think in December or thereabouts, Trump threatened to withhold aid for countries that voted against or abstained in the US vote in the UN to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Malawi is one of the countries that abstained.

Countries overwhelmingly voted against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Nicholas Dausi, the government spokesperson and Minister of Information, refused to comment on the matter when asked by a journalist last year citing diplomacy as the reason.

Well, I understand our minister since he is a politician but there is no diplomacy in this issue.

Trump cannot take to ransom sovereign states such as Malawi just because of US dollars.

Malawi should be left alone to make decisions whether in the UN or elsewhere because it is a sovereign state, has its own goals and aspirations, poor though we might be.

If Trump was diplomatic or smart enough, he should have asked his officials to lobby the Malawi government and other states to vote yes during the vote instead of bulldozing them just because they get US aid.

That is not the way things work in this new world order.

As former president Bingu wa Mutharika put it, we would rather walk with our heads down as poor people rather than being bulldozed by some people.

In other words, we are happy to have our insignificant kwacha but walk with our heads up than have Trump’s US dollars but walk with our heads down.

Personally, given the chance, I would have voted to have the Israeli capital moved to Jerusalem for the simple reason that I was born and brought up in a Christian family, went to Christian schools and all I know since I was born is that Jerusalem belongs to Jews.

However, this does not mean I have the mandate to bulldoze others to think the same way I think.

This is why I think Trump got all this wrong.

If he were civilised enough, he needed to apologise over this and the racist remarks.

As I said earlier, this piece is solely directed at Trump and not the government of the US or the great people of America.

The US has had great leaders that took Malawi and other developing nations as true friends and partners in development.

The US has been with Malawi since we got our independence in 1966; we have moved together; we have grown together, we have been together in joy and grief; therefore, Trump should not destroy this unique and cordial relationship between the two countries and Africa.

The US is one of the largest and biggest donors for Malawi since independence and American people have always been friendly to Malawi.

Malawians and other Africans hold Americans in very high esteem.

I can cite just a few great projects taken by the US government.

Currently, we have the $350 million Millennium Challenge Account, a great project that seeks to improve the generation and distribution of hydropower among others.

The US government buys all malaria drugs for our public hospitals to treat not less than three million people every year. This is no mean budget at all and thanks to the great American people.

The US government, through its development arm, USAID undertakes various development projects across the country and the US ensues that Malawi democracy is functioning properly as it has an eye of free and independent press and free and credible elections among others.

Trump should, therefore, realise that Malawi and Africa on one hand and the US on the other have better issues to dwell on for the sake of the nations and continents rather than empty political and racist rhetoric.