Of ‘cover the boss’ and all
After all the rhetoric that the Tonse Alliance, just like other political parties, made prior to the June 23 2020 election, it is very exciting now to see the current administration beginning to take steps towards fulfilling some of the changes that people have yearned for, for far too long.
The six-lane Kenyatta Drive project unveiled by President Lazarus Chakwera on Tuesday certainly set tongues wagging as it is believed to be the first of its kind in the country (the only one which could come closer perhaps would be the Area 18 interchange).
Why am I saying this? Well, next time you are in the capital, try to catch a lift or drive during peak hour around this place (whether from Kawale, Biwi, Chilinde, City Centre or Area 4) and you will appreciate the long routes; with queues moving at a snail’s pace. Going by the artistic impression of the new project, we can only envisage that congestion synonymous with the mentioned routes will ease.
Look how the Area 18 interchange has greatly helped ease the flow of traffic owing to the double lanes created! Of course, others would tell a different story, especially those travelling from Area 49 and 25 connecting via the Bingu National Stadium route, who still have to put up with long queues. In fact, I am reliably informed that if your appointment is at 8 am, then the best time to start off if you’re driving from the said locations is 6am or thereabout. But if you happened to have experienced the chaos that used to characterise the previous single lane roads leading up to the then Area 18 roundabout you will appreciate the sense of relief.
Now, while we still have this aura of Kenyatta Drive excitement hanging over us, there are a few dark spots that I happened to have noticed during the inauguration of the project that I feel ought to be denounced by the authorities because they are the very elements that made a majority of people detest the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -led administration.
I am quite sure that those who followed the proceedings on Tuesday must have noticed the women who were singing and dancing right inside BICC when the President was delivering his speech (my thinking was that such activities would be limited to the outdoor). People still have a vivid image of party women in blue regalia who would, time and again, make their way into conference venues whenever the former president was presiding over an event and to see this re-enactment under the present Tonse Alliance-led administration is, to say the least, pure disrespect to the hordes of Malawians who showed faith in the current administration by ushering it into power during elections.
As if the ‘singing women’ episode was not enough, earlier in the day when the Chakwera’s motorcade was making its way to the inauguration site, we saw a group of what must have been party cadres draped in regalia akin to that of those in security services mobbing the President’s vehicle as it made its way to the site while the official security detail trailed at a distance. The video actually went viral on social media, with many people condemning it.
What if, God forbid, the President’s vehicle were to step on the foot of one of them but, most importantly, are we not compromising his security by accommodating stunts such as the one pulled by the party cadres? Please, this should stop forthwith.
Many would remember how, not so long ago, some young overzealous men used to paint themselves silly in party colours just to amuse their political masters, but where are they now and what did they benefit from such acts? Absolutely nothing!
It is usually small things such as these that, when left to creep in, mushroom into bigger problems for regimes and Chakwera and his charges (both in government and party) must quickly address these ‘shoots’ noticed on Tuesday. We need not allow such distractions as the focus right now is to transform Malawi into a better country (was tempted to say into ‘Singapore’ but we all know how that particular attempt went).
Stephen Dakalira is a seasoned Journalist who works as Times Group’s Online and Digital Executive Editor. He is also the Assistant Editor of The Sunday Times Newspaper, and author of Full Circle column which appears in Malawi News; all of these under the Times Group stable.
He has previously worked in key positions for some of Malawi’s key media institutions such as Malawi News Agency, Capital FM Radio and Star Radio (Now Timveni Radio).
