Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, was a beehive of activity from April 19 to 27 as the country observed the first ever Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM) Promotion Week. The week featured a host of activities, including an Agriculture Investment Conference, Malawi International Tourism Expo, Mining Investment Forum and related activities.
It was heartwarming to see President Lazarus Chakwera lavishing the week with the much-needed political will. He personally presided over most of the activities just to demonstrate how serious he is on ATM Strategy implementation. Thumbs up, Mr President.
During the week, the President made a clarion call to all Malawians to reflect on practices that are detrimental to the image of the country, if Malawi is to make the best out of the tourism sector. Speaking at the official opening of the 5th Edition of Malawi International Tourism Expo at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, he said the responsibility of selling Malawi’s tourism sector belongs to everyone. Chakwera urged Malawians from all walks of life—be they in government, business, media, the diaspora and the like— to revisit their way of doing things and how their actions are reflecting on the country’s attractiveness as a tourism destination.
The Malawi leader’s sentiments resonated well with the spirit of these ATM indabas. However, this call should not only be confined to the tourism sector; the call should reverberate through all sectors.
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Over the years, Malawi has been moving in circles, thereby not registering the much awaited progress. But, now, it appears as if the country is inching towards finding lasting solutions to challenges which have been hampering the country’s progress, if narratives and soundbites coming out of the just-held ATM conferences are anything to go by. The indabas accorded stakeholders, both local and international, an opportunity to bang heads on issues revolving around government’s flagship project, namely the ATM Strategy.
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Given an opportunity, Malawians have the capacity to turn around the fortunes of this country. All that is needed are platforms like these, where they can harness their expertise for the betterment of Malawi. And I believe that the ATM indabas just did that.
However, for all this effort to bear fruits, we must fend off vices which could easily tarnish the country’s image and reputation. For instance, stories with screaming headlines about alleged corrupt practices, some top officials being declared persona non grata in other countries, alleged unethical business practices in both public and private sectors, and the like, have been the order of the day. These disturbing stories, and many others, invariably put the image of the country at stake.
As has been said, we need to change our mindset. One of Africa’s icons, Nelson Mandela, once said: “…the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself….”
Mindset change is a process. It involves honest and serious soul-searching while re-examining our value systems; that is, what we, as a country, have established over the years, in terms of our values, norms and aspirations. For instance, are we a nation where those entrusted with power or resources display qualities of being honest and having strong moral principles in the way they conduct themselves? It may be a toll order to do so, especially in a society where ethical practices have turned out to be one of its significant social deficits. But we need to ask ourselves tough questions if we, as a nation, are to move forward.
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Fortunately, the Malawi 2063 vision has placed mindset change as Enabler Number One for the attainment of Malawi’s aspirations. Under this enabler, engagement of visionary and transformative leadership, patriotism, religious values, integrity, hard work, self-reliance and positivity have been singled out as catalysts for mindset transformation.
On the other hand, the media plays a crucial role in fronting Malawi as a favourable tourist destination. But It has to be appreciated that, in a genuine democracy, the media and government may not be partners. They are natural adversaries with totally different functions. Media’s roles revolve around providing checks and balances. Other than expecting the media to perform public relations (PR) or, rather, image management functions on behalf of the government, it is advisable for the government to re-engineer its PR and communications function. The government requires a PR and communication machinery that is more proactive than reactive.
As we reflect on our actions, we may as well remind ourselves about this declaration:
“…As Malawians, we denounce our hitherto attitude of dependency on donors and handouts, materialism and self-accumulation through corrupt practices. We will instead embrace and commit to self-discipline, self-initiative and self-dependency”[MW 2063 vision, Page 24].
When all is said and done, a call for mindset change will become a pipedream if what we say does not much with our actions. By the way, if we were to take an integrity test, how would we score? Your guess is as good as mine!
