Asked by a journalist why he had been averse to foreign trips during his time as Botswana’s president, Ian Khama gave a very succinct response—that he was not an international president.
He then went on to explain that his major role of governing his country would be largely accomplished in Botswana and not by attending numerous international meetings, most of which just drain public resources.
He also talked about why it should just be him travelling abroad when he had a vice president and cabinet ministers who would well and truthfully represent their country.
The former Botswana leader was not necessarily referring to economic problems in his country as the reason for his choice of not undertaking numerous foreign trips.
He insisted his job was in Botswana and that it was imperative for him to spend ample time with his people to appreciate their challenges and not abandoning them.
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For any president who cares about being a good leader, there are valuable lessons from Khama’s sentiments.
The first should be President Lazarus Chakwera whose insatiable appetite for travelling abroad is almost getting out of hand.
Malawi’s economy is in a shambles and it is only necessary that every penny that can be saved be saved.
Right now, the foreign exchange crunch that this country is experiencing is unprecedented, but Chakwera will not care much as long as there is some for him and his hangers-on to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (Unga), where his voice seldom goes beyond the walls of the basement of that skyscraper on the banks of the East River.
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We all know whose voices matter at Unga and, no matter how much applause our President may get while speaking in the assembly, his say will not mean much in the larger scheme of things.
There is the usual talk about numerous side meetings that Chakwera participates in while in New York. What really comes out of those meetings is difficult to quantify.
Defenders of the President’s numerous trips often argue that it is important for him to be together with other heads of state at global events.
The truth is that circumstances can prevent him from physically travelling to such events and Malawi’s troubled economy is one key reason.
Former Tanzania’s leader John Pombe Magufuli, whom Chakwera went to great lengths to venerate at his funeral, is said to have consistently rejected requests that he should fly abroad for global meetings.
Like Khama, Magufuli insisted that his work was in Tanzania and that his mission was to improve governance affairs and the economy.
His seriousness in saving his country’s money trickled down to those below him and Tanzania quickly moved up on the ladder of economic progress.
In Malawi, there is the talk about austerity measures which Treasury announced a few weeks ago. Cutting down on government expenditure is necessary because our economy is not ticking.
But the directive fails to make sense if you have a president who cannot stop travelling.
We all know that a presidential trip is a very costly adventure. Hundreds of millions of kwacha are spent once a president flies out of the country and the bill grows bigger when the destination is New York, one of the world’s most expensive cities.
While the fact that Malawians are going through tough times does not mean every other government business must come to a standstill, it is a great leadership quality to show empathy.
Millions of people cannot afford a decent meal every day as prices of maize, the staple grain, keep rising. Even in locations where Admarc is offering the commodity for sale, the majority who need it cannot afford to pay K600 per kilogramme.
You just have to visit some rural locations in Phalombe or Nsanje to appreciate how families are struggling to put food on their tables.
In their desperation, some are going for wild tubers, putting their health and lives in danger.
Chakwera will not give food to the millions of people who are hungry, but it matters to such people if they see that their leader cares and is willing to bypass some money-draining trips just to be with them.
You cannot be flying from one country to another when your country’s economy is collapsing. The frequent fuel supply challenges we keep witnessing and the current forex squeeze are emblematic of an economy on its knees.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reluctant to grant us an Extended Credit Facility because the Bretton Woods institution does not have confidence in how we are managing the economy.
We keep borrowing and spending beyond our means.
IMF may not be coming out in the open to express its reservations with some of the unnecessary forex-draining trips Chakwera undertakes, but the officers at the institution clearly see a leader who is not practising economic prudence.
