Stop giving us meal of lies
It has quickly emerged that, since the re-introduction of multiparty politics in 1994, our political leaders have turned lies into soup, a preparatory treatment before the main meal which we would call programme implementation.
No post-1994 leader has been known for keeping their promises. No wonder, a number of public perception surveys, notably one conducted by Afrobarometer, have indicated that politicians rank low on the scale of honesty.
And, in keeping with the political leadership theme of lies, President Peter Mutharika seems to be bettering records.
There are many issues that have exposed the hypocrisy of our leaders, one of which being that of power supply. While the government promised Malawians uninterrupted power supply— we are talking of hydro-electric power— the opposite is true. This is so because, whenever the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration takes one step forward, it makes sure that it takes 10 backwards.
At first, Malawians were promised the moon, when they were told that the intensity of blackouts would be reduced. Apparently, one of the solutions was to hire generators, as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament , Lazarus Chakwera, has indicated.
But what did we get in turn? More power outages, buoyed, as it were, by the government’s double-dealing on the generator issue. If Chakwera’s words are anything to go by, and if we have to give the Leader of Opposition the benefit of doubt, there are documents indicating that some State House officials influenced the Chief Secretary to the Government to order the cancelling of 78 megawatts stand-by electricity diesel-powered generators deal.
This is counter-productive because, as things stand, manufacturers are being denied the opportunity to make the best out of their line of business due to power outages. The cost of fuel is higher than that of hydro-electric power.
We will not be surprised, therefore, to learn that some innocent Malawians have started losing. Of course, they say people deserve the leadership they elect but some leaders take the electorate too far.
Let us usher an era where leaders will live by their words, instead of giving the nation a cocktail of lies; lies that are responsible for our backwardness, 53 years after independence.
It is high time political leaders started living the talk. It does not inspire confidence in us when our leaders do not give a hoot about their promises, which are put in black and white in party manifestos.
As we are speaking, the DPP is failing to fulfil half the promises it made in the run-up to the 2014 tripartite elections. Malawi cannot continue like this.
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