Let me start by defending my titling this entry the way I have.
The phrase ‘the die is cast’, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used to indicate that events have passed a point of no return.
The Greek expression, on the other hand, is more accurately translated as ‘let the die be cast’, which means ‘let the game be played’ and implying ‘let us proceed irreversibly’.
That is the point where Malawi is with the leadership of President Lazarus Chakwera who has defaulted on every precept of good governance whose promise was the archetype of his campaign ahead of the court-sanctioned 2020 presidential election.
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We are at a point where the country has been terribly impaired and it seems practically impossible for Chakwera and his officers to clear the mess in the next few months before the next poll.
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By the time we went to press yesterday, motorists in some parts of the country were still struggling to access diesel at pump stations because the commodity was in short supply.
The most depressing thing about the fuel crisis is that it does not happen out of the blue.
There are all indications that the supply of the commodity at some point in time means it will optimally be there or vice versa.
Now, one wonders what those responsible for ensuring the country has enough fuel were doing days ahead of the crisis.
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Blaming the situation on forex does not make things any better because the scarcity of forex itself typifies a government that is failing in managing the economy.
Chakwera’s worst mistake is that when a crisis occurs in his country, he does exactly the opposite of what he is supposed to do.
In the current fuel challenges, he, like he has done several times before in moments of crisis, hopped onto a plane to Tanzania to participate in a summit which we all know will not bring anything worthwhile to Malawi.
This pessimism has some premises.
The President has been to dozens of international meetings, to where he has taken wads of the scarce forex, but nothing impressive has followed him back home after the meetings.
And he seems to be a very unlucky man.
Most of the international summits that he forces himself to attend come at times when the country is going through some serious challenge.
It is either fuel is not there at filling stations; or there are acute electricity supply shortfalls.
But then, there is also a sad truth, that there rarely is a time when everything is smoothly working in this country.
That is the more reason Chakwera was supposed to be spending more time with his people to listen to and experience their pain and suffering and be seen not to be abandoning them.
No matter how little the forex that he takes on his numerous trips abroad could be, every saving of the money is important.
Measures of reducing the expenses do not seem to be real in the President’s view as much as the term ‘delegation’ does not seem to appear in his vocabulary.
So, it is preposterous that when honest men like Bishop Martin Mtumbuka speak about Chakwera’s failure to steer this troubled ship to a safer shore, some of the President’s backers swing the ‘diplomacy’ card.
There is nothing undiplomatic in reminding a blundering leader that he has a country to govern and a people to lead but he is horribly failing in that regard.
The cost of living is unbearable for the majority of Malawians and the kwacha continues losing its grip.
Companies are struggling to import raw materials and are scaling down operations because there is no forex.
Malawi’s present debt situation is extremely worrying and when people like Bishop Mtumbuka highlight that and demand solutions, they are not being undiplomatic.
They are being honest and that honesty must be appreciated by those for whom it applies instead of being scorned.
Well, because there is no hope that Malawi will be redeemed any time soon, it is only necessary that we speak as much as possible so that if there are possible alternatives for improving things, they can come into the picture.
For now, the die seems to be perfectly cast: The current administration has failed to address challenges most of which it created.
Chakwera himself comes out as an incompetent president who is more interested in satisfying his insatiable appetite for expensive pleasure often seen in his penchant for unprofitable foreign trips which could be sufficiently undertaken by delegated officers.
It is even difficult to imagine what his campaign message ahead of the 2025 elections will centre on, for he has defaulted on everything he promised he would do for this country.
