Lazarus Chakwera Has Totaly Failed To Fulfil Promises–ECM

Wednesday February 28, 2024.

The Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the Voice of the Voiceless, has finally concurred with the rest of Malawians that Chakwera has never fulfilled the promises, the very promises that aroused Malawians to vote for Tonse Alliance, for which Chakwera’s MCP is part of. Instead Chakwera, as noted in the Letter, is busy trying to deliver what he did not promise. Thats the main bone of contention!

Real men, as they say, live by their words. In fact, they walk the talk.

As a matter of reminder, Malawians did not vote for Chakwera and Chilima into government to construct roads or mount any infrastructure. They have had enough of well-constructed roads and well mounted state of the art buildings before.

Malawians did not vote for Chakwera and Chilima into government to have ministers who distribute maize bags to starving Malawians as if they are slaves or prisoners. They have had enough of food security before when the government was even capable of donating surplus maize to Lesotho.

Malawians did not vote for Chakwera and Chilima into government to bring back foreign donors for their so called direct budgetary support. They have had enough of foreign donors who appear and disappear whenever they feel like doing so. In fact, begging for donor support is a grave sin for any civilized nation because, as everyone is already aware, they give their donation, say Mk100, with the left hand and collect Mk500 with the right hand whilst maintaining citizens in abject poverty. As a matter of emphasis, it is only APM who did not bother to beg donors to resume donations. He rather preferred “Trade” not “Aid”.

On the other hand, when donors come, it is in no way a sign of any confidence. Rather it is a sign of being pitied. The pity comes because such a country is on a verge of collapsing economically. The donation, therefore, acts as an oxygen machine in an intensive care unit.

Malawians voted for the combination of Chakwera and Chilima into government because Chakwera promised THREE UNIQUE THINGS:

1) He promised TO CLEAR THE RUBBLE.

The following are twelve main rubbles that Chakwera must have cleared before the release of the Pastoral Letter on 25th February 2024 if he was to be taken seriously by any sane Malawian:

Rubble number one – TPIN:
Tax Payers Identification Number (TPIN) has no limit and is prone to abuse by the president as was the case with Joyce Banda in 2012 when she purchased over 120 motor vehicles for Peoples Party barely three weeks after being sworn in as president; or president’s aides as was the case with APM when some of his aids used it to import cement. Go and find out about today.

Rubble number two – First lady:
First lady tittle is not constitutional. A wife to a president has no right whatsoever to abuse taxes by being funded as if she works in government. We all recall that in 2011, MCP led their supporters to demand that the then first lady, Calista Chapola Mutharika, stopped being paid for safe motherhood charity work she was assigned. This must apply to all.

Rubble number three – Police
In Malawi, any political party which has its leader as head of state, immediately is called ruling party, although the word ruling party is nowhere in the Constitution. When such a party becomes a ruling party, it finds that in government there is also a well-established party called police.

To break it down, there are two categories of Police Officers in Malawi: There are those with required qualifications and experience whose chances to excel are inevitable. And there is a second category whose chances to excel depends on who they know whether they have qualifications or not. It is this category which involves itself into politics by belonging to different political parties. When a politicsl party becomes a ruling party, they are all gathered together and deployed at strategic places such as Area 30, regional headquarters and some urban stations. They work hand in hand with the youths of the ruling party.

We all can recall, that the gang that went to Salima to rob the Burundi national of his millions was comprised of MCP youths and police officers. Did you see any arrests being made? This is a rubble Chakwera was supposed to clear. Police Officers should be left alone to perform as professionals providing internal security to all citizens without discrimination.

Rubble number four – Court
Judicial officials have no right whatsoever to receive huge salaries or allowances more than any other public officer of Malawi government. Dr. Goodall Gondwe, as finance minister, wanted to harmonize all salaries of public servants based on grade but judiciary refused. Right now for example, a junior at Judiciary, grade M, gets Mk50,000 per day as an allowance for field work. Yet, this amount, Mk50,000, is what the Inspector General of Police, grade B gets when he/she travels for field work. You can make your own conclusions for seniors at Judiciary.

Rubble number five – General Allowances in public service
The Reforms Report authored by State Vice President Saulos Chilima, categorically articulated on best practices for which allowances in public service should be paid. But Chakwera, due to his quest for quick money, decided to sit on it. Right now in his government, there are thieves and robbers dubbed officials who collect allowances for 42 days in a month which ends at 31 days. This is the very reason why Martha Chizuma was unceremoniously arrested at dawn because she was about to interrogate someone who was suspected to have collected allowances for 1000 days in a year which ends with 365 days.

Rubble number six – Awarding of contracts
The same Reforms Report by VP SKC suggested on best practices on awarding of contracts in a transparent and accountable manner in order to avoid purchasing of fertilizer at pharmacies and butcheries. Instead of clearing this rubble, Chakwera sat on it.

Rubble number seven – Devaluation of the kwacha.
Everybody knows that the devaluation of the kwacha is deliberately done to maintain poverty in Malawi. It is clear that this poverty is very important to politicians because it is what they use, on one hand, to get the sympathy of donors to fund Malawi while on the other hand, once the money is sourced, to pocket it all and throw it at those who attend their political rallies. They know that if Malawians have money of their own, they have no time to go to attend any useless rallies.

I urge anyone to whom it may concern, to keep on monitoring you will discover that during planting season, the kwacha loses value. This is deliberately done to ensure that farm inputs are very expensive. But during harvesting and selling season, the kwacha gains value. This is also deliberately done to ensure that farmers sell their produce such as tobacco at lower prices like 30 cents, 50 cents etc.

Rubble number eight – Nepotism/Tribalism/Regionalism
Malawi is in no doubt a divided nation. Malawians expected a leader who would have united the whole nation from Nsanje to Chitipa not by way of intimidating, buying off chiefs, poaching politicians from other parties, sidelining other individuals based on which region they come from, but with open arms with honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, rght now, Malawi is faced with the worst nepotism and regionalism never experienced before for many years.

Rubble number nine – Foreign trips
Malawi, as of February 2024, is one of only three poorest of the poor countries of the world. Others are Burundi and South Sudan. Based on this, there is no point for any sane leader to go on world tour in the name of state visits. After all, don’t they say “you don’t go to a funeral when your house is on fire?” Worse than this, we all witness bloated number of useless individuals accompanying the so called president most of whom have duties such as pulling and pushing the seat on which the president sits, carrying bottled water etc. Yet, this is being done at the time majority of Malawians have three sub standard meals per two weeks.

Rubble number ten – Board Chair for Parastatals
These are continuously being used as avenues to syphon taxpayers’ money to a ruling party. They are deliberately paid bloated salaries and allowances and are sternly instructed to surrender half or three quarter of it to the ruling party for it’s functions.

Rubble number eleven – Tanzania/Mozambique/Zambia issues.
It is official now that Tanzania, of all countries, has finally divided Lake Malawi on the middle. Righr now their ships sail freely, while their military conduct regular trainings on the lake.
The origin of it is the same one which everybody knows that MCP and their operatives including Joyce Banda used to go to Tanzania to encourage them to possess the lake from the middle. They thought that they were punishing DPP government.

And when Tonse Alliance got into power in 2020, Tanzania did not hastate to give a reminder, adangoti palibenso zokambilana, nkhaniyi mukuyidziwa bwino, paja ndinu nomwe munkabwera kumatilimbikitsa kuti tisalole kuti DPP kwanuko itikanize nyanja. MCP must clear this rubble.

Mozambique too is seizing some land in Mangochi and Zambia is encroaching other lands in some villages in Mchinji. MCP must clear this rubble.

Rubble number twelve – Politicizing Public Service
The public service has been chewanized and nyaulized as never seen before. This has left genuine professionals to back off. One of the negative results of this politicizing of public service, is the collapse of pass-port printing. MCP thought it could control the system on its own without engaging achambakale. As a result MCP IT team failed to recover the system pano kumanama kuti ati yachitidwa hack. By who, how?

These rubbles could have been cleared with or without Ukraine war, with or without Covid-19, with or without Cyclone Freddy/Floods/ Heavy rains.

2) He promised TO CHANGE THE WAY WE DO THINGS.

There are things that governments and politicians have been doing in the past, before 2020 elections, which have put Malawi at a corner causing it not able to move forward.

Number one – Politics of retribution (Ndale zothana)
We all have witnessed the cat and mouse relationship between vice presidents and their presidents. Truth be told that the vice presidents too, play a very important role in an election. A person who is capable of bringing in votes is the one who is picked. But once an election is won, the VP is abandoned.

Malawians thought Chakwera came to change this.

Number two – Un prioritized purchases
Purchasing things that are not needed at the time Malawians are in need. We saw the purchase of a plane, we have witnessed the purchase of weapons. Ministers and other officials still get thousands of fuel. Dubious deals continue with same criminal suspect, Sattah, whose case the state vice president is in court.

Number three – Constituencies
Malawi, as poor as it is and as small as it is, has no need to even have 90 members of parliament. Instead of reducing the MPs, we have seen an increase of MPs. These will still be funded by taxpayers while the taxpayers are in abject poverty. Can a sane person dispute the fact that Malawian is now Bagamoyo?

3) He promised TO REDUCE PRESIDENTIAL POWERS.
Chakwera was in the fore front vowing that he would stop being vice chancellor of all public universities, he would stop appointing ACB Director, Macra director, MBC director, and others, he would ask parliament to amend other laws such as section 91 of the constitution so that nobody including himself is protected when embroiled into any theft or corruption.

All these could have been fulfilled with or without Ukraine war, with or without Covid-19, with or without Cyclone Freddy/ Floods/Heavy rains.

Instead Chakwera is making new absurd promises. Who is fooling a who here?

As I conclude, I salute the ECM for hitting the nail on its head because when Malawians complain, they are labeled as cadets, olira chifukwa ku opposition nkowawa, and all sorts of insulting language. However, I am not surprise at the outbursts coming from other quarters as a reaction to the Pastoral Letter. In fact, God does not give pleasant messages to oppressors of His people.

When Prophet Micaiah told King Ahab that he would die in war, Ahab got angry and imprisoned the Prophet as challenge that he would return alive (1Kings 22: 19-20). Ahab did not come back alive.

One thing is crystal clear that these Letters, like St. Paul’s Letters, are prophetic messages from men of God and are still with divine powers as ever before:

In 1961, “How to Build a Happy Nation” helped MCP to win the 1961 general election with land slide victory.
In 1992, “Living Our Faith” helped to bring Multi-party in Malawi.
In 2002, “Rejoicing and Vigilantly Living in Hope” prevented the Open Term Bill by Bakili Muluzi from being passed.
In 2008, “Taking Responsibility for Our Future: Together Towards the 2009 Elections” enabled Bingu to win land slide victory in the 2009 elections.
In 2013, “Strengthening the Vision of our Destiny” enabled APM/SKC to enter government kicking out the cashgate queen.

Long Live ECM. Long Live Men of the Living God! 🔥🔥🔥