cHANGE THE pRESIDENCY MADAM: 100 DAYS LATER

I know Sunday, there will be a mass rally to mark 100 days of JB’s ascendancy to the President. The many reasons most supporters of the Peoples Party would like to justify the occasion as worth every celebration.

There are reasons to celebrate yes, we have come from far on April 5, 2012 when  nobody could have predicted that I could plan to drive to Mulanje Mountain Porters race at ease without sleeping at filling stations.

I have no apology to make to anyone, that yes JBs 100 days, are enough reason to celebrate the return of basic freedoms of speech, expression and human dignity. Malawians now own the country, its nice suddenly to call this motherland home.

We have every reason to celebrate but more importantly to thank God for the grace and mercy he granted to all Malawians.

We have fuel, foreign exchange and even the right pronouncements that our Government has made. Restoring hope to the new generation. The laws that threatened existence of Newspapers is now out of the circle. The challenge now is to sustain

But the challenge is that there is a feeling of entitlement among other people, thinking they deserve better than the next Malawian.

Nobody, even the Peoples Party won an election for us to be where we are today. It was an act of God that brought us mercies and grace at this point when we all lived in fear and nobody could have predicted where we could have been today.

JB has made all right policy decisions, though some are hurting, like devaluation and the rising inflation. Up to today, the much spoken public works programmes to mitigate the impact among the poorest are yet to start.

I heard the President during the launch of the Gender Policy ask where the young women are. She is right when she asks, but the generation that produced great female youth leaders has not been sustained to inspire the next generation.

The 100 days are there to celebrate, but I am yet to see concrete youth programme both in the Budget and in the pronouncements of our political leaders. The youth in PP have remained part of the Youth Morale and another elitist group- the Orange Partners, leaving out skilled youth to ponder if this administration is different from the last.

Then there is the issue of political infighting, inside the Cabinet, the Peoples Party and of course in Parliament. The 100 days have not brought much difference to the political scene.

We have the same faces that moved from Malawi Congress Party, to the UDF, some branched to National Democratic Alliance while others went haywire. Others took an extended jump into the DPP and now they are happily Orange.

There is nothing wrong if one wants to be very unprincipled and jump parties like a yoyo. The problem is that they only entrench the culture of gossip, abuse and even pure theft robbing Indians and prospective investors of their resources. This needs to stop and it can only stop if people join politics as a service not as an investment.

There is too much gossip by some offices, which now people are being accused of all sorts of things they have not even committed. It is not only disgusting, but surely for those appointed to high offices like Ministers should avoid throwing mud at their colleagues.

The language we have used over section 65 leaves a lot to be desired and we should avoid trivalising the Constitution which we all agree protected us when we needed it most. It protected JB’s Vice Presidency to where it is today.

The same with some of things we made a public commitment at the start of this Presidency like reduction in the size of convoy and everything else like Police officer lining up the streets the whole day for the President to pass.

I am sure nobody will reduce the power of the President if we reduced the convoy or number of Police that spend up to nine hours in the streets practically doing nothing. We need to use our human and financial resources prudently.

Lastly, we cancelled out celebration of the July 6 due to lack of money. Do we need a celebration of 100 days? Let us be practical of the value of these things and make Malawians see the change we profess.

JB has capacity to change the Presidency in the next five generations, but we should not do the usual business. No podium policy decisions unless thoroughly researched, no abuse of the Youth and no abuse of public resources.

The 100 days that have gone, should be a learning process, let the next 100 days bring change to everyone’s life!

Happy 100 days Madam!