We must endure pain, says Chakwera
RUSTENBURG: Malawi must endure pain in order to build a corruption-free nation, President Lazarus Chakwera said yesterday.
Because of the ruins inherited, the first task in building a new Malawi was clearing the “rubble”, he said.
“Before we can begin to rebuild, we must clear the rubble of corruption, for it has left our taxes in ruins. We must clear the rubble of laziness, for it has left our infrastructure in ruins. We must clear the rubble of passivism, for it has left our rights in ruins. We must clear the rubble of donor dependency, for it has left our dignity in ruins.
“We must not imagine that it is possible to make these corrections without pain. We must accept that the national bones we have dislocated cannot be corrected without suffering,” he said at his inauguration ceremony in the capital Lilongwe.
He said his grandson once suffered a greenstick fracture in both arms after falling badly at school and to straighten the bones an orthopaedic surgeon had to apply enough pressure to the arms to administer healing through pain and tears.
“In our quest to heal our fractured nation and governance system over the next five years, we must do the same,” Chakwera said.
“We must have the courage to face and endure the pain of systemic surgery if we ever want to enjoy wholeness as a nation. We must have the courage to inflict necessary pains on the fractured attitudes and actions of those around us if we ever want to see them whole as citizens.
“In this transaction, we must each accept that in the context of Malawi’s recovery and transformation, we are each a patient with a bone that needs straightening and each a physician with a duty to straighten the bones of others. We are each in some way part of Malawi’s problems and must each in some way be part of her solution.”
Chakwera said they could not absolve themselves of responsibility for the maladministration they had allowed to happen for close to three decades. “I put it to you that there can be no new Malawi if the only people deemed guilty of ruining this country are those who lost the recent election. I put it to you that there can be no new Malawi if the only people deemed responsible for fixing this country are those who won the recent election.”
In an effort to build a corruption-free Malawi, Chakwera said he would declare his assets fully each year and propose legislation to reduce the powers of the presidency.
“I will meet with the leader of opposition personally every three months to listen to alternative ways of running government affairs, and I will operationalise the Access to Information Act in order to end the era of government secrecy and usher in the dawn of government accountability.
“As I seek to be at my best through these measures, you can also count on me to challenge all of you to be at your best. I will challenge the leadership of the judiciary to do more to root out the culture of corruption and selective justice that has shipwrecked too many of our lowest courts. I will challenge those who sit in parliament to act professionally, put away childish ways, and repeal and replace the bad laws that remain on our books.”
He called on civil society organisations to maintain a culture of robust protest, not just against governance institutions, but against any entity that was on the wrong side of justice. |