Some Malawian leaders like politicking than initiating development

I know that the headline is too strong for some people to digest but those that follow Malawi politics closely will agree with me. Malawi is just coming out of the 2009 elections in which the current President, Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika won with a majority. As a development concious Malawian, I thought that we now have a government which will develop Malawi now that it has been given the mandate. But with just a year gone, what we see is a party, which was supposed to back the President in initiating development, spending much time politicking and wasting time in campaigning for the 2014 elections.

In a layman's point of view, after elections, the country has to rally behind the winner and move forward. Campaigning for elections officially starts a few months before the elections. The debate taking place in the DPP is not healthy for development of a nation. Party leaders are very much worried of who will replace the current President in 2014 than what a majority of Malawians need in their day to day lives.

What worries most are the speeches coming out of these leaders, instead of building the nation we are being divided according to our gender, race, tribe and religion. The usual mudslinging that characterises campaign period are what we are witnessing. Using the public brodcaster to castigate possible threats to their desired candidate. Other leaders who could have contributed to the development are being frustrated and some are sidelined in making important decisions.

I understand that people in the village needs what they were promised in the run up to the 2009 elections. In Phalombe, people want when their road will be finished. In Nsanje expectations are high for the road projects, the port and many other things they were promised. Its not the right time to worry about who will replace the incumbent president when they don't know what they will eat for the coming days.

Am happy that Malawi has a visionary leader who wants to transform the nation. He still has four years to carry out his projects. He has been praised in the whole world for making Malawi a model in food security. Thinking about who will replace him now is not the right thing to do. I believe he will be distracted from what he is doing for the country.

There are some leaders who just want to be politicking everyday of their lives. They don't understand they were chosen to serve Malawians and initiate development and not lord over them. In democracy, leaders need to implement what people want.

Malawi is a big nation therefore its destiny cannot be decided by a few individuals. That's why we have elections every five years to decide who we want to lead us. We have vivid examples of what happened to leaders who wanted to impose things on Malawians. This crop of leadership is not exceptional.Whatever Malawians will not like in the years before 2014 will be decided by the ballot.

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