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| Columns |
| My Diary |
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by
Steven Nhlane, 27 August 2004
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15:28:32
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Don’t beg for respect, earn it.
There is no denying that we all want to be respected, to have our works appreciated and recognized. It is human nature to seek these things.
That is why UDF national chairman and former president Bakili Muluzi on a whistle-stop tour in Phalombe recently demanded nothing less from the people—respect and recognition for what he did to the country when he was president.
Muluzi talked about what he thinks was one of his greatest feats—dislodging the one party system and bringing freedom of expression to people in newspapers and radio—for which he thinks he deserves respect from the people.
Let me disagree with Muluzi from the outset on his claim about dislodging the one party system and the bragging about the freedom of expression Malawians are enjoying in newspapers and radio. It is outrageous for Muluzi to claim to have single-handedly dislodged the one party system or to have brought freedom of expression and of the press.
In fact, as a former president who ought to be conversant with what happened during the transition from single to a multiparty system, Muluzi ought to be embarrassed with claims that he personally broke the one party system and gave Malawians the freedoms they are enjoying.
To say the least, and to be very fair with him, Muluzi was more a beneficiary of the fight that many Malawians put up against the one party government than a benefactor. No one should try to distort the country’s political history.
It is the referendum of 1993 that dislodged the one party system, not Muluzi, not UDF, not Aford. Malawians, tired of and averse to the MCP government, said no to the one party system. Pressure groups such as Aford and UDF, in that order, emerged only after Malawians voted against one party system of government. If anything, it should be the Roman Catholic Bishops who should be boasting about the role they played to help get the MCP government down to its knees and accept to hold a referendum.
Freedom of expression and of the press came with the referendum. By the way, there has never been a time in Malawi when we had more titles than between the referendum and the first presidential and parliamentary elections in 1994. Even MBC was freer during the transition to the 1994 polls than it has been during the past 10 years of Muluzi’s administration. And just for the record, independent and free publications like The Independent, Financial Post, The Observer, Michiru Sun and The City Star were already on the Malawi streets as early as 1991, when nobody knew about Muluzi and company.
So, Muluzi should not try to cheat anyone about his achievements—which in my view, are modest.
This is not to say Muluzi has not done anything for this country. He did his best, for which he was well rewarded. But he could have done better. The free primary education—albeit dogged with 1,001 problems—depending on whether one thinks it is a success story, some roads, some hospitals, boreholes, all thanks to Masaf, a university in Mzuzu, can all count in his favour. But there is also the darker side of his administration which is cause for a lot more consternation.
The Muluzi government has plundered the economy. Just look at how the kwacha plunged between 1994 to-date. From 1 US$ to K4 in 1994, to K110 to-date. How many companies have closed shop over the years, sending thousands of people onto the streets? Corruption has been rampant. The Muluzi government was just happy to appease political acquaintances by rewarding them with government jobs and contracts.
And when our donor partners queried the bloated cabinet, Muluzi would arrogantly tell them that Malawi is a sovereign country and would not allow other people to run its affairs; that Malawians would rather be poor looking up than down. Unfortunately, it was only him and a few people around him who were looking up. The tragedy is that Malawians are poorer now than they were 10 years ago.
So, Muluzi should not ask for respect from the people. Respect comes on its own. It is reciprocal. How much people respect you depends on what you do for them out of how much respect you have for them. You buy respect with actions and not mere words. If Muluzi thinks people do not give him the respect he deserves, then he should take stock of what he has done for them.
One other thing that fascinated me this week are the comments from Information Minister Ken Lipenga about the activities of the Department of Information and Malawi News Agency (Mana). He challenged the staff to revamp the organisation.
Among other things, the Department of Information publishes Boma Lathu, This is Malawi and The Weekly News. The main problem in the department is how the funding it gets from Treasury is used. There is no denying that the Department has been hit by lack of funding like any other government department. But in my view, one of the main problems is that there is a lot of deadwood in the Information Department.
Look at the staffing at all the three newspapers mentioned above. What do they do? Take The Weekly News, for example, where some people are even employed on contract and draw heavy salaries but what work do they do? How many times does the newspaper come out in a month? This is one department where people are paid salaries for occupying positions and not for the work they do. The minister should help revamp the organisation by looking at the staffing levels and productivity.
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