By Greyson Chapita.
 |
| Mutharika: Doesn't believe in a one man's show |
This week the
talk in town was about the presidential advisors that President Peter Mutharika
has hired to help him in stirring up the agenda for Malawi. Thus far, the significance
of having these presidential advisors cannot be over exaggerated. However, it
is the quality of criticism that is making rounds on the advisors that is so
bewildering and incomprehensible.
For a start, the
critics were all over peddling lies that President Mutharika had hired about 20
advisors. They claimed this was way of stuffing up the space that Mutharika’s
20 member cabinet created. But nay, this has been clarified with facts.
The Ministry of
Information released a statement that listed the hired advisors and the number
is coming to seven which to me is so manageable.
The statement
even puts to rest the argument that seemed to have been well crafted alleging
that the Advisors will be getting the perks similar to those of cabinet
ministers. They went further to brand the move as a total waste that will end
up masticating our tax money willy-nilly.
Contrary to the
claims, what we have now is news that the out of the seven the three Chief Advisors
are carting home a gross salary of K402, 441 per month while the four Special Advisors
are getting K352, 910 apart from some controllable benefits befitting the
nature of their job. You even wonder where the individuals were getting their
information from.
Let’s not get
obsessed with this business of picking on our leaders at will.
It’s even
laughable to note that the critics were including the Presidential Press
Secretaries, Press Officers and the Presidential Assistants on the list just to
rationalize their case. Some of these things just need common sense.
To me it seems
like some people would rather have a dictator of a president than have a
president who consults and makes two-pronged decisions. They fancy a one man
show at statehouse, anybody who comes near the president it automatically
becomes a total waste. What kind of philosophy is this?
In simple words,
the criticism lacked substance but only exposes the mania that some people have
in opposing and criticising everything that comes from Statehouse. They don’t
even care as to whether they have facts or not.
They are busy
looking for faults in the current administration even when there are none.
It seems like
President Mutharika is playing them very smart, coupled with plenty of
confidence in his dealings that they are even struggling to raise issues
against him and they are now picking on some trivia. All they are doing is to
create stories from nowhere just to satisfy their new found trade of
criticising.
Not that the
president cannot make mistakes, we are all humans and prone to some goofs here
and there, but that doesn’t mean that we should restrict ourselves to a fault
finding corner.
There is plenty
of encouraging and immense work being done at the moment. Talk about the
historical Civil Service reforms currently underway. That’s what we as a nation
needs to be talking about.
President
Mutharika outlined his developmental agenda during inauguration, at parliament
and at the 50th Independence celebrations. I think it would do us
better if we all get together and work to make sure that the face of Malawi is
transformed per the wish of our leader because this will be an achievement
credited to Malawians not Mutharika as an individual.
Imagine this, of
all the reasons that one can give in criticising these appointments, I just read
on Nyasatimes that CAMA’s boss John Kapito said we should do away with these
advisors because all they do is gossip at State House. Are we serious?
So far President
Mutharika has clearly demonstrated that he is aiming at nothing but fulfilling
his campaign promises. He did not preach about austerity as a political
rhetoric but it is evident now that he is walking the talk.
This is noticeable
in the lean cabinet that he recently appointed and the seven advisors that he
has just hired.
Instead of condemning
everything that comes from statehouse the best we can do is wait and see whether
these advisors will deliver or not. Once we notice so many goofs from up there
that’s when we will know that the seven are nothing but passengers in the
statehouse bus.
I remember from
the time of Bakili Muluzi, Bingu Wa Mutharika and Joyce Banda, we all moaned
and groaned when we felt the advisors were not doing our former presidents a
very good job. Meaning, we all can agree that each president needs good
advisors around him.
Knowing
Mutharika as an experienced politician and academician, I believe he gave it a
careful thought before picking these advisors, no doubt about that.
Presidential
advisors are very useful. As people who are specialised in a particular field
they can therefore offer timely advice to the president for timely decisions.
These are the
people that have access to the president without encumbrance even more than
cabinet ministers. They are the people
that shape up the president’s agenda and help in directing policy.
Advisors become
the eyes and ears of the president. As experts in their field, they are there
to do research on behalf of the president and guide him accordingly so that he
should be able to sell such ideas to his cabinet ministers.
However, it
should be known that presidential advisors don’t take over the role of cabinet
as the main advisory body, but these are the people that work close to the
president as political and professional counsellors.
There are some
decisions that the president needs to make, he will need some facts on the
ground to inform such a decision and will rely on the experts to give him advice.
If the president goofs somewhere, the advisors are there to do some pep talk
based on specifics.
We can’t even
start negotiating the fact that President Mutharika needs advisors to help him carry
out his duties effectively. This is not a new occurrence, it happens
everywhere. For example President Jacob
Zuma of South Africa which is one of the economic power houses in Africa has a
team of advisors. President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has close to 20 advisors
at statehouse. All over the world we have heard of presidents picking advisors.
Talk about
President Barrack Obama of the United States. The case is the same.
Why should it be
different with Malawi, a country that is still trying to get itself out of
poverty? The president needs more heads, diversity in thinking and a vibrant
resource team to move things around.
This political journey
doesn’t need a Mr Know-It-All. This is a democratic system of government where
the needs of people should always be prioritised.
The office of
the president is not an ordinary office. This is an office that is so
overwhelmed with state matters; therefore it needs systematic structuring and a
practical framework that will drive policy at all levels.
At the rate we
are moving, one day we shall find ourselves demanding that we do away with
cabinet ministers because we have Principal Secretaries as technocrats in the
ministries. From there we shall demand for the removal of our Members of
Parliament by claiming that their work can easily be done by ward councillors.
We shall even
start asking for the abolition of the office of the president and propose that
traditional leaders take over.
What I have
noted is that the critics are only arguing on the point of over spending not on
the roles and responsibilities of these presidential advisors.
Running
government is a serious business and spurring development needs great
investment in all sectors. You invest in human resource, capital, machinery and
many more. President Mutharika believes in that.
He has
demonstrated that he needs more hands to help build the best of Malawi.
The best we can
do is offer advice to the Presidential advisors that they shouldn’t turn
themselves into hand clappers and cheer leaders.
