Patrick Achitabwino articles

A dark cloud suddenly fell on the nation of Malawi as social
media kept updating many people home and abroad on developments pertaining to
the health of the former head of state Bingu Wamutharika. Though a great
percentage of updates were being mingled with hatred towards the past leader,
it is imperative that the nation takes a sober look at his reign. No doubt
about it, his rule has seen some remarkable milestones being achieved in the
country in the shortest time possible.

The greatest treasure that Bingu has left his countrymen and
women with is a changed and strong mentality. Bingu had been steadfast on what
he thought was the best for the country. He was more than ready to go to any
extra mile to defend what he believed was in the best interest of Malawi. It
cannot be denied that the mentality that Bungu wa Mutharika injected in the
minds of Malawians is that a nation can live its dreams no matter how
insurmountable the path to the realization of the dreams seem. As Martin Luther
King Jr said, “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments
of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Woodrow
Wilson adds, “leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.”
Over the past years, Malawi was at some point described as an
economic miracle. We even had a national budget entitled: Malawi: A Nation of
achievers. Regardless of whatever problems his colourful dreams faced in the
implementation phase, this dimension must be the fabric that should shape the
development agenda of the country.

Also to mind comes the input fertilizer subsidy programme.
There are reports that some donour institutions and many other development
partners were strongly opposed to the program. Bingu stood still, unshaken and
rolled out the programme under the watchful and fierce eyes of development
partners. Eventually, Malawi became a food-sufficient country. We moved away
from a perennial beggar of food to the bread basket. Then the tide started
swinging towards the president, many international agencies recognizing the
impact of the programme hence sending their technocrats to Malawi to study the
project with the possibility of replicating it in their home countries. To a
Malawian, who food ranks above nothing else, food sufficiency I the end of
anything one might call development. Bingu will certainly be remembered in the
highest esteem for having come up with a strong hunger-abolishing strategy that
eventually empowered the poorest of the poor. The poor citizens had no longer
to worry about food but other necessary basic necessities.

It is now the duty of the present administration and
administrations to come to look at means of perfectifying the fertilizer
subsidy project. Certainly, its implementation has been more of an experiment
and any experiment is bound to have some lapses. The new regime and regimes to
come should polish up the program and see which other areas it could be
expanded to. For an agricultural dependent economy like Malawi, addressing
agricultural issues means addressing the very roots of poverty.
Bingu made Malawians a people of changed mentality. We
started talking positively of ourselves. All over a sudden we ended up living
with the belief that Malawi, classified one of the poorest countries in the
world, was not poor but the people of Malawi are poor. Then the shaking up of
the civil service started thus injecting diversity and professionalism in the
service. Financial lapses were being sealed though only for a period of time.
At least we were made to believe that some unnecessary expenditures can be
controlled. Foreign travel of government officials came under greater scrutiny.
Honestly, a great percentage of international trips made by most top officials
are mere means of enriching themselves. What comes out of the many
international trips end up unknown and let alone do they induce any change in
the homeland. This strict policy is what the country will miss most. As
Napoleon Bonaparte says, “a leader is a dealer in hope.” Bingu gave the country
a strong mentality that gave people hope.

The nation will not do justice if it fails to recognize the
impact of the Shire Zambezi waterway on the country’s economy if the project
had taken shape. Certainly, among the many projects Malawi has had since
independence, the realization of the Shire Zambezi waterway would have been one
remarkable achievement. Regardless of the facts that led to the stagnation of
the project, the Shire Zambezi waterway remains a colourful dream that must be
completed at all costs.

The positive impact that the Shire Zambezi waterway can have
on the social and economic development of the country cannot be underestimated.
This is what would happen to Nsanje: A harbour
with a minimum lifespan of 50 years designed to handle different types of
vessels with a carrying capacity of up to 48 containers of 20 feet each. On
completion, the port would be expected to handle 10,000 containers annually,
thereby reducing transport cost for Malawi's exports and imports.
The project would eventually bring in other including
construction of oil pipeline and refinery, storage facilities and warehouses, hotels
and shopping complexes. The enthusiasm that the project brought in the people
should never be allowed to wade off. As at 10 September 2012, the office of the
district commissioner for Nsanje had received 740 plot applications of which
321 were for commercial purposes and 419 for residential.
On the commercial side 83 plots were for warehouses, 52 for
shops, 10 for hotels, 50 for offices, 6 for banks, 14 for supermarkets, 25 for
lodges, 4 for filling stations, 2 for forex bureaus, 15 for motels, 10 for
restaurants, 5 for processing plant and milling houses, 3 for clinics, 11 for
cottages, 4 for schools, 6 for bakeries, 1 for weighbridge and 11 for incubator
and hatchery. This is what the Bingu dream was taking to Nsanje and indeed the
one despised land in the lower shire was all over a sudden becoming an economic
hub.

The new regime having noted the bottlenecks to the project
now has to take the initiative to complete this project at all costs. It has
the potential to transform the lives of millions of Malawians through trade
enhancement as it provides a cheap access to far away markets in Europe and
Asia.

It has always been said that a nation without education is
dead as it can hardly develop its own development agenda. Bingu had greater
dreams for the education sector. Never before had the nation advanced an agenda
to build several universities within the time frame the Bingu was advancing.
The amazing wonder with this dream was that the universities to be built were
to specialized on new areas that would eventually enhance development in the
country. Unfortunately, the demise of the president had come at the time
whereby none of the said universities had been completed. The good thing is
that the ground work was taking shape and his hometown university was near
completion. These universities, if all completed, will be a plus to the
enhancement of the intellectual capability of the people of the country.
In the long run, if the current administration and the future
administrations take this dream positively, the outlook of our country will
change, we will no longer suffer problems emanating from intellectual
bankruptcy. It is disheartening that close to five decades after gaining
independence, access to university education is more of a priviledge than a
right. Many more people who, had the universities had a greater intake, would
have attained high qualifications and become the fulcrum in enhancing
developmental agendas for the country end up wallowing in the abyss less
education.

It is not wrong to say that some of the wrong decisions that
have been made by politicians since the advent of independence have been
possible as most citizens are less knowledgeable on issues pertaining to their
rights hence being easily manipulated. With good education, manipulation can
hardly win in any perspective. The Bingu dream to enhance academic standards
would have, in the long run, make the people of the country good decision
makers.

While all that is said, it is essential to take cognizance of
the fact that through some of the mistakes he made, we have had the opportunity
to learn the repercussions of such mistakes. The nation will look at some of
Bingu’s economic experiments and learn from them. Through some of his mistakes,
the nation learnt to stand on its toes to challenge some of the ideologies
being advanced. This certainly entails that the current and future
administration will always be under strict public scrutiny as the nation has
already done that in the past. As Napoleon Hill points out, “every failure
brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.” Samuel Smiles complements,
“we learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover
what we will do, by finding out what we will not do.”

May his soul rest in peace.