A new Malawi is not through donor reliance but to be built by everyone — President Chakwera

By Duncan Mlanjira

President Lazarus Chakwera says if the citizenry want a new Malawi, everyone must accept that it must build using the countries own resources not to rely on donors.

The President said this when he officially opened the inaugural National Development Conference at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Thursday that has been organised by National Planning Commission.

“We have before us the enormous task of building a new Malawi enjoyed by all,” he said. “This task is a developmental coin with two indispensable sides — on the one hand, it involves the development of a new kind of citizen and, on the other, the development of a new kind of nation.

“We cannot develop fully by doing one without the other, and it is certain that we cannot develop at all by neglecting both as we have done for a quarter of a century.

“I have observed that of these two sides, much has been said about the second. Even as this inaugural National Development Conference progresses, you will be hard pressed on every side to focus exclusively on the development of a new kind of nation.”

He continued to say: “And indeed there is much that can be said, whether it be the new infrastructure we must erect; the new roads and rail we must lay; the new farms we must plant; the new defense systems we must mount; the new public transport system we must establish; the new governance framework we must invoke; the new laws we must enact and enforce; the new courts we must constitute; the new trade we must foster; the new airports and sports arenas we must construct; the new businesses we must germinate; or the new jobs and markets we must create.

“However, we must remember as we discuss these things that nowhere is it truer than in matters of national development that talk is cheap.

“Building a new Malawi is a task for our hands, not for our lips. For this reason, a gathering like this cannot just focus on the new kind of nation we must build for ourselves.

“We must also focus on the new kind of citizen we ourselves must be if we are ever going to build such a nation.

“A gathering like this should be like looking in the mirror to take a long hard look at ourselves and denounce all the toxic things we have come to believe about ourselves.

“A gathering like this is an opportunity for us to reframe the story we tell ourselves about who we are and what we can do. A gathering like this should open our eyes to see that whatever we lack in development as a nation, we lack not because some other nation did not give it to us or because it is beyond our reach, but because we as citizens have not built it.

“We already know what kind of nation we must build, for that is what Vision 2020, Vision 2063, the MDGs, and SDGs are there for. That is what the National Planning Commission, which has done excellent work in bringing us together here, is there for.

“That is what the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development under the watch of our Vice-President is there for. That is what our national policy documents and governing manifestos are there for.

“What we lack is a national resolve to move these things from our shelves and conference tables and turn them into reality.

“A big part of the problem is that too often we see ourselves as small and poor. Too often we see ourselves as mere dreamers, but the time has come to see ourselves as the fulfillers of what we dream.

“Too often we see ourselves as mere designers, but the time has come to see ourselves as the makers of what we design. Too often we see ourselves as mere planners, but the time has come to see ourselves as the developers of what we plan.

“Too often we see ourselves as mere complainers, but the time has come to see ourselves as the fixers of what we gripe about.

“If we want a new Malawi, we must accept that it is we who must build it with our own resources. A new Malawi is not a gift to be received by a check from abroad, but a goal to be reached by a resolve from ourselves.

“Reaching that goal is a task for all of us, not just the government. In fact, my mission as President is to leverage the government in service to the people so that the citizens themselves have the capacity to build a new Malawi.

“My mission is to see the government move away from making citizens beggars to making citizens bigger. It is my expectation that this conference marks the beginning of that transformation, and I am therefore delighted to declare it open,” said the President.