Are the President’s advisors up to the job or just drawing salaries and driving 4x4s?

By Duncan Mlanjira

The visit by President Lazarus Chakwera to Kumbali Lodge in Lilongwe’s Area 44 as a show of deep sympathy after angry community folks sorrounding the hospitality facility torched it on Sunday, and his decision to officially open the privately-owned Golden Peacock Hotel in Blantyre, has drawn some heavy criticism by the general public.

And the target of the criticism is on the array of advisors the President has, who are supposed to guide him on which functions of national importance that he could attend to.

Senior citizen Chris-Tofa Kapanga wrote on his Facebook page, saying Chakwera should be real in the way he should administer issues as a president.

He wrote: “Advisors of the President, are you up to the job? He goes to visit Kumbali after the arson after two of his ministers had already been there…Really?

“A bank’s founder’s house goes up in flames, and…nothing — no visit. I wonder whether Kumbali invested more than First Capital Bank…and who pays more tax into our coffers. Really?

“You advisors do not even advise him to visit the aggrieved people whose angst led to the arson at Kumbali to find out why they did what they did.

“You happy to draw your salaries? Really?

“Then he comes to open a private hotel in Blantyre — roads closed and all. Wasn’t this for the minister responsible? Really?

“An erderly lady is brutally stoned to death in Dedza for being suspected to be a witch. Not a priority — no visit to address the people. Really?

“A girl is raped in a sugarcane field and a video circulates all over social media — no priority. Really?

“Y’all advisors need advisors’ advice. What are you really advising the president about?” questions Kapanga.

To which Holmes Banda replied: “Just drawing salaries and driving the 4x4s but failing to advise our president. And can our women concentrate on preparing their gardens other than being bussed from rural areas to come and dance. Tione zina pulizi (let’s experience something different, please).”

Former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, Ken Lipenga joined in, saying he is currently polishing his manuscripts and the subject of advisors is part of the book he is writing.

“I am unaffected by any presidential traffic disruptions and currently have no opinion on how best the President should have handled the Kumbali matter,” he wrote.

“[However] I thought of offering this modified excerpt from my memoir manuscript in the hope that it may help enrich the debate.

“All the designated advisors, including ministers and State House functionaries, are salary earners who were probably unemployed before. For most, if not all of them, perhaps the current position is the appex of their careers.

“It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that in an intrigue-filled environment, their first priority is to protect their jobs to ensure the only income they have, and yes, Holmes Banda, the driving of those big cars is part of it.

“Therefore for them the habit of offering wanton unsolicited advice to a powerful man may actually turn out to be extremely dangerous and even suicidal.

“A cabinet or group of state house advisors is not a harmonious club of like-minded folk who love one another. It’s a hodgepodge gathering of self-serving individuals whose knives are always out for foes, and whose private conversations are often in whispers about absent colleagues.

“In this environment, whether the president receives honest advise or not depends on the atmosphere he or she creates. The courage to offer advice to the Great Leader (yes friends, it does require courage) can only be summoned if the said Great Leader seeks, solicits, or somehow encourages it.

“I use Great Leader deliberately because in current African political culture, a President tends to be regarded as an almost  all-knowing infallible entity who is in that position because of his profound, unfathomable wisdom.

“If for instance a President just announces his or her intention to take a certain action, such as visiting Kumbali or opening some hotel in Blantyre, and instructs ministers or advisors to make the necessary arrangements, any attempt to advise against the idea will feel like an act subversion.

“Few will dare, and if anybody tries, the whispers will kick into gear and a livelihood will be jeopardized.

“A village headman, board chair, corporate chief executive such as you, my friend Chris-Tofa Kapanga have been, encourages the offering of advice not by just announcing their plans but saying something like: ‘Ladies and gentleman, I was thinking of doing this but I need your honest opinions. Would this be a good idea? Is there another way of doing it? Please be not afraid because to lead this village or company or country well, I need to hear differing opinions’.

“Oh, for sure even after those assurances there will still be fear, suspicion and hesitation, again because no one wants to lose their jobs. But if this is done as a matter of habit, those surrounding the leader begins to open up and governance improves,” Lipenga opined.

Journalist Aubrey Mchulu applauded Kapanga, saying this topic was well captured and wondered what it is with the President’s travel at peak hours in cities that create traffic congestion and causes inconvenience that frustrates the very taxpayers that pay their bills.

“The choice of visits really ain’t inspiring. Honourable Chimwendo Richard, William Banda, Moses Kunkuyu — see to this concern raised by the esteemed Senior Citizen [Chris-Tofa Kapanga].”

James Okomaalipo Chikaonda shared his opinion, saying leaders surely do not need to be advised on some of these issues. “We used to be told to use our brains when we were young.”

Meji Ochanga Che Changa said a close friend of his once shared his experience that working close with politicians can make you suffer from all sorts of anxieties that can lead to BP or depression.

“They do make the same mistakes — instead of getting technocrats as advisors they prefer engaging fellow politicians, to which Arnold Kaswa agreed, saying: “That’s the problem when you appoint people who helped to propel you to power into various advisory roles as a payback.”

Ambrose Mzoma opined that “sometimes it is not the issue of advisors, it may be the President himself choosing what is necessary for him to do at that time for good of the people of Malawi.

On the issue of the Kumbali Lodge arson, Dorika Mlambe described it as simply disgusting and the angry demonstrators should be taken to task.

She asked people to involve lawyers when aggrieved or demonstrate against government to help if they can’t afford legal assistance.

“Diversity brings new ideas and methods, look at the NGO’s that were torched — they were helping our own country! This is wrong and I am disgusted and they should be made accountable.

“This is not like us, Malawians — we are peace loving people! Lord have mercy on you!”

Matt Town explained that part of the destroyed Kumbali buildings were being rented to two NGOs — one was a Malawian-run permiculture project and the second was a wildlife project which helps people having conflict with wildlife.

“They destroyed the cars and belongings of the NGOs. The NGO volunteers had to run for their lives as they burned their houses and robbed them, including a pregnant lady.

“They also burnt down the school that Kumbali built for the village. They destroyed the whole nursery school.”

Matt Town added that the villagers even attacked workers of the lodge, who were trying to dissuade the angry mobsters from carrying out their despicable action.

Rodrick Jere Mvula advised that the best solution for ending this mob justice is to establish community police forum everywhere.

“Otherwise, each and every day we will hearing the same story like what is happening in Dedza, Kasungu and Mchinji — everyday mob justice. How can Malawi develop like this?”