Chakwera—time has come for us to create wealth in an inclusive manner and be self- reliant
* Special recognition goes to the former Head of State, Peter Mutharika
* For being a strong supporter of long-term development planning
* And for launching the consultation and envisioning process in February, 2020
By Duncan Mlanjira
National Planning Commission (NPC) says the Malawi Vision 2063 (MW2063) is a product of self-less contributions, dedication and commitment of patriotic Malawians across the country, in rural and urban areas, as well as the diaspora, on the Malawi everyone wants to see by the year 2063.
NPC thus extends its sincere appreciation to President Lazarus Chakwera for his overall leadership, support, and motivation throughout the envisioning process.
In the same vein, the NPC also applauds Vice-President Saulos Chilima for his leadership over this task as Minister responsible for economic planning and development and public sector reforms.
Chakwera and Chilima
“The commitment of the current leadership to champion the operationalization of this Vision in its foundational years is worth recognizing and applauding,” says NOC in the MW2063 booklet.
“Special recognition goes to the former Head of State, Peter Mutharika for being a strong supporter of long-term development planning in Malawi and launching the consultation process for the MW2063 envisioning process in February, 2020.
Former President Mutharika
“It is during his tenure of office that the NPC was established to promote the continuity of development programmes beyond political regimes.
“In the same vein, the NPC recognizes the role of all the past presidents who have made various positive contributions towards the Malawi we see today.”
The Vision
In the booklet’s foreword, Chakwera said: “True, we are a politically free people with a maturing democracy. We govern this country ourselves.
“But listen, while some commendable development strides have been made over the past 56 years of our political independence, Malawi is far from attaining economic independence.
“Donors and debts continue to support our development programmes. While we appreciate donor support over the years, we realize, as a nation, that this is not sustainable.”
Mechanized agriculture
He continued to say time has come for us to create wealth in an inclusive manner and be self-reliant.
“As a country, we are endowed with abundant natural, human and cultural resources. We now have a youth-centric Vision that shall take us from the basics for attaining economic freedom to our children living dignified lives and forever walking tall on the face of the Earth.
“You can count on me as your leader in laying the foundations for attaining this much desired Vision. Know this, however, fellow Malawians, beyond me and any future leader giving you the much-needed leadership, you too are leaders, although without the given leadership titles.
“We can only create the new desired Malawi, wokomera aliyense, if we all take an active part in the implementation and realization of our Vision.”
As a nation, Chakwera said everyone should move away from concentrating on negatives and challenges that have beset the country this far to believing in the possibilities around the people.
“Time has come to change our mindset and develop this country ourselves. We cannot wait for someone to develop this country for us.
“We need a mindset change that embodies a national consciousness built around belief in our own capabilities, home-grown solutions and a positive value system — a system that recognizes unity of purpose, hard work, self-reliance, patriotism, integrity and hate for hand-outs.
“We shall demand of our development partners and non-state actors to join us in designing and implementing only those initiatives that catalyze and sustain our inclusive wealth creation and self-reliance Vision.
“Let us all know that, for sure, posterity will be there to judge us if we leave a Malawi worse off than that we ourselves found. That is why this is a youth-centric Vision. So, let us hold each other accountable all the way to 2063.
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