By Dr. Thomas Chataghalala Munthali,
Director General, National Planning Commission
Without hope, life is meaningless because amidst the ups and downs of life, it is hope that keeps us going. But I have every hope that Malawi will develop because I am seeing the gradual wins regardless of the pace.
When I see the leadership courting investors near and beyond into the wealth-creating pillars of the Malawi 2063, I get hope. Not all investors courted may come, but even if it is just three moving in or expanding operations, it is an effort not in vain. I get hope that more will come as the few begin to tell the story of ‘Malawi is open for business.’ All we need is to work on removing the binding constraints that will help us realize and attract more foreign and local investment.
When I see leaders across political divides, including past presidents, holding hands in times of calamities in support of the Malawi we want, my hope grows.
When I see an additional airline announcing that it will start flying to Malawi before the end of the year, I get hope. Hope for our tourism industry and ease of doing business by industry executives transacting across the region.
When I see the Marka-Bangula railway line, the city roads and a select number of rural roads sending dust of active operations, I smile with hope because that tells me we are making progress as a nation.
When I see bumper harvests of various crops as we have seen with sweet potatoes this year, I have renewed hope in seeing great opportunity for value addition and export capacity to markets across the globe.
When I see Malawians and our development partners joining hands to restore hectares of lost vegetation as part of the reforestation and environmental sustainability, I jump with hope knowing that we are on the correct path of dealing with climate change adversities that are causing us so much misery.
For a moment, can each one of us look at that one thing that gives us hope for a better future, and make efforts to have them scaled-up. We will be shocked at how quickly Malawi will transform. It is a strategy employed by the Asian tigers and the so-called rising stars of Africa. For if we center at finding faults, often times without even offering practical solutions, we will only delay the realization of our inclusively wealthy and self-reliant aspiration. Our children will be the biggest losers.
When we keep on growing as an economy, even if in small margins of around two percent amidst the hard-hitting exogenous shocks like cyclones and other calamities, I get hope that we can even do better if we focus on investing in the right things. The right things include having a developmental state that allows ADMARC to be reformed into a viable commercial entity with little political influence. An ADMARC that has private share ownership and operating purely on business principles; establishment of our own mining company that has a strong alliance with the private sector for risk sharing so that we get to know where our minerals are going, at what price they have been sold and the forex that has been repatriated back to Malawi. It also includes having a development corporation, more of a reformed Malawi Development Corporation, that acts as a trailblazer in all the strategic sectors of the economy so that we can grow our industry in alliance with the private sector through Special Purpose Vehicles. Then later allowing Government to dispose the shares to local Malawians over time to create a cadre of middle-income Malawians, which is grossly missing currently. Hearing that all these are now at the verge of being operationalized by the authorities, gives me hope. For we will never stop begging and borrowing to provide for our people if the state does not facilitate and take an active role in creating massive wealth.
But I decry the baby steps. We need to grow fast and start running if we are to play catch-up to our neighbors so that we can start to be counted amongst those destined to succeed with their Visions.
So, I have hope when Parliament, through its various committees, is rising to the occasion in holding duty bearers accountable in ways we had never seen before. When we get the youths and media putting pressure on delivery of what matters most for attaining the MW2063 aspirations at the soonest, that brings to me unprecedented hope.
Let us make no mistake, Malawi will primarily be developed by us Malawians. No one will be interested in our home more that ourselves. So, while holding each other accountable is important because some of us may not have the mandate to deliver on certain things, always ask if you are doing your part other than pointing fingers. Let us all be leaders of our destiny, even if we don’t have titles.
The Malawi we want is possible and is happening, but the pace can be accelerated through concerted efforts. Do your part too because we don’t have the luxury of time.
For more information:
The Director General, National Planning Commission, 2nd Floor, Chief M’mbelwa House, City Centre, Private Bag B316, Lilongwe 3, Malawi. E-mail: dg@npc.mw
