Political parties in the country have dismissed the resolution Public Affairs Committee (Pac) came up with at its conference last week that Malawi is in short supply of leaders.
The two-day conference raised about 50 issues, 23 of which were in connection with the political landscape in Malawi.
The conference said in its communiqué that the country is in acute shortage of leaders who can transform the country.
What the country has, it said, are what it called “transactional leaders” and not transformational ones.
But reacting to the resolution in separate interviews with The Daily Times, politicians have rubbished the resolution arguing it is a general statement only informed by emotions and not facts.
Interim president of the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Peter Mutharika, said Pac’s observation was incorrect.
“I don’t understand what they mean when they say we have a shortage of leaders, because we have all sorts of leaders in our country.
“Even those that organised and made presentations at that conference are leaders and that is why we had that conference,” Mutharika said.
On its part, United Democratic Front (UDF) said Malawi has an abundant supply of leaders who only need to be given a chance to prove themselves.
“As UDF, we don’t agree with that because it is not true. People are just frustrated with the current leadership, but the fact that we are having problems with the current leadership does not mean that we have run out of leaders,” said UDF Publicity Secretary Ken Ndanga.
Friday Jumbe of the newly formed Labour Party also dismissed Pac’s resolution describing it as “too general and emotional”.
But he said it only shows the frustrations of Malawians on how the country is being managed.
“People had been disappointed with Mutharika’s government and when Joyce Banda came in Malawians thought she would do things differently and bring about some positive change in their lives but it looks like that hope is rapidly vanishing and now people think there are no leaders anymore. There are many of them,” said Jumbe.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) blamed the said leadership crisis on Malawians, saying they make wrong choices.
The party’s legislator Joseph Njobvuyalema who attended the conference said Malawians have over the years settled for less.
“I dismissed that argument outright at that conference. There are lots of leaders in this country but those who have the power to choose have chosen the wrong people.
“The problem with Malawians is that they look at how good somebody speaks, his English fluency, whether he has lived outside the country, his wealth, education, personality and all the wrong things. But I want to tell you leadership is not about all these things,” he said.
People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) Publicity Secretary Redson Munlo also blamed the leadership disappointment on Malawians who he said mostly go for old names in politics when electing leaders, at the expense of those who can fit in.
But when contacted, Pac Publicity Secretary Maurice Munthali defended the organisation’s position saying leadership is not about quantity but quality.
“We don’t have those that are capable enough to transform the fortunes of the country. The view Pac is sending out there is that they are only taking the leadership baton but they don’t deliver.
“The constitutional breakdowns, political turmoil and the economic challenges we are facing are all a symbol of Malawi being in the wilderness [lacking leadership],” Munthali said.
Deputy Publicity Secretary for the governing People’s Party (PP) said the party is working on a paper to comprehensively respond to Pac’s observations.
But he also personally dismissed Pac’s view.
Pac’s resolution on Malawi leadership crisis was drawn from presentations from economist Mathews Chikaonda, constitutional law expert Edge Kanyongolo and political scientist Blessings Chinsinga.
