I have followed with keen interest the way President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera makes decisions. And in the last two years of him in power i have seen a big difference from what we used to have during Peter Mutharika in terms of decisions.
May be I should start by stressing that President Chakwera is what Bingu lacked. Chakwera is not a reactive leader and he does not rush into making emotional decisions but he is daring and does not fear to make decisions when it matters most.
Simply put, what costed Peter Mutharika the presidency is exactly what Chakwera is excelling. I remember exactly the general sentiments of the general populous during the campaign period of the 2020 elections.They said they were determined to vote Mutharika out of power not because they loved him less but they found him lacking when it comes to the decision making.
One aspect they cited was the reluctance by Mutharika to dismiss corrupt Ministers and let them answer corruption charges. This they say was an indication that he was not decisive enough and was timid to make decisions.
This is not the case with President Chakwera.To date, I am sure that Malawians must have seen that Chakwera is a complete opposite to Mutharika.
Since he came to power Chakwera has dismissed and suspended some corrupt officials in his government including his own Vice President Saulos Chilima.
People are quick to say that the Vice President, Newton Kambala and Chikosa Silungwe were suspended or dismissed on political grounds being members of UTM but what about the dismissal of Kezzie Msukwa, Lobin Lowe, Chris Chaima, Sandram Mawelu and George Kainja and others who were either dismissed or suspended for various wrongs, were they UTM too?
Just recently President Chakwera wielded his presidential powers to remove from office Dr Steve Kayuni as the Director of Public Prosecution being found to have a hand in Martha Chizuma’s arrest.
Ordinarily, one would not have expected to see people like Eisenhower Mkaka, probably the most influential figure the Secretary General in the Malawi Congress Party, being axed from the Cabinet.
Mkaka is the CEO of Chakwera’a own party and his UTM counterpart Patricia Kaliati is the boss for the biggest partner in the Tonse Alliance administration, the UTM. No one saw it coming that people like Gospel Kazako, Timothy Mtambo, Mark Katsonga, Blessings Chinsinga and even John Bande would be thrown under the bus this soon but it has happened. Malawians woke up on Wednesday morning to the news that these people have been fired from the Cabinet.
The reasons for their dismissal is only known to the President and people can only speculate but on 25 October during the National Address on AIP President Chakwera hinted at the imminent Cabinet reshuffle which has come to pass today. Among other things, he said he will remove any none perforning minister from his Cabinet. So, it may be that they have been dismissed on that ground but we cannot rule out other reasons.
Whatever the reasons one thing we can say is that President Chakwera is not one of those leaders who fear to make decisions the way Mutharika was.