The day came, Zodiak Broadcasting Station was live
at Chikoko Bay. Malawians were glued to their radio devices as the county’s
Head of State engaged them in an interview that was moderated by award winning journalist
Pilirani Phiri.
For 75 minutes, Pilirani asked his 10 questions, 4
people called and one person sent a text message and the President made effort
to put matters in perspective.
Within that multi-faceted interaction, President
Joyce Banda spoke for 69 minutes which translates to 92 percent of the time
allocated for the program.
Malawians- just as they did before the broadcast-are still deliberating on the issues raised during the program and we know that the pondering will go on for days and weeks to come.
One view on an online social forum noted that the whole
act sounded rehearsed from start to finish. True, leaders world over do not
love going into an arranged interview without knowing in advance what is going
to be said. What changes along the way is how the moderator takes grip and
diverts the seemingly obvious course to an unfamiliar zone.
Some people made it clear before the program that
they expected it to be handled with a tone and demeanor just like BBC’s Hard
Talk or other similar programs. However, we think Pilirani did a good job though
he was not the same guy we listen to every Sunday evening in “Tiuzeni Zoona”
program. He is better placed to tell us why he shifted his presentation but the
bottom line is that he planned his act and got what he was looking for.
On the other hand, the President did a good job. She
sounded calm and confident as she tackled issues that had been burning on
people’s minds for the past months. Some of these were the retracted appointment of Khumbo Kachali as overseer of MEC, the compensation packages
given to former government employees who left their posts in the months after
Bingu’s death, Nsanje World Inland Port, Ndata University (MUST) and economic
reforms among other issues.
On Kachali’s appointment, the President’s answer brought
her opponents to the edge of their toes before she retreated and told them how
she is a listening leader who can take back tough decisions for the sake of
serving the public.
Another issue that had been troubling people was
that of her external and internal travels. Some quarters have recently come
hard on the President saying she is wasting public resources. JB dilly dallied
on the main gist of the answer as she talked about her external trips which she
counted to be 8 and quickly pointed that five of those were fully funded by the
powers that invited her.
Nevertheless, she remained on track and jumped on
the contentious aspect of the issue from internal travels’ perspective. Here she prominently highlighted her philosophy as a
President while stifling the question and addressing the clogging fears. She
made it clear that she is ready to continue engaging the masses through
official visits that are coupled with public meetings.
One area for which Patriots Forum give
kudos to the State President is how she chose to look at trends rather than
isolated occurrences. She focused repetitively on the period of 18 months she asked from Malawians so that she can turn things around before venturing on
taking Malawi to the next step of economic development.
In the same vein she put it clear than in the period
within 2004-05, Malawi was again faced with a situation where she had to make
sacrifices in line with demands by the Bretton Woods institutions and other
international cooperating partners. She sees the current set of reforms as
another stepping stone to the dry land. Her advice though is that whenever we
get past these reforms and are back on dry land, we must not to be derailed
again by selfish motives. Forward ever; is her motto.
Another area scoring highly on the discussions now
is how and why Joyce Banda reminded or emphasized that she is finishing a term
that does not belong to her. We look at it as a smart way of distancing herself away from the
effects of the mess created by the previous regime while stamping her authority
on the successes that will emanate from her intervention. She is a politician,
who can blame her?
She knows that it is now an open secret that those
who sympathize with the previous regime are uncomfortable when the present
ruling class reminds Malawians time and again who the source of the problems was?
In politics they say “What makes your opponent flinch becomes your best weapon to crush him, leave him in shame while you find your next destination” The more it pains the former ruling party, the more it scores more marks; that’s the rule of the game I guess.
In politics they say “What makes your opponent flinch becomes your best weapon to crush him, leave him in shame while you find your next destination” The more it pains the former ruling party, the more it scores more marks; that’s the rule of the game I guess.
At the end of it all, people who were glued to the radio for 75 minutes had to make their own judgments on what they think Joyce Banda is doing as the Head of State.
She might not have answered everybody’s lingering
question due to our varying needs and limitation of airtime but as Patriots
Forum, we think that she used her 70 minutes well and kept her mind aware of the
balance between many constituencies of the society she serves. The callers were civil enough as well.
At the end of it all, our democracy has been
decorated and our civilized way of handling issues has been put in good light. Always for the good of Mother Malawi.
Fantastic analysis this is! Kudos Sam
ReplyDeleteThanks Tusekele for your comment...continue reading Patriots Forum.
ReplyDelete