This Bus is Stuck and Broken Down at Majighasaba

Tell Us How You Will Fix This Bus

This Bus is at Majighasaba Stuck and Broken Down

Primarily I am a fraud examiner. I have been a rule of law reform practitioner in peace keeping and peace building. I am certified and a practitioner in court administration and I have been a prosecutor for many years. This article is not about all that. Well, it draws lessons from those experiences, but it is about campaign for political leadership positions. In Malawi. The campaign seems to have, officially or unofficially, started for the tripartite elections on 21 May 2019 of president, member of parliament and councillor.

Let me start by giving you experiences from much earlier in my life. In that case, perhaps, the title of this article should not say “Bus”. It should have been a word that is all encompassing like ‘conveyance’, as a lawyer would choose. It should have been a word with the basic meaning of a “thing or means used to fulfil something.” That would encompass an ox cart, motorised transport, any contraption to move goods or people from one place to another, and indeed, any means used to fulfil something. But for the jury I shall stick to the “Bus”. The first experience I want to share, however, involved an ox-cart.

In 1964 I was living with my maternal grandmother in Jamu village at Emchakachakeni of Esigodhleni Headquarters in Mzimba. One day, harvest time, we loaded millet and sorghum in the ox-cart but as we readied to leave for the village, the ox rebelled. They turned in their yoke and faced the beam and the ox-cart (the current Facebook trending “ng’ombe zayang’ana dazibomu”). It was an easy problem for Chizaso the driver and head of this ox cart transport operation. He sweetly talked to the oxen and turned them around. In no time we were on our way to take the harvest home.

In 1973 Malawi had very few tarmac roads. I was a student at Mtendere Secondary School in Dedza and spent my holidays either in Blantyre with my brother or in Mzimba with my parents at the then Ghetto called Kavukula. The only mode of public transport was the bus. The only operator was the United Transport (Malawi) Limited (UTM) which had only been re-incorporated a few years back from the Nyasaland Transport Company (NTC) with its main stations at or near WENELA in Mzimba, WENELA in Lilongwe and WENELA in Blantyre. The favourite bus route was Blantyre-Matope-Nsipe-Dedza. There was no tarmac on this road. The alternative bus route was Blantyre-Zomba-Dedza. There was no tarmac on this road from Zomba to Dedza and to Lilongwe. From Mzimba to Lilongwe and to Dedza there was no tarmac. In the dry season, on a good day, with no break down, travel on the bus from either Blantyre or Mzimba to Lilongwe took the whole day if you started in the morning or the whole night if you started in the evening. Travel during the rainy season, on the other hand, was a debilitating nightmare!

In those days, even before the hype or fact of climate change, there were heavy rains between December and February which was in the second term of the school year. The soils at Majighasaba (nine miles out of Mzimba) and Luviri (16 miles out of Mzimba) were clay. I understand that one of the problems with clay soil is its slow permeability resulting in a very large water-holding capacity. The bus we preferred used to leave Mzimba at 9 O’clock in the evening arriving in Lilongwe at or after sunrise. But we accepted it, at that time, that in the second term, it was improbable that you would leave Mzimba at 9 O’clock in the evening and arrive in Lilongwe the next day at sunrise. So, we often left Mzimba two or three days prior to the school opening. During the rains the bus invariably would get stuck in the clay mud at either Majighasaba or at Luviri. Unlike with the ox cart, the driver could not use Chazaso’s trick to sweet talk the bus out of the mud. The solution was to wait for a lull in the rain so that when the sun rose the next morning it would dry or at least firm the mud sufficiently for us to push the bus out of the mud with the aid of rocks or tree trucks placed in the path of the rear tyres.

However, sometimes, after surviving the stuck in the mud, the bus would break down near Chamakala or thereabouts, almost mid distance between Mzimba and Kasungu, probably out of exhaustion from the slow progress in high gear on the bumpy corrugated sandy road from Chatoloma turn-off. We would wait for maintenance teams from Mzimba or Kasungu. The wait could take longer, including a whole day if to fix the bus required spare parts. On lucky days, UTM would send a rescue bus.

Of course, the bus did not have students as the only passengers. There were business persons in there with business deadlines. There were public and private executives and officials in that bus with goals and targets to meet. In short, the bus carried a myriad dreams, hopes, aspirations, goals and targets of its passengers and their very lifeline.

There were no alternatives. The bus had to be pushed out of the mud. The broken bus had to be fixed for the passengers to realise their aspirations, hopes, goals and their very lifeline!

Who Wants to Operate This Bus?

The passengers going to the destination “Elections May 2019” and beyond are the Malawian citizens. The Malawian population. They have dreams, they have aspirations, they have hopes, and their very lifeline depends on this! In this campaign, they are being told that the operators of the bus who are campaigning have set goals and targets that will meet their dreams, aspirations, and hopes. Without necessarily consulting the passengers, the citizens. They are promising the citizens paradise without asking the citizens if they prefer a mere one meal a day.

The realisation of these passengers’, these citizens’ aspirations, dreams and hopes depends on the operators delivering on their promises; delivering according to the targets they promise. Such delivery can only be achieved if the bus they are using is not stuck in the mud and is not broken down. And, unfortunately, unlike NTC or its successor the UTM who had many buses on different routes, these operators have only one bus. To deliver their promises, to deliver their goals on target, they need to ensure that the stuck bus is taken out of the mud; they need to ensure that it is fixed.

So far, the aspiring operators of this bus that have come forward and offered themselves are: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); Malawi Congress Party (MCP); United Democratic Front (UDF); Peoples’ Party (PP); and newly formed UTM with an attendant controversy over the acronym. This is not to ignore smaller political parties that have banded together to campaign for leadership positions nor to ignore the independents. However, going by the present law on Political Parties these aspirants would have little significance in the operation of the bus and can therefore be justifiably excused from this discourse.

Generally, references to statements or positions taken by the parties in this discourse are based on the 2014 Manifestos of DPP, MCP, UDF and PP.

What is This Bus?

All the parties recognise or must recognise that the ‘Bus’ conveying their promises to the citizens is the public service. The DPP enunciated this very well when it said “The public/civil service was created and designed as a means and a tool for the attainment and realisation of our national goals, objectives and aspirations. In that role the public/civil service is expected to act with efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of national policies, the delivery of public services, and the creation of a conducive environment for private sector investment and wealth creation… the Civil Service…the operation arm of the Executive”. There is no alternative to this bus. In the same way that in 1973, come rain or sunshine, there was no alternative to using the UTM bus. So, when stuck the bus had to be pushed out of the mud (not pulled), and when broken it had to be fixed.

In defining this bus, the DPP commented on the team operating it; like the team headed by Chizaso operating the ox cart. It would be refreshing to the citizens for the DPP to re-affirm its pledge and for the MCP, UDF, PP and UTM to endorse the pledge to the effect that the operators will “strengthen a Government that is accountable to the people and that can be trusted…a clean government run by men and women who have clean records and who are committed to render impeccable service to the country and to the people…the best men and women who have the highest integrity to implement government programmes”. A party shying away from this would obviously be engaging in deceit, evasion of the “common interest” and immorality proscribed by our Constitution. In terms of section 22 of the Penal Code the party would be engaging in an unlawful enterprise designed to break the law under sections 120, 121 and 123 of the Penal Code to neglect and disobey duties imposed by sections 12 and 13 of the Constitution. It is advisable that Party campaigns must avoid promoting criminal enterprise.

What is Broken? Tools, Accessories to Fix it

Going into elections in 2014 the parties including, tangentially the MCP, were unanimous in their view that “This Bus” was stuck and broken down. The verdict of the UDF was “The country has profoundly suffered from weak leadership, evidenced by poor cabinet decision making which lies at the heart of this ‘accountability deficit’…Public sector reforms (including decentralization) to improve monitoring and transparency in the use of public resources and service delivery remain ad-hoc if not non-existent. Accountability institutions (such as the Auditor General, Accountant General, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Parliament, Media and Civil Society Organizations) are neither well-resourced nor adequately empowered to do their jobs well”, to which can be added echoes from the DPP that “The economy is in shambles; the cost of living is skyrocketing; political aggrandizement, self-glorification, and massive corruption are the order of the day. Pride and confidence of the Civil Service is fast waning off. Meanwhile, the leadership has folded hands and left the country on autopilot”. From 2014 to 2019 has the country, at any point, been taken off autopilot?

The Manifestos of the parties carried proposals to resuscitate this bus we call the public service. Each started with the core values that would guide delivery. For PP they were: integrity, honesty, tolerance, selflessness, commitment and dedication; for UDF they were: economic freedom, social freedom, inclusivity and unity in diversity; political freedom; responsive and inclusive; while for DPP they were: prosperity, justice and security. Manifestos are the principal platform for engaging the population on values. Therefore, the parties, excepting MCP, missed out on this engagement when their core values failed to capture, and sometimes created tension or were at variance with the national values as embodied in the Constitution which include: sustained trust of the people; accountability, transparency, personal integrity and financial probity; dignity and worth of each human being; recognition and protection of human rights; equal status before the law; upholding the Constitution and the rule of law; duty of every individual to other individuals, his or her family, society, and the State, including the exercise of individual rights and freedoms with due regard to “the rights of others, collective security, morality and the common interest”.

The Constitution does not place special duties on religious or traditional leaders to nurture, promote or uphold these values. In their Manifestos the parties placed no responsibility on religious or traditional leaders for nurturing, promoting or upholding their values.

The Manifestos and the Constitution placed the responsibility on the operators of the bus and the passengers, the citizens, for the nurturing, promoting and upholding of these values. Failure to do so must be blamed squarely on the operators and the citizens. However, the operators of the bus carry the leadership responsibility for this. If the failure to nurture, promote or uphold values is because the operators abdicated their responsibility it is unfair to blame, or to shift responsibility for the values to the leadership or institutions of religious, traditional, international or other groupings. The National Anti-Corruption Conference confirmed this.  

The values must be differentiated from the rallying calls, motto, mantra or slogans that define a people, culture, grouping or strategy from time to time. Sometimes within a context. These are collective ideals that may well be constrained by individual characteristics and attributes.

The Constitution recognises unity as a mantra in the nation’s heraldic ensign, name and emblems: the flag, coat of arms and national anthem where the nation is called upon to unite and fight hunger, disease, and envy with zeal and loyalty for the one purpose of selflessly building Malawi. Rallying calls, motto, mantra or slogans need regular review of the context. Nearly all parties embraced unity as a value. Only MCP and UDF appeared to have articulated this unity in the present day when cultural (tribal) groupings are multiplying and encouraged. There must be a recognition of diversity. There must be respect for diversity. The founding father’s interpretation of unity as ‘no chewa, no sena, no tumbuka’ must give way to an inclusive and more nuanced interpretation.

The UDF laid out its articulation as follows; “inclusivity and unity in diversity… uphold constitutionalism and endeavour to ensure that the supreme law of the land remains valuable to the governed by protecting its integrity whilst facilitating critically important changes in response to the popular will of the time”. The MCP had this articulation “unity of purpose precedes unity as dedication to party ideals; loyalty to one’s country, nation or state is principally possible when every citizen subscribes and observes the supreme law of the land…political authority must always be exercised within the limits of the moral order and directed toward the common good…obedience would imply submission to the law…discipline brings with it honesty which is very important for ethical and professional conduct of the civil service, public institutions, private businesses and communities”.

The parties identified the tools and accessories needed to fix this bus, the public service. In summary the parties seem to have a consensus on what was needed for a running bus, an effective and efficient public service. The parties had a common understanding that there was need for: equitable public appointments based on merit; stamping out regionalism and other factors that potentially endanger political stability and national unity; maintaining a civil service that is motivated, suf?ciently  rewarded, honest, incorruptible, hard-working and apolitical. A politically neutral civil service that is committed to serving the people to run a professional and results-oriented government, respecting Public Service Rules and Regulations, and ensuring accountability. A public service that is well trained and professional. Promotions would be based on career civil service, The parties recognised that there was a need to institute a system of fair and open appraisal for all workers; that the aptitude and performance of every employee should be continually assessed and recorded to form a permanent profile of his/her employment history. Both the DPP and the UDF recognised that there was need to cut off unnecessary positions, reorganize the public service and ensure provision of strategic direction.

On Governance the parties had consensus in their manifestos as they in varying degrees committed to stamping out corruption and fraud in both the public and private sectors; empowering “watchdog” institutions including through making them independent of the Executive with their leaders appointed on merit. The DPP even proposed that these appointments were to be the responsibility of a special public appointments committee. The parties agreed on increasing funding to these institutions.

Evidence from different sources indicates that this did not happen. The causes of the breakdown are fully known, the tools and accessories to fix and fuel this bus are known. But, as it was in 2014, so it is in 2019: This Bus is still stuck and broken down at Majighasaba.

How Stuck, How Broken Is This Bus?

Indicators suggest that it is worse than it was in 2014.

Public Service

On public service, in February 2015 the Commission on Public Sector Reforms reported that there had been a notable lack of security of tenure in some prominent public offices as each new administration had tended to change the officers in these positions irrespective of the relevant Terms and Conditions of Service: the appointment of public officers above the post of Grade F should be on a fair, competitive, transparent, and merit-based selection process which responsibilities should be conferred on the Public Service Commission; the President’s powers of appointing should be limited to the approval of the results of the selection process from Public Service Commission; a culture of blatantly ignoring public service rules and regulations has developed and taken root; unfortunately, some senior officers had also been deliberately ignoring the misconducts by not meting out sanctions as provided for in these rules and regulations; as a result, this culture of indiscipline is entrenched in the public service; there are inconsistencies in the selection, recruitment and placement of human resources in the various Service Commissions, for instance, in some Commissions applicants had been recruited without interviews; the rightsizing in the number of Principal Secretaries (PSs) by fifty-six (56) from the current ninety-six (96) to forty (40) by deleting irrelevant portfolios, deploying some PSs and exiting those that may not be required within the system; laxity in the delivery of public services due to the absence of a robust results-oriented performance management system linked to agreed individual work plans that are closely aligned to organisational performance targets.

The Commission recommended the development of individual performance contracts between specific reporting levels, based on agreed targets as per Annual Action Plans; review, implementation and effective enforcement of an Organisational Performance Assessment (OPA) framework; a Malawi School of Government should be established to facilitate the fast tracking of the development of identified key competencies, to ensure professionalism and to inculcate a culture of continuous learning across the public service; reporting mechanism for the Auditor General should be enhanced so that Parliament receives the reports of the Auditor General directly; Cash-gate cases should be followed up thoroughly, prosecuted effectively and those responsible should be brought to account through courts of law; and that the Anti-Corruption Bureau should be strengthened.

Governance

On governance, despite the commitments made in the manifestos, despite the DPP being partners in Government, the commitment that the DPP had made that “There shall not be Cashgate scandal under the DPP” was not met. On 14 May 2018 authors Shaun Raviv and Golden Matonga in their article “Cashgate” wrote that if you ask any Malawian what has caused extreme poverty, corruption will be high up their list. They quote President Mutharika at the opening of the National Anti-Corruption Conference that was held 26 – 29 April 2017: “In the last few decades, we slowly made corruption our culture — our way of life. Whatever we are seeing today is a result of what we planted over the decades…It is for us as a nation to curtail this culture and never pass this disease to our children”

The Nation Newspaper reports that the gathering at the National Anti-Corruption Conference singled out political leadership as the number one perquisite in the fight. It quotes the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister; “Your Excellency, towards the end of the dialogue as the delegates returned from their groups with their recommendations, all of them pointed to leadership as being the main driver in the fight against corruption. I agree entirely,”

The conference confirmed the challenges identified and offered resolutions and recommendations akin to those in the party manifestos. Speaking at the same conference the Chief Justice is quoted as saying “Corruption is a disease that is quickly strangling our governance agenda to death. And how do you manage a disease that is an emergency? We must realise that cases of corruption are emergencies that deserve to be dealt with aggressively and expeditiously. This is not to say we will relegate the other cases in the system.” The Judiciary is clearly ready for the fight.

The conference was also particularly concerned with the treatment of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on appointments and removals of the director as well as funding and personnel shortfalls and the perception of political interference in its work. The paper says the Speaker of Parliament raised pertinent questions regarding the corruption fight: “What are we afraid of? How does an independent ACB threaten anyone?” The Legislature too, bar errant and sell-out members, is ready for the fight.

In the same year of the National Anti-Corruption Conference the Anti-Corruption Bureau also hosted the Regional Conference convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa from 29 May to 2 June 2017 under the theme ‘Collaborating National Action Against Corruption in Commonwealth Africa’.

However, as of 24 February 2018 nearly 10 months after the national conference the Nation Newspaper reported that the Government was yet to produce a report of the resolutions and recommendations. Meaning that no strategy or implementation plan had yet been developed to carry through the resolutions and recommendations of the conference. The Nation Newspaper further reported that “During the National Conference…organisers received criticism from delegates for failing to acknowledge the recommendations and resolutions when President Mutharika closed the meeting”. To date, January 2019 the report has not been produced.

Criminal Enterprise

The Report on Public Sector Reforms found that “a culture of blatantly ignoring public service rules and regulations has developed and taken root; unfortunately, some senior officers have also been deliberately ignoring the misconducts by not meting out sanctions as provided for in these rules and regulations”. The Cashgate cases passing through the Court emphasise the abdication of duty by supervisors, mostly at high levels, to be a fundamental driver of fraud and corruption in this country, as these supervisors have resorted to the criminal tenet that they cannot sanction an officer ‘when such officer’ has not been proven guilty by a court of law. The fundamental principles of the Constitution, the national values, are much broader than this criminal tenet and include compliance with dictates of morality and the common interest.

These values impose duties on the state and individuals. In the old days the first year Jurisprudence class of law at Chancellor College used the text book Jurisprudence by RWM Dias, Fourth Edition which calls these values ‘principal yardsticks. Dias says: “the principal yardsticks by which conflicting interests are evaluated may tentatively be listed as national and social safety; sanctity of the person, sanctity of property; social welfare; equality; consistency and fidelity to principle, doctrine and tradition; morality; convenience; and international comity”. Indeed, the Constitution has on these ‘yardsticks’ said: “Duties of individuals towards other individuals, family and society, the State and other legally recognized communities and the international community; Gender Equality; Nutrition; Health; the Environment; Rural Life; Education; Persons with Disabilities; Children; the Family; the Elderly; International Relations; Peaceful Settlement of Disputes; Administration of Justice; Economic Management; and Public Trust and Good Governance”

This is the basis of rule of law and good governance. That is why breach of trust is a criminal offence. It has been a grave error for our public service and political leadership to refuse to take action against errant officers employed in the public service on the basis of “innocent until proven guilty”, it has been an abdication of duty.

So, DPP, MCP, UDF, PP, UTM: How Will You Fix This Bus?

DPP and UDF articulated the challenges facing public service and the means to deal with them in a comprehensive manner. DPP and UDF went into partnership in Government. So, what happened that they did not fix the bus? They need to explain to us why they believe that this time around, in five or less years they can fix this bus which they failed to fix in five years. They must convince us that they have the capacity, wherewithal and know how to do so.

MCP and UDF articulated their values lucidly although MCP was superior over all parties in aligning to, and complying with, the fundamental principles (national values) in the Constitution down to “common interest” and “morality”. But MCP and PP were scanty in identifying the ills of this bus and how to fix it. So, MCP, PP and the new comer UTM must convince us that they do indeed have as good an understanding of the problems of this bus as do DPP and UDF or better, that they know the tools and accessories to fix this bus. ere was available spare parts and accessories to fix it. They then must convince us that they have the capacity, wherewithal and know how to do so.

There should be no illusions that this task will be easy. Evidence from Cashgate cases shows that the networks and systems created and used since 2010 were alive and operational in 2018 and likely continuing today in 2019; this is despite three changes of Presidents, numerous changes of heads of departments or parastatals and myriad changes of middle management personnel. Most of the ailments of the public service have become chronic and resistant to common prescriptions of remedies. Unwarranted allowances are usually in tacit collusion of personnel from the head to the toe of the department; moonlighting is glorified to the extent that some proudly post on their Facebook profiles their Government positions alongside their high-sounding titles in private business. These vices afflict those who came into public service legitimately as they do those who are there through cronyism, tribalism or general patronage. The public service does not comprise members of the National Executive Committee of any single political party, they comprise personnel from different parties and some non-party members. It cannot be bull dozed into implementing a party agenda it is opposed to. It must be persuaded that in terms of the Constitution and the Public Service Act, the agenda is for the benefit of all Malawians.

The promises the citizens are given are short term, medium term and long-term. But these promises will all be delivered using this bus. Unfortunately, removing all serving public servants at once would not fix this bus. So, parties have to give us an idea how they intend to deliver differently with the current broken down bus; in the short term, medium term and long term. They need to give us an idea how eventually this bus, the public service, will be effective and efficient to deliver the promises to the realisation of Malawians dreams, aspirations, hopes and expectations.

We, the jury, are now empanelled and listening until May 21 when we shall enter that “kanyumba komata” and deliver our singular verdicts that will, hopefully by persuasion and not treachery, translate into majority verdicts for each and all our future leaders.

3 January 2019