THE BOTTOMLINE MAESTROS BIFOCAL PERSPECTIVE

CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY WHITHERTO MALAWI: UNRAVELLING THE ROOTS AND CAUSES OF SOCIAL DEPRIVATION IN

DEMOCRATIC AFRICA THE CASE OF MALAWI.

BY

MARISEN MWALE

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. [SOCRATES]

Envy creates silent enemies. [ROBERT GREEN- 48 Laws of Power]

In one of his ingenious philosophical postulations the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle conceptualized the principle of The Golden mean which hinges on the thesis of being principled, cultured and doing everything in moderation no excesses, no indulgences on the one hand and no stoicism and modicum on the other. Contrary to that thesis another existential philosophical school of thought posited by Hedon and Epicurus denoted The Pleasure Principle presupposes the pursuit of happiness and pleasure as the sole prerogative of man and his existence. This latter postulate depicts man as hedonistic, carefree, unprincipled, uncultured and as exhibiting a lesser-faire carefree attitude toward life and existence.

The question that readers may pose or find themselves reflecting upon maybe where this apparently unorthodox reminiscing about Ancient Greek philosophy may lead us in our analysis of contemporary African Political philosophy in general and the Malawian Political economy in particular. It is however pertinent to reiterate before hand that at the individual level principled and cultured societies display some streak of contentment with what they have whether they be privileged or deprived. On the other hand unprincipled and uncultured or hedonistic societies possibly as a resultant of their lesser-faire attitude toward life and existence are amenable to display a mindset of discontentment with what they have whether they be privileged or not. They yearn or desire for more display coversion, conceit and such other vices as are peculiar to social discontentment. Malice, envy, coversion, conceit are commonplace vices typical of uncultured or unprincipled communities otherwise principled communities work hard for their success and prosperity and contentment is always a virtue. Among members of such communities a spirit of goodwill abounds with jealousy being just a myth since everybody knows they share the same sacred potential to succeed. If some members of such communities were by any streak of fate or otherwise unfortunate not to succeed as they might have as well wished they harbor no recrimination or ill will toward their neighbor who might be more fortunate. Basically they exhibit satisfaction and contentment with what they have and such is their virtue. They are principled and cultured and such is their byword.

Malawians have since time immemorial been associated with the attitude of hardwork and patriotism. They have been renowned to be principled and cultured and such has been their landmark and brand everywhere they went across the globe to render whatever service they were called upon personal, national or otherwise. Over the years however that spirit has been waning and the degeneration from such was more pronounced during the 10 year regime of the UDF possibly due to the advent of democracy. Whether democracy is not the ideal political ideology for a traditionally communal Africa in general or Malawi in particular is controversial and subject to debate. Whether democracy has been misconstrued or abused or is rather more complex a political philosophy for the African context is yet another puzzle. The bottomline however remains that the principled, cultured, hardworking and patriotic spirit of unbridled dedication to service and the country that was hitherto endemic to Malawi before the advent of democracy is being gradually replaced by a carefree, lesser-faire, unprincipled, uncultured and unpatriotic mindset with negative ramifications to our nationhood and solidarity. This lesser-faire attitude that is gradually creeping into our nation has crippled and corrupted our public service. The whole government machinery is rather compromised by a mindset of laxity and that attitude is slowly trickling to other sectors of the economy. As the saying goes the center no longer holds and things are falling apart. The whole is in essence greater than the sum of its parts and such a mindset is rendering the whole political and government system decript. The psychology of our people and their philosophy of life is gradually changing and is being modeled toward laxity and a carefree mentality.

The argument being postulated is that rather than reflecting upon what they could contribute to their country the majority of our people due to that lesser-faire attitude are now reflecting upon what they could possibly benefit from the nation. On a statistical basis the majority are rather querying about what the country would do for them rather than what they could do for the country in their daily reflections and obviously given a choice of what they consider expedient and supreme they would rather uphold the former. It would be unequivocal to speculate that it is that unpatriotic lesser-faire mindset of expecting to benefit too much from the country rather than rendering unbridled contribution and service that has seen our economy collapse and backtrack over the years. People in public service are no longer expending their best of contribution a scenario that has culminated in a crippled, uncultured and corrupted public service. The majority of our people given an opportunity would want to reap the most hay they could while the sun still shines to circumvent whatever future fears in all domains- political, public, private or otherwise- at the expense of their pride for the country and in so doing the whole system has been doomed and corrupted. The essential point to be taken note of, in this context, is that the short-sighted, myopic and hedonistic attitude of the here and now of expecting to benefit the most from the country by hook or by crook per se has worn a mindset of patience and the hardworking spirit and patriotic mentality of our people is gradually being compromised and corruption has taken precedence over patriotism and dedication. People are therefore resigned and have begun to live for the short-term without foresight. We need however not lose sight of the fact that when the majority from the centre to the grassroots are determined and dedicated to excellent service, success comes willy-nilly and naturally not only for the individual but the entire nation. On the other hand when the majority of the citizenry lose focus, direction and dedication and patriotism is replaced by selfish self-centered attitudes that same spirit transfers to the entire nation with negative implications on the countrys development economic, political, social or otherwise. That lack of dedication, that carefree lesser-faire mentality of mediocrity vis--vis commitment to excellence, that lack of solidarity, unity and patriotism has of late seen this country bounce in and out of economic prosperity. We have blatantly run short of consistency having nipped hardwork and commitment to excellence and dedication in its bud.

The fundamental argument remains therefore that the lesser-faire attitude has far-reaching consequences that cut-across all domains. In particular the attitude lends grave negative externalities in the socio-economic landscape by widening the gap between the haves and have nots. This is arguably the case because most people including the underprivileged lose their modeling toward excellence and dedication and therefore their commitment to a successful livelihood. The carefree attitude further lends itself as a recipe for status discontentment among those who consider themselves less fortunate with negative ramification for the entire community as already alluded to in the preamble to this discourse. Malice, coversion, envy, crime and such other social ills and vices as alcoholism, gambling, prostitution incidentally become rampant and the whole social fabric becomes corrupted.

When success, determination, commitment to excellence and patriotism are a communal norm and everybody found it imperative upon themselves to serve their nation with pride, such social vices as have been alluded to become minimal. The majority of people even at grassroots are rendered adept to hardwork and success and are contented with what they have and the gap between the haves and have nots is not so pronounced psychologically or otherwise. The question in our case may not necessarily be about being rich or poor, privileged or underprivileged but rather that of attitude. A carefree and lesser-faire attitude breeds and is an obvious recipe for status discontentment and depravity as the majority of people may not be willing to expend their best of effort to avail themselves from whatever destitute situation they may be wallowing in yet they wait upon others or government to do that for them. Contrary to that an attitude of determination breeds a spirit of hardwork where people are willing to avail themselves and whatever help is afforded by government or otherwise just complements that hardworking mentality.

In his infamous pronouncements that were rather belittled and rendered unorthodox by most Malawians who consider themselves civilized, late president Professor Bingu wa Mtharika alluded to Malawi as a nation as not being poor but the mindset of the Malawian people as the Achilles heel. This analogy sums up the argument being posited in this current discourse.

The postulation that it is the carefree, lesser-faire, self-defeating attitude akin to poverty and depravity that we need to battle against and replace once more with our normative hardworking spirit of patriotism and commitment to excellence and unbridled service to the nation if we are to salvage ourselves from our economic woes and challenges. That unique spirit which rendered Malawi a bread basket and fueled economic prosperity needs to be revived otherwise we risk degenerating into a pauper-pariah nation whose majority of people are lax and just wait upon government hand-outs for their livelihood - a resigned pessimistic people without direction and focus who will be forever drifting aimlessly, lacking integrity, having lost all hope and their sense of nationhood and pride.

Patriotism is the bottomline and it needs be imperative upon all with leaders and their immediate subordinates similarly willing to render their all with character, virtue, decorum, example and dedication at all times through good or bad, without paying lip service and wanting of double standards. Everyone would as such tolerate and traverse bad times such as are the current economic down-turns with patience and dignity. Austerity measures at such times need not only apply to the common ordinary masses while those at the helm of leadership are partying overtly otherwise the masses and some naysayers cry foul, feel betrayed, resentful and bitter. Naysayers capitalize and take advantage of such weakness and arrogance to instill and fuel chaos and revolution against the regime.

BY

MARISEN MAESTRO MWALE