This weekend we, led by our indomitable leader delegation, Genuine Professor Dr Joyce Befu, MG66 and the Most Excellent Grand Achiever (MEGA-1), are here in Lilongwe, the Capital City of our beautiful country, our only place we confidently call home.

 We are here because yesterday was the inaugural National Unity and Dialogue day in Malawi and we are nursing our hangover. We will be here until Monday to enjoy Mother’s Day with Biwians at WakaWaka. 

We accompanied Tukomboans just to see if they would be discriminated against on account of cholera. They were not. We were not. No one was. Malawi is indeed a nice country. We, Malawians, are nice people.

Some people have already dismissed the day as a waste of resources as a grand show about nothing.  To them we have an answer. 

The national day of unity and dialogue is part of the implementation of one of the enablers of the Malawi 2063 Vision. It was budgeted for and approved by our Parliament. If parliament approves something, the people of Malawi have also approved. We delegated our power to decide to our MPs through the 2019 elections and the president through the 2020 Fresh Presidential Election.

Those who care to read national policy documents will agree with us that bringing Malawians together to display their unique cultures, dances, and languages is one route towards establishing a culture of tolerance, oneness, and unity. This used to happen during the Kamuzu Days every July 6.  Tolerance, oneness, and unity are the bedrocks of the mindset enabler mentioned in the Malawi 2063 Vision.

The Malawi 2063 Vision theory of change towards us achieving a lower middle income status by 2030 and a full Middle Income Status by 2063 starts with Mindset Change.

A changed mindset will make Malawians feel it is possible to achieve the big goals we have set ourselves if we unite and work hard and collectively.  We can achieve great things if our leaders and all of us, citizens, are visionary and transformative; patriotic and think positively. Display of ethical behaviour, self-discipline, accountability, and integrity in whatever we do will lead to effective public sector governance, private sector dynamism, human capital development, economic development, and environmental sustainability.  In turn, these enablers will assist in us achieving the three pillars that anchor the Malawi 2063 Vision: sustainable agricultural productivity and commercialisation, industrialization and urbanization.

For all these dreams and the Malawi 2063 mega vision to be achieved, we need peace and unity among our tribes, political parties, rival civil society organisations, and religious institutions. We need a culture of dialogue to resolve our differences. We need to listen to ourselves and hear cries for development and modernity that our youth and unborn children are yearning for.

That is why we came here and why are here till Monday.  We went around the pavilions and enjoyed the display of the foods eaten in Malawi.  We wondered why our definition food security is stuck in availability of maize. If yams are available; why should we be hungry because we don’t have maize? If cassava is available why should we be hungry because we don’t have maize?  If sweet and Irish, no, Ntcheu potatoes or katofeni, are available, why should we be hungry because we don’t have maize? If matemba a domasi, zipiyo, milamba, kampanga, batala, usipa, nkhungu and other lake delicacies are available why should we cry we lack ndiwo because we don’t have chambo?

 If we have plenty of cattle, goats, sheep, chicken, guinea fowl, zinziri,   monkeys, crocodiles and other fauna delicacies why should we weep about lack of animal protein? And we saw on display, nandolo, called mugowa pusi in Tukombo, beans of many types yet we cry for vegetable protein. If we have all these, why are our children left to stunt?

We need mindset overhaul. Government, too, needs urgent mindset change and start focusing towards developing other food crops and ndiwo as well. The blue economy is underdeveloped yet over third of country is water. Our tourism is underdeveloped, yet Malawi has huge wildlife reserves. Malawi is rich as proved by cashgate, yet most of the money is wasted through corruption, fraud, and theft by government employees and politicians.

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