BY IDRISS ALI NASSAH
Listen, if we are in a crisis, we are in a crisis. If President Chakwera doesn’t have a clue how to fix this, he doesn’t have a clue. It is what it is.
The tragedy of our situation is that there are people who, for the sake of preserving their lifestyles, let alone their jobs, will tell lies and hope that the lies become the truth
Many weeks ago was a press conference by the Minister of Information who assured Malawians that fuel would be available everywhere “by the weekend”. He said the hold up had been because there was a holiday in Tanzania. But that was a load of cobblers and Moses Kunkuyu knew it. That alone, tells you that the man has a contemptuous disregard for the intelligence of Malawians.
Kunkuyu’s major handicap as government spokesperson is that he just can’t seem to give a straight answer to a simple question. And when he tries, he comes across as a disdainful elementary school teacher talking to dim children. And the pompous gibberish of all those press statements—and we had one yesterday by the Minister of Energy—is, frankly, insulting to suffering Malawians.
For a country going through such turbulent times and in need of serious intelligent debate about the depth and nature of our problems, the triviality of Kunkuyu makes him a misfit as minister of information
Anyone in the business of communications and public relations knows that you will go bust if you go about underestimating the intelligence of the people. In the face of overwhelming evidence that there is an epic crisis in the fuel supply chain, Kunkuyu has stuck to the script that Malawians are delusional and are exaggerating what they are going through.
A lot of what we see from government ministers today —and from many who jiya for this government—has much to do with what Jessie Kabwila once famously termed “executive arrogance”. I want to call it executive annoyance.
But you cannot do that if you worked for a serious entity. Any bank manager, for example, who held a press conference to state as fact that their systems were up and running while their entire customer base can’t transact would drag the bank down to laughable lows, damage its brand and destroy shareholder value.
Then they would lose their job.
