On December 10, 2023, a few days after President Lazarus Chakwera put a ban on all external travels for himself and all public officers, I shared my skepticism about this whole declaration.
I doubted whether the President and all public officers will be able to stick to the austerity measures they themselves designed. This is a government whose leaders have shown time and again that they have no intention of walking the talk. We have seen them time again break their own rules with reckless abandon.
I spoke about how the austerity measures in 2022 were abandoned with no explanation and no remorse. They gave us one excuse after the other why they had to abandon the measures but all didn’t make sense.
I was vindicated when Chakwera, who has developed a penchant for flying, “temporarily” suspended the ban on his external travels and flew to DRC.
It is good indeed to once in a while visit your neighbours but that shouldn’t be done at the expense of the country.
Right now there is hunger in this country and a shortage of maize supply. This is not the time for leaders to be jumping on planes simply because they have been invited. Invitations can be turned down, politely and with good reasons.
Saying that the President has been invited is not good reason for the country to be recklessly spending money.
Chakwera as a leader and his whole administration is characterised by indecision. They can’t just stick to their word. Several times they have flip-flopped on the decisions they publicly made and then just completely abandon the rules they set.
As a country, we need to wake up and hold our leaders to account. They cannot do as they please. This flip-flopping is not good for him as a leader and certainly not for the country. This also shows how weak he is that can’t be firm and stand his ground–not a good trait for a leader
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