The Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) has accused the Tonse Alliance leadership of failing to live up to its promises, saying instead of taking people to the ‘promised land’, it has instead dragged the country to ‘Bagamoyo’, a city on the east coast of Tanzania.
Bagamoyo is historically known to be a city where, whenever a slave arrived, he or she lost all hope of being free again.
In a Pastoral Letter titled The Sad Story of Malawi released on Sunday, the Bishops, led by Bishop George Tambara said corruption continues to be rampant, despite having numerous meetings with President Lazarus Chakwera.
“Instead of reaching the promised land of prosperity, we are bogged down in the same land we wanted to leave, namely the mand of hunger, disease, poverty, corruption and the like, hence most Malawians, except the very few well-connected ones, feel strongly that there is nothing else they can do to turn around the country or improve the deteriorating living conditions.
“They fail to see anybody in the current government who cares about them or who can improve their situation. Mindful of the prophetic role to being the voice of the voiceless, we have privately engaged the State President several times, still, we fail to see any positive change in the general governance of our dear Malawi or any improvement in the plight of our poor brothers and sisters across the country.
“We have repeatedly warned the government leadership that of poor governance continued, the state of our nation would become far worse than it was four years ago. Unfortunately, our prediction has come true,” reads part of the letter
Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu said the government has received the pastoral letter with appreciation, wisdom and humility and that they acknowledge some cited challenges and remain determined to use the bishops wisdom to continue building on the progress the country is making.
“We as government will no engage in item-by-item response with the clergy in public. instead, we will not get tired of utilizing the engagements that we do have with the clergy from time to time,” he said
