Catholic Bishops have said that Malawians need to elect a President who will be capable of making tough and brave decisions for a better future of the country and not bury his/her head in the sand in the face of oncoming storms, during the forthcoming general elections in September this year.
In their pastoral letter titled ‘Who will roll away the stone for Us’ read in all Catholic Churches in the country on March 09 2024, the Bishops said as a God-fearing nation, they always also look for a God-fearing political leader, but they should guard against being deceived by actors who pretend to fear God in public, while in private or once elected into leadership positions, connive with thieves to steal national resources.
“As a rule, we should elect into political leadership positions only accountable politicians, that is, those without corruption background – not those pulling trailers full of corrupt practices.
“Nevertheless, it is essential that we insist of having God-fearing political leaders. Our country, like all poor countries, is constantly subjected to the secular agenda of rich countries that we adopt ways of living that are not only contrary to God’s teachings but also our cultural values. In this regard, we sincerely thank God that so far none of the presidents we have had succumbed to the pressure of selling our religious and cultural values in exchange for foreign aid.
“Humanly speaking the magnitude of the challenges we face as a country is almost impossible to overcome. But we believe with right kind of President we can eliminate most of these challenges and significantly reduce some. So what kind of President do we need?
“He/she must have the courage to stand up and say what needs to be said rather than just saying what people like to hear or being tossed about by her/his advisers, work for people’s well-being rather than fighting for his/her re-election or protecting political positions of colleagues, listen to the people he/she leads. He/she should also listen to other leaders so that they can work together and face problems together, resist nepotism, regionalism, cronyism and corruption and reinforce the rule of law across the country and bring to an end the torturing and killing of elderly people in villages,” reads part of the letter
Among others, the Bishops said corruption, lack of seriousness on the part of some of our political leaders, lack of a general national mentality to produce and innovate, with a view to enhancing exports, perpetual dependence on doner aid, lack of patriotism, perpetual food insecurity, very high level of unemployment, fragmentation of the nation, very high cost of living, very poor road network and blind loyalty to political parties and [political leaders are some of the stones to be rolled away.
“Concerning the names and number of stones that keep us in the tomb of dehumanizing poverty and suffering as a Nation, there is no need for us to give again a detailed myriad of stones which are now common knowledge to all Malawians because they have been mentioned several times in our previous pastoral letters as well as by Civil Society Organizations, the Public Affairs Committee, as well as many other churches and religious groups,” said the Bishops
