HOW OUR PRESIDENT LOST THE PLOT

I honestly never like to comment on issues that boarder on confrontation, yet I am compelled to do so as it I think remaining quite would make no difference.

I must say here I have so much respect for my President and all the previous rulers we have had as a country. After all, as a Malawian respect for our leaders is a hallmark of our culture. Nonetheless, I understand that respect and fear, are two different things. If you respect someone, you would not fail to tell them where you thing they are going wrong and precisely that is the point I would like to make.

If our dear proffessor is losing the direction he had set so perfectly, I would like to think it is because he fears Malawians and has no respect for them. Further, our president is surrounded by greedy people who are themselves driven by the fear of losing their jobs and do not have the respect for the president.

If Dr Ntaba ofr Mr Dausi for example had respect for the President, they would not fail to tell him that words are at times a sharp double edged sword. In saying one thing, you say many things. When you speak, it is sometimes where the sentence has ended more than where the sentence has started which matters. People are bound to read into what you have not said rather than into what you have said. Words are the worst judge one can ever meet.

Having used his opponents's words so successfully to turn the crowd against his contenders in his re-election campaign, I would have expected our president tobe careful with what he says. His advisers too may have to be on guard to offer sound advice to him. It does not matter whether he hates it and get angry but if you have said the truth, it often relieves you. Experience has taught me that often times when someone advises us and we seem to hate the advice, we privately would go to reconsider the advice. I believe it is wthin human nature.

I never heard the President's speech in person. I have heard most through the papers but the coherence within the different News sources that have quoted the President, leaves no room for doubt that the President really said what is being said. I however honestly do not think the President meant what he said. I do believe the President wanted to say another thing but may be he did not know how to say it. That is why I think the only thing for the President to do is to come out in the open, clarify his statement and if possibly say sorry for the stress he has caused Malawians.

I am not a Public Relations(PR) guru but I do believe that defending an image demands that one attentively listens to what the public is saying. I do believe that saying sorry when you have to can be a great asset in PR. Saying sorry I do believe, restores ones integrity and allows one to get reconciled to others. If our President would say sorry, it would not make him stupid but it would help him get reconnected to his people with whom he has lost touch. Organising mass rallies to show people that you still have support and you are still in control may mean that you are somewhat paranoid and may not really help to show that you enjoy massive support. We all know how Malawians would turn up in big numbers during political rallies for each party yet huge turnouts to political rallies never really translate to political votes. Take MCP and UDF coalition for example, When they held a mass rally at Masintha ground, there was a huge turn out, when voting came, they lost even in those areas where they appeared to have drawn huge crowds.