JB: A President on Trial?

Listening to numerous voices that rise to right the wrongs of president Joyce Banda, you would easily believe she is a president on trial. But, she isn’t; it’s the country she ‘rules’ that is on trial. Her cohorts want us to believe she is ruling a country that isn’t giving her much room to express herself.

The truth is we are being led by a president that isn’t giving us enough opportunity to express ourselves. She must guess what we want and act on the guess even if she hasn’t divined it. That’s pretty dangerous. We are being tried by our own president and our voices are subdued in the immense power that she all of a sudden wields.

At the beginning of her really glorious times, JB hoodwinked us into believing she was a listening president who would always be at our beck and call. She had to in order to have a nice start, with all the deserved support.

Now, she has come to a conclusion that our honeymoon should be over and it is over indeed. After implementing certain policies according to our highly ‘expected’ expectations, the president can’t continue towing our line. We have to tow her line, even if it is a crooked one.

It is strange that JB instantly responded to our calls that had been neglected by her predecessor, but is now holding tight to policies which we want her administration to change. The same majority that she believed was right doesn’t matter now because she isn’t part of it anymore.

Experts have advised government to stop the floatation of our currency. The president has also been tipped to reduce her cabinet and to consider delegating on some of the most mundane errands a whole state leader can ever undertake. There are other voices of reason which the president unfortunately continues discounting.

Well, if she can’t listen to the cry of her people, then she is taking them through a painful trial which but might terribly backfire. We put presidents on those coveted seats and we can easily ‘unput’ them. But, we never fail to show them the right way. We never cease to offer valid pieces of advice that can clear the way for them.

We are a people on trial. The ridiculous part of it is that the very same person who is taking us through this trial seems to believe she too is being tried. She is surrounded by hungry panthers who will not hesitate to tell her ninety per cent of Malawians applaud her policies if it means maintaining their monthly cheques. And she believes them. She can’t easily read between the lines.

Those outside the circle, who have objective eyes to see what is actually happening around, are being described as frustrated fellows who are on the president’s neck simply because they haven’t been appointed directors of government organisations. Well, maybe, they indeed are, but then, the anomalies they are observing are valid and supported by empirical evidence. You simply have to be slipshod enough to pass over them.