Extract from Mutharika’s Sona: ‘Malawians cannot be taken for granted’

Madam Speaker, We come to this house every five years to make decisions that define the destiny of this nation, our children and the generations to come. It is a precious mission of every generation to decide the fortunes of its next generation.

The five years that we begin today shall be the time given to us to change this nation forever. Together, we hold the power in our choices and decisions to build this nation. This is our sacred duty as Members of Parliament.

And for qualifying for this national duty, allow me Madam Speaker, to congratulate every Member of this Parliament.

Congratulations!

It is not by mistake that we are here. We all have accepted to be sworn in as Members of Parliament because we have accepted that we were legitimately, fairly and credibly elected.

Nobody here disputes the results that brought you here. Nobody disputes the Election that brought you here. We are here because we have accepted the will of the people.

And yet, Madam Speaker, I want to ask: why are we here?

I ask this question for one reason. It is wisdom that we must accept the past, in order to decide the present, and shape the future. As I speak, the state of our nation demands that we must decide the present in order to determine the future of this country.

We have a past that brought us here. We must accept that past. Twenty-five years ago, this nation made a decision that we shall be a democratic nation. And that we shall have a democratic Parliament whose Members shall be democratically elected by the people. We must accept that democracy.

This time, twenty-five years ago, we vowed that we shall never, never, ever accept politics of terror, brutalization and victimization of the people. The majority of us rejected tyranny of the minority, politics of intimidation, and blood-thirsty politicians.

Since we voted on 21 May, I have heard political leaders calling for bloodshed. We have seen two innocent children killed. We have seen innocent women stripped naked and beaten in public. We have seen our judges intimidated and justice threatened. Is this the Malawi we want?

We have seen headteachers evicted and their schools demolished because they administered polling centres where communities voted for candidates whom some people did not want. Is this the democracy we agreed?

I know two political leaders who discussed the possibility of exploding Kamuzu Stadium on the day of my swearing in. They must know that I know. These two political leaders have tried to recruit mercenary militias from Al-Shabaab and the Congo war zone to come and create anarchy in this country. Is this the leadership we want?

I have warned this nation before. That if we sit back in silence and watch this spirit growing, one day evil will rule this nation and take us ransom. It only takes silence of the good people for evil to triumph.

I speak at a time when Malawi has been declared one of the most peaceful countries on earth. Malawi is the third most peaceful country in Africa.

But we cannot take peace for granted. Peace is delicate. Peace is precious. When peace suffers, innocent people suffer.

One thing I know. We are peace lovers. But Malawians cannot be taken for granted. I repeat, we cannot take Malawians for granted. Malawians will jealously defend their peace if endangered.

This far, we have defended peace with peace. But that cannot be taken for granted either.

Let me warn those inciting violence. Those who attack peace should know that we shall pay any price, confront any danger, conquer any challenge to defend our precious peace. We shall defend every Malawian, protect every school child, save every life to defend this country.

Madam Speaker, As Members of Parliament, we have sworn before the Almighty God to defend this country and change the lives of the people. That is why we are here.

Malawians expect us to rise above our partisan interests for us to see a new horizon to which we take this country. Our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters – the farmers, fishermen, teachers, nurses, police officers, military officers; those vendors and minibus drivers, carpenters and tailors, men and women, and the Youth of this country expect us to rise above our differences and improve their lives.

But we can only develop this country and improve lives of the people who voted for us when there is peace and order.

Today, we begin a process of making financial and economic decisions that affect the lives of the people. Our financial plan is based on the gains we have made in the last five years, the foundations we have set and the vision we are determined to achieve in the next five years.

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