OPINION
The Chakwera Model in the Africa we want The President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, has in his weekly radio address to the nation in which he updates the citizens on progress made and sets down the tone and direction of his leadership. Last month’s address was perhaps the most interesting yet and it is attracting comments around the continent. This, in part, is what he said: “Fellow Malawians, “I have noted with delight that there is much interest in my plans to trim the powers of the President. Because of that interest, I am confident that when this project is well underway, it will have your full support. “Reducing presidential powers is something that is often promised but never delivered, but I think you know by now that I do not say something unless I mean to do it. But to get this done, I need your support. “But it is important that we all understand what these powers are. “The first category of powers a President has is ‘Positional’. In our jurisdiction, there are certain positions and offices that are reserved for the President alone, such as the positions of Head of State, Head of Government, and Commanderin-Chief of the Armed Forces. “It is time we reviewed the merits of having the President also occupy an office like the Chancellor of a public University. This is a relic from a bygone era. I know of no free country in which the State President is at helm of an institution that exists to produce free thinkers. Second category has to do with certain decisions that are reserved for a President to make. It’s my view that there are too many decisions made by a President, so I mean to reduce that. Having a President make too many decisions has created problems for our country for a long time. “There must be decisions that when made by Parliament are final, and even where the President has the power to veto such decisions, he should no longer be allowed to sabotage
the governance framework by sitting on the decision. The third category of powers a President has is that of appointments. From the Judiciary, to the Legislature, to the Executive, all the way to constitutionally mandated institutions designed to operate independently, the boards of statutory corporations, foreign embassies. We have the anomaly of having all of them look to the president as the appointing authority. This is unwise. No person is good or humble enough to be entrusted with that much appointing power. The fourth category of Presidential powers which need trimming is cultural. We need to review our behaviors towards a president, because how we behave around a president is what creates a national perception of how much power he or she has. This includes how we address a President, *how many times a President is mentioned in salutations at a single event , how many cars and firepower a President’s convoy has, and so forth... “During the campaign for presidential elections, I noted that many political campaigns conducted by state officials were using state resources like state vehicles and state security. We need to think about the limits and parameters of this culture because it is now regularly abused. “Even if it may not be possible to fully separate state resources from the activities of political parties, we need rules that clearly spell out when the overlap between party and state is acceptable and when it is abusive. When I propose laws to address these inconsistencies, I ask you to support me by demanding that your MPs vote for these changes. Malawi needs a more empowered citizenry. The way to achieve that is to increase the powers of governance institutions and decrease powers of the President With this mind set of an African President, there is a ray of light shining through Africa; may it become a beam. We wait to see if many other African nations will copy or adopt for their President.
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