President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has urged Malawians to set out on a reconstruction process, challenging that no one will come to develop the country except the natives themselves.
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Chakwera made the sentiments in Lilongwe on Sunday during celebrations to mark Kamuzu Day. The celebrations took place at Civo Stadium where various activities, such as traditional dances and football match, were featured.
The President said time had gone when Malawians should be thinking that outsiders would come to develop this country.
“No one is coming to develop our country for us. No one is coming to generate forex for us. No one is coming to build industries for us. No one is coming to reconstruct the roads we have lost, or to rebuild the homes that have collapsed, or to replant the fields that have been washed away, or to conduct elections for us. We have to do that ourselves, and that means we have to fight for it with the same fighting spirit Kamuzu modeled for us,” he said.
Chakwera urged Malawians to emulate the departed former president, Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who served this nation with courage and selflessness.
He said it is against this background that Malawians celebrate his birthday to remind one another about the important role he played in laying the foundation for the natin.
“We have gathered here to celebrate Kamuzu, the father of our nation, a nation we call home. We have come to do so because there is much about our nation’s Founder that is worth celebrating, and today I would like to highlight three; three things about Kamuzu that are worth celebrating and emulating at this critical juncture in our nation’s history.
“First, it is worth celebrating and emulating Kamuzu’s fighting spirit. As we all know, the founding of our nation did not come cheap. The colonial Government did not give us independence out of the goodness of its heart. The founding of our nation took courage in many forms. Kamuzu had the courage to say no to foreign oppression, and we must celebrate and emulate that by rejecting every outsider we find oppressing or mistreating Malawians in our own country. Kamuzu also had the courage to go to prison for the liberation of his people, and we must celebrate and emulate that by fighting for the public good, not for our personal interests. Kamuzu had the courage to leave a comfortable life abroad to come stand with Malawians in their struggle, and we must celebrate and emulate that by sacrificing our own comforts to make Malawi better, not just complaining about it to make Malawians bitter,” said Chakwera.
He added, “Kamuzu was a courageous fighter, and his was a generation of courageous fighters. Today, one of the blessings of Malawi is that it is a nation at peace, but we have to be careful not to confuse peace with being agreeable. Peace means we do not fight each other. It does not mean we do not fight for anything. We have to fight for each other. We have to fight for opportunities. We have to fight for success. We have to fight for life. We have to fight against injustice, disunity, corruption, imperialism, lawlessness, and pettiness. If we are going to rise from the ashes and ruins left behind by debt, the ashes and ruins left behind by Covid-19, the ashes and ruins left behind by climate change, then we have to fight for our own selfreliance, our own self-improvement, and our own self-determination. No one is coming to develop our country for us.”
