There is one statement in Professor Peter Mutharika’s inaugural speech that will be the ultimate
test on which his term of office will be evaluated. Taking over the reins of power at the Kamuzu
Stadium in Blantyre on 2 June, the president said: “Today, we are launching a government that
must be accountable to the people. The central principle of democracy is that everyone must be
accountable to someone else.” The president promised a “bottom­up approach” and “peoplecentred
economic growth”.
This has never happened in Malawi before. Despite pronouncements and proclamations to follow
the will of the people, we have never had a government that was truly accountable to the people.
That President Mutharika chose this particular language in his inaugural address is nothing short
of radical. And it should be a shock to those holding decision­making positions in a public sector
that was accountable only to itself and ruling party cohorts.