Crisis? What Crisis!

My country has been in a state of steady deterioration for the better part of the last three years, and we have not yet reached the bottom. To be sure, there are unprecedented levels of scarcity of basic services and commodities such as fuel, electricity, and forex, making it hard to do most things that contribute to the prosperity and peace of a nation. Factories can't operate in the absence of power, businesses can't import in the absence of forex, and employees and goods can't be mobilized in the absence of fuel. Even so, the country has not yet reached rock bottom. You see, in the middle of these woes and the nonsensical excuses of politicians, it has been easy to forget that our nation was in a crisis of leadership long before it was in a crisis of economics. A pivotal six month period in which a series of bad decisions were made by one leader have held the country hostage economically, socially, and spiritually: the decision to plaster nepotistic propaganda all over the media as to who is fit to be the next president has robed us all of the chance to engage in a democratic nation-wide debate about the nation's future; the decision to oust a foreign diplomat for saying what everyone with an ounce of common sense already knew to be true not only proved that his criticism was accurate but also robed us all of many friends and a chance to break free from the chains of foreign aid at our own pace and on our own terms; the decision to introduce a zero-deficit budget to compensate for the abrupt severance of foreign aid robed us all of a chance to increase our contribution to the cost of government by the gradual increase of productivity instead of the arbitrary increase of taxes; the decision to sign into law a piece of legislation that would give government the power to silence and intimidate the media robed us all of a chance to hold the government accountable for things it hopes to keep out of the public's eye; the decision to go on a month long holiday while the country reeled in a state of free fall robed us of any hope of feeling that our leader's priorities for the nation's recovery are the same as ours. To be fair, one of this government's strengths is its decisiveness, and in a way it is refreshing to see a leader who is not afraid to make a bad decision. It takes a great deal of courage to do that. But if our country is going to recover, it will require not just one leader, but a coalition of good leaders who are not afraid to make a right decision, especially when the idea needed to make the right decision comes from their critics or inferiors. My faith teaches me not to lose hope that the same president who got us into these turbulent waters can be used by Providence to also be the captain that steers us out. And so it remains my prayer that his next three years will be so good as to make the last three years a laughable memory, and I pray this happens while the public's anger remains lower than its apathy. God bless Malawi.