By Chisomo Phiri
The country’s renowned Governance and Human Rights Advocate Undule Mwakasungula has said that the economic challenges facing Malawi require collective efforts.
Through a statement released on Tuesday, Mwakasungula says every individual including civil society organisations should be patriotic and implement strategies that will lead to the overall recovery of the economy.
The human rights advocate believes that to achieve this, there is a need to promote unity and inspire hope in Malawians rather than focusing solely on the challenges the country is facing and succumbing to despair.
He is commenting on another statement the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) released on Sunday, highlighting the economic challenges the country is facing.
“It is also important to acknowledge that the government has taken some steps to address the situation, such as cancelling the fertilizer procurement deal with Romanian firm, East Bridge Estate, and initiating efforts to recover funds from the K750 million deal,” says Mwakasungula in a statement.
A fierce critic of the late Bingu wa Mutharika administration feels labelling Malawi a failed state can have implications both domestically and internationally.
“While the challenges we face are indeed serious and require urgent attention, it may be constructive to view them as symptoms of underlying problems that need to be addressed, rather than labelling the country as drifting towards a failed state.
“Although the challenges are severe, it is important to focus on the specific issues at hand and the potential for reform and recovery,” he says.
According to Mwakasungula it is imperative that at times of such crisis, people need to unite and work towards finding solutions including supporting government efforts.
Mwakasungula is a renowned human rights activist and he once served as chairperson for the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC).
