Archbishop in Malawi Recalls Country’s Challenges after 51 years of Independence, Seeks Divine Intervention

CANAA || By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla || 13 July 2015

Archbishop Thomas Msusa of Blantyre in Malawi, made a recollection of the various challenges his country is facing and called for concerted efforts by all citizens to build a responsible nation founded on trust in God to bring economic transformation.

The message was contained in the homily the Archbishop sent to CANAA on Monday, which he delivered before the President of the Republic of Malawi on the occasion of the country’s 51^st Anniversary of the Independence on July 5, 2015.

The Archbishop spoke about the challenge of floods, xenophobia, insufficient budgeting unable to provide for good education and health services, unemployment among the youth, the disparity between the rich and the poor, corruption, and the rising incidences of violence and insecurity as some of the challenges his country is facing as it marks 51 years of self-rule.

“On our own, we find it almost impossible to call this day a celebration, a "chikondwerero" to be remembered,” the Archbishop remarked and added, “facing the magnitude of our troubles, let us turn to God for inspiration and guidance.”

He went on to wonder why Malawi is considered the poorest country globally saying, “Why are we called the poorest in the world? Where is our poverty coming from? What is our real problem?”

He saw the need for moral transformation among Malawians, which requires God’s intervention and drew inspiration from the dialogue between King Pharaoh of Egypt and Joseph explained in Genesis 41: 14-16, 33-41.

“Finally, fellow Malawians, we always talk of Malawi as a God fearing nation and let it be so….for we have discovered that the problems we have in this country cannot be solved by our human efforts alone,” Archbishop Msusa said in conclusion, adding, “I urge every believer in God to pray for God’s intervention.”

Below is the full text of the homily delivered before the President of the Republic of Malawi by Archbishop Thomas Msusa on the occasion of the 51^st Anniversary of the Independence on July 5, 2015.

 "BUILDING A RESPONSIBLE NATION TRUSTING IN GOD FOR ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION"

GENESIS 41:14-16, 33-41

1.Introduction

Celebrating our unity as one family……..one Malawi!

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today is a very important day for all of us gathered here representing and praying for the whole nation. Celebrations are very important moments and they bring joy and a new purpose in life. As we do when we celebrate the birth of a son or daughter, when we keep vigil at night in preparation for a marriage, even when we gather to mourn our dead, we experience the gift of being a community and a family where everybody is welcome.

Yes, every religion and every nation in the world keep important days of celebration very dear to their heart. Indeed, the 51 years anniversary of our Independence is a great call for all of us as Malawians to come together, to celebrate, to reflect and to thank God for our freedom.

Last year we met together again to celebrate the great Golden Jubilee of our beloved country Malawi. It was the conclusion of a long journey that lasted fifty years since the day that marked our Independence with a new name Malawi, a new flag, a new national anthem and a great desire to prove that we could change our lives.

While last year we concentrated our reflection on looking at our past history, this year we have gathered here with a particular task of looking ahead to our future with hope under the theme:.

2. Looking at our Past with gratitude………………..

We are grateful for our past, we thank the people who fought for our freedom, the people who came before us and made us the people and a nation we are today; yes, it is our continued desire that we live the present days with joy, we want to rekindle hope for the days ahead, for our future. We have achieved a lot in the past years as a nation:

We have built up an infrastructure that comprises the health service, the education system, a parliament, we have the Republican Constitution that promotes the rule of law, and again we have transportation and communication systems in place and so many others, ...

We saw the re-introduction of multi-party democracy in Malawi and have managed general elections after every five years; the freedom of expressions and freedom of religion continue to help us become more human; …

We have lived peaceful relations with other neighbouring countries… and recently: We have proved to ourselves that we can help our brothers and sisters who experienced floods… and those who suffered because of xenophobia... for these and many other positive factors, let us congratulate ourselves for doing well so far!

3. The Present Challenges……………..

However, I still see that perhaps, we as government of the people and for the people, we religious, business, political and community leaders, 
do feel that we do not have all the answers or all the powers
 or sometimes even do not have the courage to fix the problems 
in our cities, villages and institutions.


Some of the issues we are obliged to face, are the challenges of the growing dissatisfaction of our young people who witness an increasingly contentious disparity between the rich and the poor; the terrible corruption that has reached every level of our society to the extent that there is a general feeling that even our politics has too little to offer so as to remedy the situation of our country.

On our own, we find it almost impossible to call this day a celebration, a "chikondwerero" to be remembered. Facing the magnitude of our troubles, let us turn to God for inspiration and guidance. For today, we are confronted by the outside world telling us that: We are and we remain the poorest country!

Of course, some have disputed this: perhaps they do not know that “anthu akusowa mchere wothira mchigwada…their daily ndiwo for the whole year”. Perhaps, they do not know that some are unable to get k100 for a month or two.” Perhaps they do not know that with this winter season, some do not have a blanket to cover his or her head… despite all this, the question remains: Why are we called the poorest in the world? Where is our poverty coming from? What is our real problem?

Looking at our present situation, we find it difficult to celebrate the 51 years of independence with joy. This year is proving to be a very difficult time and I don't need to repeat here what every Malawian is well aware of.

The floods and the many lives lost; a difficult season for our agriculture with too many people crying, for their fields were washed away by floods and some dried up completely; there are many farmers unable to recover from the sale of their cotton what they invested in their fields; the painful experience of xenophobia and the feeling of being rejected; the budget that has been approved recently and yet I foresee that it will be difficult to provide enough support for the essential services: good education, hospital services and job creation for our youth.

Never in the past, like today, violence is erupting all around us, we are killing our own policemen, torching their offices and sometimes pushing them to retaliate, and we are robbing and assaulting each other, thus creating insecurity in our own towns and villages.

Brothers and sisters, Are we not surprised to hear that our brothers and sisters: the albinos have powers in their body parts that create wealth? Are we not surprised when we hear so and so are selling body parts and yet we do not hear the results of their cases?

Amidst all these, I ask myself: What is our problem? Why we are poor today and our neighbouring countries are doing well economically? Why? Why? Why?

4. The need for moral transformation………

Perhaps today we are poor not because of lack of means and possibilities. As we often repeat Malawi is a rich country, but her people are poor. Our poverty is much deeper than the lack of industries, mines, foreign currency in our misused banks. Perhaps, we the people of Malawi are poor because we have missed out human and moral transformation more than economic transformation.

Perhaps Malawi today, more than ever before, needs transformative and not transitional religious, community or traditional, political and business leaders. When people talk of transformative leaders they think of and are preoccupied with economic transformation. Economic transformation can never be achieved without ‘Moral economy’ displayed by us leaders of every sector of society!

Let me confess here that I do not point a finger at one leader or a leader of one or two sectors…no! It is all of us!

Everybody realizes that Malawi as a country, now needs, more than ever before, community leaders who are not only well educated but also leaders who are well formed in conscience to be able to uphold moral values of human dignity, common good and option for the poor when making decisions that affect the lives of the millions of people in this country.

Efforts to advocate and lobby for the just economic, social and political policies and systems can bear fruit only when they are anchored on sound moral principles. Financial, social and political economy can be realized if it is built on an ethical moral economy as upheld and displayed by each one of us.

5. The need for God’s intervention…………..

Today is an opportune time to recognize that we need help beyond ourselves, we need a power greater than ourselves, we need God’s help because on our own we are masters at creating divisions more than bridges.

My brothers and sisters, this is the time we need God’s intervention, for I still believe that if we continue to do things the same way we have always done, we shouldn’t be surprised if we get what we have always got in this country.

6. GENESIS 41:14-16, 33-41

Let us reflect together on the reading of today from Genesis 41: 14-16, 33-41, and discover what King Pharaoh of Egypt and Joseph got after holding dialogue together:

For those of us who are very familiar with the Bible, we know what happened to King Pharaoh and his dreams. We know that the King was deeply troubled by his dreams Gen. 41:1-13):

We know that in the first dream, Pharaoh was standing by the River Nile, and he saw seven sleek and fat cows emerging from the river. These were followed by seven ugly and poor looking cows, which proceeded to eat up the sleek and fat ones.

In the second dream, Pharaoh saw seven ears of corn that were healthy and good, growing on a single stalk. Then seven other ears of corn sprouted, thin and scorched by the east winds, which swallowed up the seven fat, healthy corns.

Pharaoh summoned all the magicians and sages in Egypt and recounted his dream to them, but there was none to interpret it for him except Joseph the prisoner.

Now, Joseph, a man favoured by God with the gift of interpreting dreams told Pharaoh the meaning of both dreams that seven years of great abundance are coming in the land of Egypt, but these shall be followed by seven years of severe famine where all the abundance will be forgotten in the entire land of Egypt.

Joseph did not stop there. He gave King Pharaoh the following two pieces of advice:

i.Seek out a discerning and wise person and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

ii.Appoint commissioners for the land to organize it during the seven years of abundance, they should collect all the food of these coming good years, gathering the grain for food in the cities, and they should guard it. This food shall be the reserve for the country against the seven years of famine so much that the nation will not perish.

7. What do we learn from the story of Pharaoh and Joseph………

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I do not want to pretend to be Joseph here, yet in my simple perception I see that the story of Pharaoh’s dream is pointing at something very practical and relevant to us that are gathered in this hall, ready to celebrate 51 years of independence in Malawi.

Like Pharaoh who humbled himself and sought wisdom from the wise people in the entire land of Egypt, we too ought to humbly sit in this big hall for a while, and do some soul searching about the disorders of our country, especially now at the age of 51. Why are we poor?

Pharaoh

The character of Pharaoh is particularly interesting for me:

Here is a leader yet humble – so humble enough to seek advice from the wise people of his land.

As if that was not enough, he was not even bothered by the fact that Joseph was not an Egyptian but a slave, a prisoner among them. He accepted that Joseph be brought out of the prison and help him to interpret the dreams.

Joseph

The character of Joseph is also very interesting for me:

He is described as a person humble before his God, able to discern meanings of dreams and stand before King Pharaoh and told him the truth of what was to happen and what to do to avoid loss of human life in Egypt due famine.

Dear brothers and sisters, if we may reflect a bit on the advice of Joseph to Pharaoh, there is something that we can learn about us, leaders when we appoint our advisors. In my case, here in the Archdiocese of Blantyre, I appointed priests, who together are called “College of Consulters” and they advise me on how to run this great archdiocese. Today, as a religious leader, I have to learn something in this story.

Advisors have the privileged position to speak before us leaders. The question is how best do our advisors make use of this privilege? Obviously, there is also something about how we leaders appoint our advisors, how did I appoint the college of consulters? What criteria did I follow to appoint my advisors!

In my little experience, perhaps, most often we have a bunch of advisors whose role leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps, some of our advisors tend to speak in order to please us, who appointed them. Such advisors mask the problems in our parishes, institutions, mosques, in our political parties and in our society.

Unlike Joseph, we may have advisors who fail to declare the truth. Here, Joseph is a great lesson to them. He did not miss words in telling Pharaoh the truth.

With all the difficulties that we leaders face in our dioceses, synods, districts, villages and in Malawi as a nation, we need people of courage to tell the truth even to us leaders so that we should know the reality of our community and be advised on how to respond to it.

You, our advisors, tell us your leaders that there is disorder when there is disorder, and proceed to propose how you think the problems can be solved.

Remember that all of us are responsible, since together we fall or together we stand. This is what Joseph did to King Pharaoh, he told the truth to the king.

At the same time, our Churches, Mosques and Malawi as a whole need humble leaders that can take advice from the advisors, and even from the ordinary citizens out there, people like Joseph, a foreigner.

In this story, King Pharaoh, whose knowledge of the Lord is very questionable, stands out as our teacher in that he knew not only how to listen, but also how to allow those pieces of advice influence his decisions.

Pharaoh listened carefully to Joseph, a slave and a foreigner and approved Joseph’s proposals. Furthermore, he noticed that Joseph himself was the right man for the job, even if he was not from their group.

Pharaoh did not appoint Joseph by looking at blood relationships or at his tribal background. Rather, focusing on how to address the problem of famine ahead of them, he appointed Joseph whom he found to be the right person for the job.

8. Application to our Situation………………

Fellow Malawians, the selection of the guiding theme for this 51^st anniversary is not by mere coincidence. There are particular concerns clearly spelt out hear:

1. Building a responsible nation.
2. Trusting in God.
3. Economic transformation.

There are concerns that our country is not progressing at the desired pace. Politically, we have seen Malawians getting more divided on tribal, political, regional and religious lines. Since the 2014 elections, we have seen a birth of a movement for federal Government. Whether we agree on what they mean or not, the question for us must be, ‘Why are people calling for federalism today?’

Economically, there are also some perennial challenges in service delivery. When the most affected sectors are hospitals or health centers, agriculture and education, then we know that the ones that will suffer most are the ordinary citizens out there.

9. Grateful to the President for Flood intervention………......

Talking about the floods again, I take this opportunity to thank Your Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, the President of the Republic of Malawi for moving in quickly to declare the floods a national disaster.

Your Excellency, your statement was so loud that organizations and partners from various parts of the world came to our assistance. We should also thank God that the Government has managed the flood crisis so well up to this time.

10. The need for planning……………

However, we know that apart from handling the floods, there is also a looming hunger that is coming. The only hope for all Malawians is the Government and in this I quote President Franklin Roosevelt, who said,

“When widespread economic conditions render large numbers of men and women incapable of supporting either themselves or their families…aid must be extended by Government, not as a matter of charity, but as a matter of social duty.” (A message to the New York State Legislature, August 28, 1931).

Your Excellency, brothers and sisters, We need someone like Joseph to help Government manage the little harvest of this year and supplement the shortfall. Moreover, more than looking at this year’s drought with a short sight, there is need to even go beyond this drought and look into long term strategies that will translate into rural livelihood and food sustainability whenever the country experiences these recurrent droughts. Malawi can produce enough food, using the lakes and rivers that the country has.

11. Our Natural Resources……………

Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, Government must also be commended for the initiatives it is taking to explore the vastness of the natural resources that God gave to Malawi. Indeed, the forests, precious stones, lakes, rivers and mountains - these are a heritage that is given to us by God.

In his recent encyclical, On the Care of our Common Home, Pope Francis has appealed to all people of good will for a responsible use of the natural resources of the earth, our common home. He has reminded us that any harm that is inflicted upon the earth due to irresponsible use and abuse of the natural resources simply backfires on ourselves when effects of climate change hit hard on us through various natural disasters. For instance, we have experienced flooding here in Malawi.

Fellow Malawians, we ought to be proud of the natural resources that God gave Malawi. Let us use them with a sense of stewardship and for the common good of every Malawian, especially the poor.

It comes to my knowledge that there are indeed some of us who are actually abusing our natural resources. When one sees trucks full of wood crossing borders day in day out, without any intervention, one wonders what the future holds for Malawi. It is as if natural resources are a heritage for a few individuals in this country, yet these resources are a common heritage for us living today and for the generations to come.

As leaders, we must feel the pain to see all these things happening. It is painful to see our 51-year-old nation persistently in crises, appearing disintegrated society; a nation whose young people are being chased and killed in xenophobic attacks in South Africa where they are seeking greener pastures. If Malawi had people like Joseph in charge of natural resources, the problems that Malawi is facing would not be so disastrous as it is today.

Dear brothers and sisters, let me call to your attention what again President Franklin said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” (FranKlin Roosevelt, Inaugural address, January 20, 1937).

What is often happening with us leaders is that each party, each group, each village, each parish has its own vision. Each ethnic group wants to dream alone, totally disregarding the others. If we want successful development in this country, the individual dreams ought to be put together in the same pot and make them into one Big National Dream: a Responsible Nation, Trusting in God, Economically Transformed.

12. A Call to Conversion and embrace Gospel Values……………

We Malawians are known everywhere in the world to be hard workers, people that are gifted, very friendly people and we befit the name, “the Warm Heart of Africa.” And that is what we are! Let us all work for a transformation of selfish activities and greed so as to make Malawi a nation that is well ordered towards progress.

Perhaps, we religious leaders have managed to build big churches and mosques, but have missed the task of building and forming the moral conscience of our people shaped by Gospel values so as to ‘be’ the moral conscience of the society.

Perhaps, we have built many churches, and yet it is not enough to have many churches whose people are not morally transformed by the gospel values of justice and love!

 That is why Prophet Isaiah invites each one of us to Conversion, to a Change of heart, to a true change of heart and mentality:  

When he says, “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land” (Isaiah 1: 17-19).

Here Isaiah calls us for a real change that is from the “inside out.” We need the inner change and not from the “outside in.” We need human and moral transformation before economic transformation takes place.

For us to celebrate the beginning of a real transformation of our country we need:

-To affirm the dignity of every person, the "umunthu wa anthu onse", especially the poorest.

-To preserve the richness of our Country built on good governance, transparency, and accountability, fairness with clean politics devoid of corruption, regionalism and nepotism.

-To start walking with our Pope Francis who takes upon himself the virtues of St. Francis of Assisi as he says: “Let us not be afraid of goodness, let us protect one another and the environment through genuine love and service.”

The economic transformation will be attained as a result of our moral transformation that has to come first and must be fully put into practice by every Malawian citizen.

The Catholic Bishops in Malawi once said,

"As a nation we have much to be grateful for, but in the process of charting the way forward, we realize that we need to work together. The principle of the common good, love and truth and genuine concern for the poor must continue to guide us. .. In so doing we hope to usher in a new era that is characterized by honest and respectful dialogue and an ardent common search for solutions towards the integral development of Malawi."

(Reading the signs of the times - Pastoral Statement 31 October 2010).

13. We join hands together, praying for our country………………

Finally, fellow Malawians, we always talk of Malawi as a God fearing nation and let it be so….for we have discovered that the problems we have in this country cannot be solved by our human efforts alone. I urge every believer in God to pray for God’s intervention.

Our God is so powerful and nothing is impossible for Him. And as for you my fellow Catholics, let us take our Rosary; let us use it in our prayers, in our parishes and communities! The Rosary is the weapon to defeat whoever brings malice to our nation! For united we stand, divided we fall….

May God bless our nation!

God bless you all!

THANK YOU!

ARCHBISHOP THOMAS MSUSA

ARCHDIOCESE OF BLANTYRE