By Draxon Maloya
Catholic bishop in the country under the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), have issued a Pastoral letter Calling for change of leadership in the country. The Bishops have put the record straight that Malawi needs a change of direction, sighting that the hard-won democracy has not yielded tangible results people anticipated.
The letter set to be read out in all Catholic churches throughout the country on Sunday May 24, 2020-the fifth Sunday of Easter in the Catholic calendar-observes that 54 years after independence, a majority of Malawians are still wallowing in abject poverty as only a few “exercise power band enjoy wealth at the expense of the majority”.
In the introduction of their 16-page Pastoral Letter titled: ‘A Call For A New Era In Malawi’, the bishops says that they it is saddening to note that the hard-won freedom and democratic dispensation in the country have not brought any Ray of hope to Malawians.
“We have observed with deep sorrow that the majority of the people in this country still languish under the yokes of poverty, ignorance, disease hunger a seriously distorted mindset that has led to dangerous moral decadence in our society,” say the bishops in the Pastoral Letter, which is divided in three chapters.
In the first chapter titled ‘Need for a New Leadership in Malawi’, among other issues, the bishops say they are commissioned to preach the Gospel “whether it is convenient or inconvenient” (2 Timothy 4:2 ), noting that there is something wrong in our society that needs to be put right.
“We are of opinion that Malawi, as a nation, needs a change of direction if we are to reverse the situation. “We mean a total change in the way of doing things other than ‘business as usual,” the bishops say.
They go on to ask Malawians to take stock of whether the current system of government has over the years delivered on its promise to uplift the lives of all the citizens or whether the country paid lip-service to democracy by allowing a few people to exercise power and authority and enjoy the wealth of this country at the expense of the vast majority.
To ensure that the message reaches to all the masses across, copies of the Pastoral Letter have already been made available in all the Catholic Parish bookshops.