Oportunity For Peace

Driving through the streets of Blantyre this morning, I sensed some uneasiness in the atmosphere. There was practically nothing happening by way of people vandalising or looting property, but the streets looked deserted and the town looked sleepy. Today is the day the civil society had planned to hold demonstrtions throughout Malawi. At the eleventh hour, Tuesday morning, the demonstrations were called off.

The calling off of the demonstrations must be a relief to many people for more reasons than one. First and moremost, the prospect of more loss of life and/or property has been averted, at least for the time being.

One sincerely hopes that the 'truce' that has been reached will present a chance for the 'warring parties' to come together, reflect on the events of the recent past, reconcile, and map out a new path for Malawi. There are no winners or losers in this encounter. As it has turned out, all Malawians collectively are the winners.

I would sincerely urge the demonstration organisers on the one hand and the executive on the other to heed Apostle Paul's advice: "in humility, consider others better than yourself, each not looking to their own interests but also to the interests of others." I do not want to pretend that this advice is easy to follow. It certainly is not, but it is the basis for peaceful co-existence. The truth of the matter is that easy solutions are not durable, neither are they effective.

Conventional wisdom demands that leadership should assert itself strongl by being so much in control as to induce respect and submission from those being led. The problem is that history is replete with cases where conventional wisdom has led to mistrust, envy and indeed naked hatred.

I would be happy to see the leadership from both sides of the divide seek not so much to be respected as to respect, not so much to be understood as to understand, and indeed not so much to be served as to serve.

Someone, no doubt, will read this and will trash it as impractical or something akin to 'a pie in the sky'. It may sound like a strategy for the weak. Let me remind the reader that some of the stongest leaders the world has had have been people who have applied seemingly weak strategies to their struggle - people like Jesus Christ, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Junior.

In the event that this advice is not taken, will the last person to leave Malawi please remember to turn off the lights.