Acceptance Speech by His Excellency Dr Bingu wa Mutharika at the 2009 Drivers of Change Awards
- YOUR EXCELLENCY BENJAMIN MKAPA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA;
- THE DIRECTOR OF CEREMONY;
- MR NEVILLE GABRIEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST;
- DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICA TRUST;
- HONOURABLE CABINET MINISTERS;
- EXCELLENCIES MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS;
- DISTINGUISHED INVITED GUESTS;
- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
I am very happy that the Southern Africa Trust in collaboration with Mail and Guardian, decided to honour me with the 2009 Driver of Change Award, in recognition of my modest contribution to the economic and political transformation of Malawi.
I accept this award on behalf of the people of Malawi and I would like to thank the Southern Africa Trust for this recognition.
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
Let me start by saying that the Driver of Change Award is an interesting concept that is germane to our fight against poverty in Malawi and in Southern Africa. I am fascinated and enthused by the philosophy behind the establishment of the Southern Africa Trust. Some of the issues you are addressing include: crossing the threshold of regionalism; building bridges out of poverty; boosting smallholder farmers in order to reduce hunger and poverty; making a real difference to the material conditions of people living in poverty; and investing in the future, to name only a few.
These are the challenges that I have been addressing in various capacities in the last four decades. You can therefore understand the thrill I had when you selected me for the Driver of Change Award for this year.
I am convinced, however, that the Southern Africa Trust is the real Driver of Change. You are introducing innovations in our development paradigms, in our institutional capacity and in the application of science and technology so as to assist countries to move from poverty to prosperity. I applaud you for this initiative.
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
In Southern Africa we need to manage change. We cannot do business as usual. The world around us is changing all the time. It is therefore those who can either adapt or manage change that will survive.
This is why when I took the oath of office of President of my country in 2004, I pledged to push for change. I wanted Malawi to change from a nation that was gripped with hunger and poverty to a nation of hope and a people that take full responsibility for economic, social and political transformation for the benefit of all Malawians.
The first change that I instituted was to make Malawians believe in ourselves and to realize that the future of the country was in our hands. I also drove the people of Malawi to believe in hard work and that no other nation in the world had any obligation to develop Malawi but ourselves.
The second change was to obtain a national consensus that Malawi is not a poor country but that the people are poor. I insisted that God has bestowed the country with fertile land, and abundant natural, mineral and human resources that could be turned into new wealth.
This mindset change was necessary and was indeed a wakeup call for all Malawians to realize that we are poor by choice and that by choice we can become a prosperous nation.
The third change was to make Malawians believe that we can produce enough food to feed ourselves. I resolved to turn Malawi from a food deficit to a "hunger free" nation.
Accordingly, the government introduced Agricultural Targeted Input Subsidies Programme targeting the poor and low income households that could not afford to buy fertilizer and improved seeds. The aim was to ensure household food security which in turn would positively raise standards of living of the poor people.
Let me digress a little bit to tell you the battle I had with the international community over the subsidy programme. They said under no circumstances would they tolerate or even think of financing agricultural subsidy for my people. So one day in desperation, I challenged them that, let us pick any Malawi road, you are likely to find a woman at mid-day, possibly with a baby on her back, and that woman would have had no breakfast, perhaps even no water to drink, and you in the West are saying, she does not need subsidy.
On the other hand, let us again go to America or Europe. You find farmers with modernised tractors, some air conditioned with stereo music. And you are saying your famers need subsidy but my poor woman does not. That was the parting of the ways.
So I decided that, with or without their support, I will have a subsidy programme.
And indeed I am happy to state that within a short period of time Malawi has been transformed from being a food deficit and hungry nation to a huge food surplus nation. There is enough food for all people in Malawi.
I can boldly say the country is self sufficient in food and we are able to export and even donate surplus food to our neighbours.
I have also introduced the "Green Belt" concept that aims to intensify irrigation farming in order to reduce extreme dependence on rain-fed agriculture. We are constructing small, medium and large-scale irrigation dams that will pump water from the lakes and rivers in order to irrigate up to one million hectares of land. We shall cultivate cereals such as maize, rice, wheat, beans, peas and lentils for domestic consumption and also for export.
Let me say that last year, through irrigation, we managed to get 300,000 metric tonnes of maize and other cereals.
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
On the basis of the Malawi experience, the challenge facing Southern Africa is to engender fast and sustainable macro-economic growth as a way to fight poverty.
In the case of Malawi, we tackled this on two fronts. First, Malawi decided to implement her own "home grown" development strategy which took into account the real needs and challenges of our people.
We were determined that the people of Malawi should own the development process and be responsible for their own future. In this regard, Malawi agreed with the Bretton Woods Institutions that Malawi will develop its own Programme to be supported by IMF and World Bank. In other words, we rejected an IMF and World Bank programme for Malawi. Instead, we had a Malawi programme supported by them.
Secondly, I reorganized the governance and development programmes through the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) that emphasized not "macroeconomic stability" as a policy objective but the achievement of "macroeconomic growth" within a stable political and economic environment. A stable political environment entails having regular general elections, promoting participatory democracy, adherence to human rights and the rule of law. A stable economic environment involves sound management of major economic indicators to ensure low interest rates, low inflation and a stable national currency.
The central theme of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy was the selection of nine "priorities within priorities". Let me explain. For a developing country like Malawi, everything is a priority. But then we have limited resources. So we decided as a nation what sectors we should promote so that they can pull the entire economy out of poverty. So we had nine which include:
- Increasing funding and investment in Agriculture and Food Security;
- Enhancing Irrigation and Water Development and the creation of a "Green Belt" along our lakes and river banks;
- Investment in human capacity through Education, Science and Technology;
- Providing adequate transport infrastructure and establishment of a world inland port at Nsanje in Southern Malawi to provide sea outlet to world trade;
- Managing Climate Change, Natural Resources and Environment;
- Taking development to the rural poor through the Integrated Rural Development Programmes;
- Improving Health and Sanitation facilities and fighting HIV and AIDS;
- Moving the youth out of the streets by specific Youth Development and Empowerment Strategies;
- Increasing export potential through Industrial, Energy and Mining Development.
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am glad to state that the results of Malawi's policy change have been spectacular. Since 2004, Malawi has attained an annual average GDP growth rate of 7.5 percent. In 2008, we had 9.7 percent growth.
Malawi has been classified as one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
We have also significantly increased access to basic social economic facilities such as hospitals, education, markets, roads, housing and general development infrastructure.
I can also assert that the people of Malawi have generally witnessed visible social economic transformation and have begun to enjoy improved welfare.
Your Excellency
Executive Director
Distinguished Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Once again, I sincerely thank the Southern Africa Trust for awarding me the "2009 Driver of Change Award". I believe this award will inspire me, my government and the people of Malawi and of Southern Africa to forge ahead with the vision of ending poverty in the region.
I wish to congratulate all the recipients of the other awards tonight and to say that you are an integral part of the change for the better in Southern Africa and beyond.
Let me end by emphasizing that as drivers of change, the people of Southern Africa must believe that the past is for us to learn from, the present is for us to manage, and the future is for us to change.
Let us work together to change Southern Africa into a region of prosperity and plenty. We can do it.
Thank you.
God Bless You All.
