10/07/2025
MUNTHU NDI MPONGOZI WAKE NGATI ZENIZENI....
Sean Tsanzo Kampondeni writes...
MAN MONDAY: Time
For a period of 5 years, 3 months, and 7 days, spanning from the 28th of June, 2020 to the 4th of October, 2025, I have had the rare privilege of serving the country and people of Malawi in the office and at the pleasure of His Excellency Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, 6th President of the Republic of Malawi. To be sure, even spending one day in the nation's Highest Office would have been an honour great enough to crown my heart with gratitude until my dying day, for I know full well how much of a life-defining event it is to even have a 10-minute interface with a Head of State. So the fact that I was afforded the chance to spend more than one tenth of the time I have thus far lived on earth as an officer of the State serving its highest office in various capacities means that I have been blessed in more ways than I can ever repay. For this reason, now that the election has concluded and a new President has been sworn in, marking the end of my tenure as a public servant, I wish to take a moment to publicly express my heartfelt thanks seven-fold.
Firstly, my thanks goes to God for causing the lines of his Providence to fall in such conspicuously pleasant places as to grant me this singular favour in a nation that has so many other sons and daughters of the soil who would have also excelled in the roles I played if given a chance. Secondly, my thanks goes to President Chakwera for his trust in my capacity to make a small contribution to his complex task of running the Government of Malawi through some of the most challenging circumstances in our nation's history. Thirdly, I thank the people of Malawi for availing me, at their own expense, the tools I needed to deliver the services I rendered. Fourthly, I am grateful to the members and leaders of the Malawi Congress Party whose guidance and support made the enormous burdens and risks attendant to my office a bit more bearable than would have been the case without them.
Fifthly, I wish to thank all the colleagues, whether state or non-state actors, both locally and all over the world, whom I had the pleasure of working with on so many occasions and on so many projects in pursuit of our collective aspiration to make Malawi better despite our many disagreements on the best means to that end. Sixthly, my thanks goes to all my critics whose voices of dissent served as a useful moral and intellectual compass for improving my performance and curing my failures as a public servant, especially those who had the kindness and decency of expressing their divergent views to me directly in good faith and for my benefit and growth. And lastly, but certainly not least, my deep thanks goes to my family and friends who encouraged me in my work, wishing, praying, and rooting earnestly for my success despite their having to endure both the deprivation of time with me and their own political exposure to perils on my account.
Admittedly, our company is now reeling from a seismic and humbling electoral defeat, from which we must henceforth embark on the arduous journey of rebuilding its platform to address the concerns and shortfalls for which the electorate has found us wanting. But that journey can only bear fruit if taken in the spirit of humility, the kind that never regards the levers of power as an entitlement, but rather as a sacred trust we must be grateful for when looking back and must earn when moving forward. If we can do that, we may experience that special grace of God by which he makes beauty out of ashes...in time.
I thank you and I submit.
STK
