Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05LILONGWE579
2005-07-08 09:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lilongwe
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT MUTHARIKA'S LEADERSHIP STYLE

Tags:  PGOV KDEM KMCA MI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LILONGWE 000579 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S. INR/AA
MCC FOR KEVIN SABA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KMCA MI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MUTHARIKA'S LEADERSHIP STYLE

REF: LILONGWE 457

Classified By: CDA David Gilmour for reasons 1.5 b and d

Confidential - entire text.

SIPDIS

Introduction
------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LILONGWE 000579

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S. INR/AA
MCC FOR KEVIN SABA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KMCA MI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MUTHARIKA'S LEADERSHIP STYLE

REF: LILONGWE 457

Classified By: CDA David Gilmour for reasons 1.5 b and d

Confidential - entire text.

SIPDIS

Introduction
--------------


1. Despite a year of solid success in imposing discipline on
government spending and launching a strong anti-corruption
campaign, President Mutharika has been frustrated in his
reform agenda by an increasingly militant opposition and a
weak civil service. A series of negative media stories has
plagued Mutharika, caused in part by his administration's
poor public communication. Both successes and failures can
be attributed to the president's leadership style. This
cable provides some impressions of that leadership, based on
frequent observance of the president in meetings and at
public events, and from conversations with his family
members, senior advisors, business leaders, and other
diplomats.

Lonely at the Top
--------------


2. Every president faces challenges in getting honest and
accurate advice and in motivating subordinates to carry out
his or her agenda. For President Mutharika, this has been
particularly difficult. Mutharika is a political outsider,
having spent much of his career outside of Malawi working in
organizations like the World Bank and COMESA. He does not
have firsthand knowledge of the backgrounds of key political
players. As one business leader told us, "He doesn't know
who's who in the zoo." In setting out a bold reform program,
breaking with the party that put him in power, and pursuing
corruption cases against many of his former cabinet
colleagues, the president quickly made plenty of enemies.


3. For all of these reasons, Mutharika is isolated, and has
very few advisors that he can trust. His vice president and
several of his cabinet ministers are holdovers from the
previous administration, and some have allegations of
corruption hanging over their heads. One family member
recently told the Charge that Mutharika has virtually no one
outside his immediate family who can give him honest
face-to-face feedback.


4. Although he has a warm personality and keen sense of
humor, Mutharika allows the trappings of the office to make

him appear aloof to the public and to his own ministers and
subordinates. He always travels in a multi-vehicle motorcade
with a heavy security force. His public appearances are
always carefully staged and scripted, with throngs of singing
and dancing women, formal speeches, and most of the cabinet
in attendance, regardless of the nature of the event.
Everywhere he walks in public, aides lay red carpet in
advance of his arrival. Everyone addresses him as "Your
Excellency" and he carries an air of being untouchable.

A Distaste for Politics
--------------


5. According to one of his family members, Mutharika "hates
politics" and takes no pleasure in engaging his political
foes. He is a technocrat who only wants to focus on fixing
the country's problems, particularly its economy, and would
prefer not to be bothered with the game of politics.


6. His dislike of politics contributes to an obsession that
borders on paranoia about the political machinations of
former president Bakili Muluzi. The president and his family
see Muluzi as the negative force behind most of the problems
that have befallen the administration. In their view, Muluzi
uses his ill-gotten wealth to bribe MPs and journalists to
oppose the president's policies and damage his image.
Mutharika is absolutely convinced that Muluzi paid two
journalists to write a story about ghosts in the presidential
mansion that ran on the international wires in March.
Mutharika was highly embarrassed by the story, had the
journalists arrested and detained for two days, and is still
demanding a public apology from them. The president recently
told Charge that Muluzi had assigned certain MPs to heckle
him during his recent address to Parliament. Mutharika and
his family strongly believe that Muluzi destroyed the moral
fiber of the country by facilitating corruption and
encouraging a beggar mentality
with international donors.


7. Mutharika's lack of political acumen contributed to an
awkward and controversial launch of his new political party
(reftel). He seems unable to distinguish good political
advice from bad, and his close advisors have offered him
plenty of the latter. The rush to launch the new party
following Mutharika's resignation from the UDF has yielded a
party that has no ideological base and is simply a collection
of personalities. Politicians who jumped ship to join the
president's new party were widely seen as blatant
opportunists. The ill-conceived formation of that party is
the one act that has seriously damaged Mutharika's
credibility in the eyes of ordinary Malawians.

A Formal Business Style
--------------


8. Like most Malawians, the president is very polite and
formal. He prefers formal meetings to informal gatherings.
Such meetings tend to feature much polite discourse but
little honest debate or exchange of ideas. Late last year
the donor heads of mission began a series of quarterly
meetings with him, the first two of which were very stiff and
formal and achieved little. Mutharika hosted the meetings in
his ornate cabinet room, sitting on a throne adorned with
images of lions. In the manner of a king, he sat in the
center of the room with his cabinet ministers on one side and
donors seated opposite. Needless to say, the setting did not
encourage honest and informal dialogue. Ministers tell us
that cabinet meetings are the same sort of stiff affairs, and
that they too have difficulty in communicating openly with
the president.


9. More recently, the heads of mission have sent a "troika"
of three representatives to speak with Mutharika in a smaller
forum, without any ministers present. This has proven
somewhat more successful, and the president seemed to like
the format. He invited all of the heads back within two
weeks for a follow-up meeting, and made enthusiastic
references to his discussion with the "troika."

Demanding Results
--------------


10. Perhaps because of his experience working in
international organizations, Mutharika places a high premium
on action and results. He has a vision of where he wants to
take Malawi, and he expects his ministers and civil servants
to deliver. This sort of accountability has been unknown in
Malawi since the days of Hastings Banda, and many civil
servants are struggling to cope with his demands. Mutharika
requires monthly progress reports from each ministry. He has
fired and reshuffled a number of top-level civil servants,
which has caused no small amount of consternation among the
government rank and file. In a recent meeting with donor
heads, the president complained that one of his biggest
challenges has been to motivate the civil service to actively
carry out his programs.


11. In private meetings with ministers and subordinates,
Mutharika tends to ask pointed questions that intimidate his
interlocutors. According to family members, he does not mean
to harass his subordinates, but wants straight answers to his
questions. In response, his advisors tell him what they
think he wants to hear. One senior advisor told Charge that
none of the ministers or senior advisors will ever give the
president bad news.

A Visionary, But Not a Great Communicator
--------------


12. Mutharika is a man of vision, a leader who likes to look
at the "big picture." He often speaks of visionary ideas for
the nation, such as major infrastructure projects, irrigation
schemes, a new technology university, and other grand
concepts. He is not afraid to dream out loud and express his
hopes for a more prosperous future for Malawi. But when it
comes to communicating the day-to-day business of his
administration, the president has failed miserably.


13. The administration's public communication apparatus is
broken. The minister of information is supposedly the
government spokesman, but he is not part of Mutharika's inner
circle, a fact that is often painfully clear in his public
pronouncements. Official proclamations come alternatively
from the chief secretary of the presidency or the State House
chief of staff. Major policy initiatives are often announced
verbally by ministers in media interviews, and are frequently
misquoted or inaccurately reported by Malawi's poorly trained
reporters. The information ministry does not give regular
media briefings, nor does it publish regular announcements.
Its media management is entirely reactive, and it is
constantly on the back foot in responding to negative
stories.


14. Because of this poor media management, negative stories
that begin as rumors are allowed to grow into full-blown
scandals before the administration is able to respond.
Mutharika and his family attribute their negative press
coverage to the fact that the two main national daily papers
are owned by opposition figures, and that Muluzi is paying
journalists to write negative stories.

15. More effective media management could easily solve most
of the administration's communications problems. The Charge
has approached ministers, senior advisors, and family members
on numerous occasions to discuss the problem and offer
advice. Other donors, including the head of mission "troika"
have discussed the issue with he president. The Embassy's
public affairs office is bringing a U.S. expert in September
to conduct workshops on how to run a government press office
with the information ministry and other government offices,
and the UN office is working on a similar program. Mutharika
and his advisors seem to be aware of the problem, but so far
have taken no concrete action to address it.

Leading in the Right Direction, But Will Malawi Follow?
-------------- --------------


16. In spite of these problems, Mutharika is leading Malawi
in the right direction. For the first time in many years,
government is acting responsibly to enforce fiscal discipline
and the rule of law. If successful, the effort will
encourage the investment and long-term economic growth that
the country so desperately needs. Donors have responded with
new budgetary support, and Malawi is on track to restore its
relations with the IMF and establish a new Poverty Reduction
and Growth Facility. The country is an MCA Threshold Program
participant and should be a good candidate for an eventual
MCA Compact if reforms continue.


17. Malawians cherish their new democracy, and have no desire
to return to the days of the Banda dictatorship. The Muluzi
period is widely seen as a "lost decade" in which the country
gained political freedom but slipped backward in its economic
development. Malawians are hopeful for positive change and
sense that Mutharika can deliver. The real question is
whether Mutharika will be able to lead against entrenched
political interests to push through meaningful and
long-lasting reform.

GILMOUR