MALAWI – THE BLAME CULTURE

Example :- Who is responsible for the current Fuel Crisis in Malawi?

We did not know that citizens from different nations differ not only in their color of skin or facial appearance but also their reaction to mistakes.

The Japanese people feel shy when they make a mistake and consequently apologize for it. In the corporate sector they go the extent of resigning from their jobs as a way of taking responsibility for their actions. I also feel a mere apology without taking showing remorse is not enough. I like the Japanese culture of apologizing followed by a resignation.

In Malawi it is strange that when one makes a mistakes one blames others. A good example is a Malawi cook; after burning food boiling on the cooker, the explanation is that the food got burnt. It is rare that a cook will accept to have burnt the food.

The same culture applies to politics in Malawi. Malawi is now a democracy but you will hear political leaders blaming the past instead of looking forward to develop the country. This is why there is www.faceofmalawi.com .

The Malawi culture currently promotes hatred. I feel the best way is for us to start taking responsibility for everything. We should not pick and choose. Just as we can take credit for something, we should also take the blame instead of passing it on to others.

The blame culture is unchristian and counter-productive. It only promotes hatred.
It is wrong for anyone who shares a relationship with Jesus Christ to be blaming others.

I believe the moment we start accepting blame, our country will record improvement in productivity. There are times when senior managers fail to run a company and are transferred to another company but junior staff are retrenched because the company does not have enough money. Why should the junior staff take responsibility for the senior managers mistake?

I hope this article will empower junior staff to reject any retrenchment for mismanagement by Senior Staff in Malawi. It should be the senior managers who should resign from the jobs and not the junior staff.