MALAWI VEEP DELIVERS PUBLIC LECTURE ON ETHICS

On the 27th of February 2018, the Philosophy Department hosted a Public Lecture on the topic, “Moral Decadence: towards an effective compliance and ethics program” which was delivered by Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, the Vice President of the Republic of Malawi. The event is part of activities in the Master of Arts in Applied Ethics Program in the Philosophy Department. 

The event commenced with an opening speech by the Dean of Humanities, Dr. Japhet Bakuwa who was followed by the Principal, Prof. Richard Tambulasi. In his remarks, the Principal of Chancellor College hinted that this is just one of the events in a series of planned guest lectures. 

The Right Honourable Vice President then took to the podium and delivered an engaging public lecture. In his exposition, he emphasized on collective responsibility towards ending moral decadence in the Malawian society. Displaying a keen awareness of global events, he gave examples of international organizations that engaged in unethical behaviours and the implications that followed. With that said, he highlighted on how expensive it was to recover from an unethical reputation. Stressing this point, he alluded to the popular saying, ‘prevention is better than cure.’ He also emphasized the need for patience from the Malawian people. ”No matter the effort, some things just take time. You can not expect to have a baby in a month even if you impregnated nine women,” The Vice President quipped. Referring to that, he stated that people find themselves engaging in immorality due to lack of patience. He finished his presentation by referring back to his initial statement, “there is no right way of doing the wrong thing,” while continuing to emphasize the need for refraining from immorality and striving for a society free from moral decadence. 

After the presentation, one student commented: “It was an impeccable, relevant lecture and one that came at a right time when Malawi is facing numerous forms of moral ineptitude.”