Vitumbiko Mumba, an ordinarily sounding name, now represents a frontier between mediocrity and adherence to standards. I am talking about Mumba, the engineer.
I say so because when President Lazarus Chakwera appointed Mumba as Labour Minister, after Agness NyaLonje called it quits, I am sure he [Chakwera] did not expect that the new broom would sweep so clean that other Cabinet ministers would look like malingerers.
Maybe I should point out, from the onset, that Chakwera did not plan this. I mean, he did not plan to appoint a vibrant Cabinet minister like Mumba closer to the end of his five-year term of office because, for the most part of his leadership, he did nothing to Cabinet ministers who were doing literally nothing.
Instead, he danced to their tune. I am talking about ministers who have, for the most part, been treated with kid gloves. It is as if, in the past four years, Malawi has developed a new habit of appointing Cabinet ministers for “life”.
There are some ministers who have accumulated unaccounted for wealth, too—and government agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau, among others, have been busy doing nothing.
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I even think that the Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations (ODPOD) has been dealt a heavy blow by whoever framed the laws that birthed it. I say so because ODPOD cannot take punitive measures on errant public officers. I mean those who fail to declare their assets.
For starters, the office conducts a declaration update every financial year. The last time it was done is in April last year. Needless to say it covered the 2023-24 financial year. The next declarations window opens on April 1 2025 and runs until April 30 2025. This will cover the 2024-25 financial year.
What is obvious here is that the ODPOD is always a tad too late. I mean, how can the update that was done in April last year be for the 2023-24 fiscal year instead of the 2024-25 fiscal year? This gives dishonest officers the leeway to cover up for this or that thing.
I digressed.
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Chakwera, most likely, appointed Mumba by “accident”. I mean, he probably had no idea that Mumba would be such a game-changer.
Of course, Mumba started slowly, as he travelled to Jamaica immediately after being appointed Labour Minister. He went there with local artists, notably Anne Matumbi and others.
As he whiled away the time in Jamaica, I thought he would be a ‘random guy’; that he would be like Cabinet ministers who have done nothing tangible since being appointed to their portfolios. I was wrong.
Once he came back home, he went straight to business, exposing unscrupulous employers, be it in plantations, factories or what have you. From nowhere, employers started listening to his words—and listening hard.
From nowhere, some employers started scampering in all directions, especially those who treat workers like dogs. Mumba, with his hands-on approach, became an instant darling to children, youths, the elderly, among others—save for youths and the elderly who fell in the category of unscrupulous “employers”.
And, then, Lilongwe vendors did the unthinkable last week; marching from their workstations to Parliament Building
to present a petition that contained their concerns. Some of them carried placards, on which they demanded the resignation of some Cabinet ministers.
Well, before long, Chakwera announced, when he appeared in Parliament to answer questions from lawmakers, that he had sacked Industry and Trade Minister Sosten Gwengwe. Later in the evening, his [Chakwera’s] office announced the appointment of Mumba as Industry and Trade Minister.
And Mumba is at it again. He has already named and shamed those who have been hoarding sugar and other products in the country; people he accuses of creating an “artificial sugar shortage” in the country.
Today, I bought eight one-kilogramme packets of sugar where, just on Wednesday morning this week, there was none on the shelves.
In fact, just last week, I was told, when I found bales of sugar in a shop, that I could only buy two packets and yet the sugarcanes from which the sugar is produced is cultivated right here in the country.
All I can say to unscrupulous traders who are making life difficult for Malawian consumers is: Watch out, there is Cyclone Mumba in town!
