Any decent Malawian who went through the statement that the Ministry of Finance put up in the newspapers last week on Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) in which the DPP has accepted the responsibility of messing up the bank by overriding management to give loans to its sympathisers should cry for our beloved country.
The DPP government pathetically argues in the release that it did what it did on account of the fact that the bank is wholly owned by government and other previous governments also abused it.
Says the DPP government in the press release: “It is the government’s strong view that the bad portfolio management practices on the bank’s management would arise regardless of the political party in power. In particular, each party would exploit the opportunity to abuse the bank on account of the fact that it is wholly owned by the government.”
My first reaction was to ask the obvious: What the Ministry of Finance is saying? Is it arguing that because the DPP was in power and it makes it right and okay to abuse the bank in the manner it did?
For the avoidance of any doubt, is this proof that Malawians needed, if they ever needed it, that governments, including this one, should not be trusted with anything.
Let me break it down for you to fully grasp the DPP government’s line of thought.
Malawi Savings Bank is owned by the State which is you and me and everybody with all institutions.
The DPP government is justifying its sale on account of the fact that if it keeps it, it would continue abusing it because all governments would.
It follows then that all governments, including the DPP, should not be trusted with anything because they have the uncontrollable craving of abusing it especially when it is convinced that all other previous governments did the same.
This is the government we are talking about, running our lives. For example, it keeps the national kitty after collecting all the taxes from us which we pay almost at gun point
But it says it is prone to abuse everything in its hands especially if others did it in the past.
The million dollar question is: Should you trust such a bunch of self-confessed crooks that have no shame and can justify selling of a bank by the fact that they are following in the footsteps of other crooks?
But the DPP should not be allowed to get away with it. They cannot stop at accepting that they abused the bank because any government would do it.
They should tell Malawians who did it and who benefitted and how much? Where did the money go? Have they repaid every penny? It is only at that point that the Malawians should support the sale of MSB.
Any other thing is theft and Malawians cannot be coerced into accepting the sale of their bank by thieves who are justifying it by pointing at other thieves.
It is an immoral argument and unacceptable.
Ralph was a good man
Let me join the bandwagon of all those that have rightly exalted the virtues of Raphael Tenthani.
To me, Ralph was simply a good decent human being who lived his life well and lived it the way he wanted.
There is no question he was a good journalist. There is no doubt he was a good columnist and wrote well.
But to me he was a good man. He refused to conform to some of the things that others think are important but he did not criticize those who thought it was.
He loved journalism and was its total convert. He never wanted to do anything else in life and luckily he did it well. He was not abrasive like some of us but when he had a position on an issue, he said it quietly and you had to listen.
Go in peace, Ralph. You lived your life the way you wanted, well and fully.
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