Let us reflect as a nation
BY TIMES EDITORIAL:
Friday was supposed to be a day of jubilation especially when a country clocked 54 years of independence. But with Malawi, the mood was different. Every Independence Day in Malawi is a constant reminder of how we have failed to utilise the fruits of our liberties.
Malawi, for a fact, has regressed in so many areas and there is need for national efforts to change our status quo. Our education sector leaves a lot to be desired, the agricultural sector is still failing to catch up with modernity, while our infrastructure is in sorry state and is a perfect example of stagnation.
Looking critically, what we have been lacking as a nation is morality. A nation that does not put emphasis on morality is bound to fail by all means. Take, for instance, the story we carried in this paper last week about the dubious payment of K145 million to an account whose sole signatory is the country’s head of state. Today, we are carrying another saddening story about how some government departments are cutting corners to spend tax payers’ money.
It has just become our culture as a country to be associated with stories of corruption, fraud and everything bad there is. And sadly, we seem not to care and the plunder continues leaving multitudes in abject privation.
At the rate we are going as a nation, we might as well one day wake up to realise that we have stolen all we had and have been left with nothing to plunder.
Malawi needs great redemption and this must happen now. Other countries in the region, some of whom have had long periods of instability due to wars, famines and other problems have made progress yet there has been relative peace here at home but we are still nowhere in terms of development.
While we cannot entirely dismiss some of the developments that have taken place in the 54 years we have been an independent state, the truth remains that Malawi should have been in a better state than it is now. At 54 we need to have a national hunger and desire to change things. We cannot continue this way.
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