Somehow, hope seems to be dissolving into hopelessness for most Malawians. There are no longer distant ranges between hope and despair as, following a litany of problems, Malawi has become a paradox which is at once a chasm and at the same time a mantrap.
I will explain.
Back in the days, before multiparty politics ripped the communal spirit of Malawi apart, Malawi was a glittering country full of smiling people. Yes, it was a country steeped in its own order, one where people breathed, drank, ate, slept and cherished the ideals of Umunthu philosophy; you are because I am; I am because you are.
I could be wrong but maybe when Malawi was a one-party state, before it stretched into a democracy characterised by myriad political parties pulling in different directors, the people were one—in body and spirit.
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Then came democracy, back in 1994, when Malawians—especially voters—felt like they were crossing a historical divide; one that would make the good times roll.
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Alas! Today, when the pillar of democracy has been standing for close to 31 years, people— millennials inclusive— talk about the good, old days. How ironic. I mean, here are people who, back in the days—days when democracy knocked on Malawi’s door in 1994— hoped for a brighter future.
Unknown to them, beyond the veil of democracy—which they still call nascent, even if it is almost 31 years old— lay a vast, unexplored land with all the characteristics of poverty; low electricity penetration rate at roughly 25 percent, nepotism, corruption and what have you.
In the “what have you” are things like fuel and forex shortage, political violence, poor state of national roads, low access to potable water, a lopsided balance of payment position, high inflation rate, high bank interest rates, money-hungry savings and credit cooperatives that demand a leg when one is closing their shares-account with them, early pregnancies, rampant prostitution, over-reliance on development partners, some of whom are so naughty that they force local communities to strategically erect billboards on which they put messages that read: “Open Defecation-free Zone!”
Not just that; they, then, force locals to put the message in the vernacular Chichewa and other languages. The Chichewa one often goes: “Tinasiya Kunyera Patchire”! And, not satisfied, the development partners who fund such campaigns buy, through project implementers, airtime on radio and television stations where the “Tinasiya Kunyera Patchire” expression is mentioned at every opportunity and turn.
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That is the price one pays for begging; dignity is traded with expediency.
The truth is, for Malawians to be proud of, finally and after long years of attaining independence from Britain in 1964, constructing a long-drop toilet—for that is what the majority of those who shout “Tinasiya Kunyera Patchire” use and are proud of—shows how low standards have plummeted in this country. Most importantly, it shows how slow ‘development’ opportunities—as they call them—have been trickling down to remote communities in this land of lakes Malawi, Chilwa, Malombe and Kazuni!
Just this week, Labour Minister Vitumbiko Mumba visited tea-growing districts in the Southern Region. At one of the sites, he invited one tell-it-as-it-is lady worker to the front and asked if the workers use toilets. The woman, without batting an eye, said toilets they had none, such that they do the deed right in the tea fields.
One—especially the foolish type—may think that this demonstrates the symbiotic relationship that exists between those who pluck tea leaves and the tea plants; that the tea leaves enable workers to earn a day’s income and that, in turn, those who pluck the tea give back to it—not money but organic matter—thereby sustaining the relationship.
Far from it. This is an indication that even if Malawi had requisite labour laws, enforcement is a problem; big, stinking problem! Surely, the country’s workers deserve better. The question is, who is there for them? All this long, some public inspectors have been absent-minded—until Mumba burst onto the scene to expose their inefficiency.
The truth is, it does not have to take a whole Cabinet minister to visit every corner of the country for things to change for the better. All citizens must put their hands to the wheel and say: “Enough is enough! We deserve better than this!”
That way, Malawi will stop being at the receiving end of the world’s bad jokes.
Someone said “a book’s journey is best carried out alone”. True. To which I add, a nation’s overall-development execution plan is best carried out by all. I and you, Mumba included, are the “all”. Once we do that, it will not be long before we start walking around the world with an easy grace and ebullience.
Once our common aspirations and development goals are met, who can stop us from walking with an easy grace and ebullience? Not even Donald Trump!
