By Wesley Macheso
A few days ago, tragedy struck when 11 lifeless bodies were pulled out of Lake Malawi, having drowned due to negligence. The victims were part of a group of passengers who were being ferried by a privately-owned boat to board the MV Chilembwe, which was docked somewhere on the shores of Likoma.
As they usually do, the authorities allowed this to happen–notwithstanding the fact that the boat was not in a condition to carry people. Here in Malawi, it is business as usual, and that is how we die. Like with other tragedies before, this was an avoidable accident that occurred because those in authority neglect their duties. The fact that it took several hours after the accident for search and rescue efforts to commence should tell you that we have more people sleeping on their jobs than those who are actually working.
The transport sector is the worst in this country and its leadership has never demonstrated any agility. One cannot even imagine that we have a whole Ministry of Transport since we do not have a transportation system that works. Talking about maritime transport, tragedies such as these are not rare. There are people drowning in battered boats every day, only that such incidents are not recorded and reported in the press.
One can even argue that we are awaiting a bigger tragedy, considering the condition of the vessels that sail on our waters. Some months ago, some sectors of the society questioned the safety of the MV Ilala, which has been operating on Lake Malawi since 1951. An official in the maritime department dismissed such concerns, arguing that the ship was full of life.
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In truth, it is not. A simple Google search will tell you that the average lifespan on a ship is 30 to 50 years, and Ilala is as old as our politicians. It is a ship to wreck and we are not even bothered. One would think that following the tragic death of former vice president Saulos Chilima and eight others in that plane crash last year, lessons would be learned in our transport sector, but this has not been the case.
The accident that claimed Chilima’s life had the stains of negligence all over, but we continue to conduct business as usual. In functioning countries, such a huge tragedy would have shaken the very roots of, not only aviation, but transport in general. People would have been f ired and even prosecuted for sleeping on their jobs. Reforms would have been made to avoid such tragedies in future. But this is Malawi – a country that proudly wears the heart of mediocrity.
We cannot even begin to talk about our roads and how they are killing us. A day does not go by without people dying in road accidents. In a bid for popularity, a few years ago some politicians decided to flood this country with a motorcycles that have now become our deathtrap. It is reported that victims of motorcycle accidents dominate all emergency rooms in hospitals and yet very little is being done to mitigate this. To make it worse, most of the motorcycle operators are unregistered, unlicenced and unregulated. But still, they wake up each day to ride and kill people on our roads as the police watch them swerve.
And if you look at the state of our roads, you would think we are living in a war-torn country. We have gullies on our roads that are taking away lives at the watch of the authorities. Just last week, there was a terrible accident on the Zomba-Blantyre Road caused by a driver who was trying to avoid a pothole on the road. Lives were lost.
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The good thing is that when President Lazarus Chakwera is travelling, the potholes are sealed so that he appreciates the good work he is doing. Our biggest problem in this country is lack of accountability. Nobody is answerable to anyone and anything goes. The public sector is the worst and that is why this country has been going down since independence. Politicians are only there to serve their own interests and they do not care about the average citizen dying on our waters or on our roads. It is easier to die here more than anything else.
