Dzuka Malawi: Looting by MPs, be ashamed to act

This week I was auditing the time I spend on social media, Facebook and WhatsApp groups. I counted for some reason I have been added to many Malawian groups, most of them started really without any purpose. Actually, the groups only overuse my storage space, as the same people who like sharing pornography, sharing useless expired jokes that they just come across, are very active everywhere.Dzuka Malawi

One thing I take note from all groups is the tendency to write challenges Malawi is facing and an irritating sentence always follows “Government should do ABC” and then they go on and contradict themselves across their arguments.

I am yet to find a group, social media or otherwise that can match those Youngsters who saw a problem at Kamuzu Central Hospital and decided to act, they travelled to Blantyre on foot and we all unashamedly shared their photos, videos and some useless politicians decided to even use their daring to act as a “photo” opportunity.

Malawi is in dire need of change. The change should come from the educated and middle class. People that can spend hours long on social media talking football, sex or debating politics. We should be ashamed of talking solutions without acting.

Even myself as a writer I am too ashamed to write criticising my country which is not even ashamed to be the most peaceful poorest country on earth. Nobody seems to be bothered and our leaders in Government, Private Sectors and Civil Society continue to loot their organisations, thinking they deserve better than even the messengers or drivers at their offices.

There is a sick joke even in allowances for food. The designation of allowances in Malawi use grades even for heavens sake for food. I have travelled extensively across the world, food allowances for everyone are the same, save in Malawi. The greedy seniors believe they need to eat better and shit better for lack of better word. Seriously, no wonder travel allowances in Malawi are substituted as income. We need to be ashamed.

For change of mind-set, Government and Private sector can learn from donors, allowances for their meetings are the same for everyone. There is no rate for the senior manager or the junior manager, because for heavens sake, its not income but subsistence allowance to enable you attend the meeting.

If everyone at a company had same allowance for food, I am sure we will start treating each other as human beings.

Look at our dear elected Members of Parliament, our national cartoons. They cry about a failed economy, they attack “Government” expenditure every other day. Then they decide to get oriented to an aviation bill for two days. I can swear on their backsides, nobody has even read it nor will they read it after the orientation.

They will share for two days MWK402,000. The MWK284, 000 being allowances and MWK118,000 being fuel to Salima. At leaset MWK5 million will be blown from the Civil Aviation vote, yes the same Civil Aviation failing to fix a lift at Kamuzu International Airport.

If MPs were serious they could have waited for the November sitting of Parliament and meet on Monday morning, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon when Parliament is not meeting and discuss the bill. But hey akakudyeleni ku chipatala? These are the people we gave MWK24 million loans in 2014 and they will repay half, they cried for another MWK12 million loan early this year and EcoBank financed bringing the total the poor Malawian will finance for their greed to MWK18 million kwacha for each of our useless legislators.

Now on top of MWK18 million they will not repay, they get two cars duty free when MRA is busy castrating the poor peoples pockets for a Mazda demio or a Vanette to supplement our stagnant salaries. No we should be ashamed and start acting.

Unfortunately, nobody in Malawi is ashamed of anything. Like the Presidents trips to the USA annually to literally just speak to an audience which wont even be there, we need to justify our foreign policy approach. The President misses strategic meetings of SADC and AU where we can make impact we go and speak to the whole world? Really whose interests is our taxes advancing?

Look at ESCOM, we are not even ashamed that Zimbabwe is even beating us on energy despite all their challenges. We are not ashamed that Zambia has blackouts but not as shameful as we have reached and the same with our other neighbours, Mozambique after two decades of war and Tanzania.

We are not even ashamed that Zambia, landlocked and with small water sources does not experiences the now near normal water shortages.

We are not even shamed we have to buy maize from Zambia, the same country with same climate and temperature like Malawi minus the abundance water sources. Instead of simply empowering farmers with irrigation capacity to plant winter maize from June to September, we could have harvested we are now trying to borrow billions of kwacha to buy maize, when we have the whole Department of Irrigation and water bodies across every district.

What is it that makes us so daft that we cannot even learn from Zambians how to grow maize or keep power for some reasonable hours? What is it makes us comfortable to steal public finances, abuse them with foreign or local allowances, rape our treasury without blinking and steal more than El Chapos thugs?

What is it in Malawian that makes us unshamed, as people without souls to enjoy in luxury when children of the poor people cant afford meal, a decent cloth to cover their buttocks and simply die because money for health services was stolen by an accounts assistant, a doctor and a Minister?

Why have we no soul, no shame, no feelings, we are closer to becoming animals, we cut down trees every day and pretend its okay, Police, Immigration and Road Traffic bribes are open secret and acceptable, contracts and wrong people in all public spaces, retired officials being offered contracts at expense of the young generation, MPs demanding loans and allowances, Judges wanting Mercedes Benz on top of Prados. For heavens sake, do you really live in Malawi?

For God’s sake, our heartless politicians please start being ashamed. At least pretend you have been a Christian or Muslim before and stop looting the public purse, stop punitive taxes and stop your greed, you will find there is enough money for University without punishing the poor, enough money for hospitals without innocent children dying from curable malaria, and enough energy and reason to start investing in growing our own food using God-given water sources that multibillion kwacha loans we want our kids and grand children to be choked with.

From the President to Chief Exceutives of companies to Directors of NGOs, Dzukani chonde dzukani, your comfort should not be at the expense of the poor souls. Malawians have cried in all sectors, let us reduce greed, thieving, corruption and indeed looting. Be ashamed that you lead a country, ministry, constituency,  company or NGO that has nothing to show for in years. Be shamed to act, lets learn from our neighbours- we don’t need costly study tours to Malaysia, when Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique and even Zimbabwe does not have blackouts or extreme food shortages as we have!

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chalaza
chalaza
7 years ago

Do you mean you can pay tax and have another money to assist government, nduna zikupatsana ma bussines boma ndi ma compony. Ndiwedi patriotic citizen eti

be humane
be humane
7 years ago

The patriot, one thing i always fail to understand is people blaming voting a person because he/she comes from their area. In the world you will never run away from this line of voting. The fact that omwe amachokera dera lakwanu samawina does not make the voting line stupid. Because inunso mmene mumavota munavotera akwanu koma sanawine chifukwa munalipo ochepa. Stop making this as an argument. Voting one bcause u come from the same area is not an issue. MCP loses every election because amavoterana okhaokha and they are few in Malawi. A Tumbuka are confused people becuase they always… Read more »

patriot
7 years ago

All of us are to be blamed indeed. We destroy everthing we have and elect thieves just because they come from where we come from.Shame on us

Emeneka
Emeneka
7 years ago
Reply to  patriot

Dont be naive my friend we elect thieves because every Malawian including you is a thief so who can we elect. We cheat ourselves that we are peaceful when in fact we are imbeciles. We are funny people who cant complain and rise up against govt even when we know that our leaders are destroying our country. Goodall Gondwe is busy enriching himself at our expense and all we are doing is write poems instead of rising against such thieves. They suspend Kamoto yet they are themselves flouting procurement procedures at will. How i wish you guys listened to cabinet… Read more »

Thitherward \'wendo
Thitherward \'wendo
7 years ago

Perhaps our international mentors taught us too well. The Americans did their best to impress upon us the importance of dropping our compassionate umunthu values and embracing free-market economics. They were very persuasive. Not only did we embrace free-market economics, but also free-market politics and free-market justice. It did not take our MPs long to graduate from individual retail politics to wholesale party politics. Unlike the US, we have no lobyists, no middle-men. Our politicians sell and buy, give and take, directly to and from themselves. They are truly the apotheosis of modern free-market politics. If Trump gets into the… Read more »

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