Mutharika has played us for fools: Malawi Savings Bank sale
It is no longer a rumour as it was few weeks ago, Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) and Indebank have been sold. I wish I could extol government for selling MSB, which many claim was on verge of collapsing—thanks to political interference (read toxic loans) in the bank and politically connected people who ransacked and left it hemorrhaging.
There are reasons many argued for and against the sale of MSB, but that is a discussion for another day.
There is a nudging feeling that is compelling me to air my thoughts on the matter. I find it grossly disturbing that President Peter Mutharika after telling Malawians that he will put on hold the sale of MSB until when he is convinced that there has been enough debate and consultation on the pros and cons of selling it went against his promise.
I remember how many Malawians took to social media networks commending Mutharika for finally coming out of his cocoon and offering direction on the matter. Many even christened him ‘a listening president’ who has the welfare of Malawians at heart.
Little did we know that Mutharika was simply pulling wool over our eyes—he had already made the decision and was waiting for the perfect time to put pen to paper. There was a feeling among many, if reactions on social media are anything to go by, that perhaps Mutharika is a man of his words. He was indeed given the benefit of the doubt but, unfortunately, he has just proved that he is not a man of his words.
I have a feeling that government was waiting for MPs to pass the Budget to avoid the “Section 65 number one, Budget number two” scenario which paralysed Parliament during Bingu wa Mutharika’s reign.
I have not been outside Malawi and even if I were, in this age of Internet, I would still have heard and read about this public debate. It never happened and that’s the general feeling one gets when you read comments on social media. What did Mutharika really mean by public debate if no public was involved in making the final decision? Could it be that he meant his inner circle is the public? So much for a listening government.
From the look of things, even Parliament has been caught unawares. Just a day after it recommended government recapitalisation of the bank, MSB was sold. Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe must have been looking at the MPs and laughing at them. We all have been played for fools.
And typical of us Malawians, we will sit with hands akimbo and grumble about it without doing anything. For those who can, they will spend hours on Facebook and Twitter and sulking. We seriously need to learn that no hashtag or Facebook post makes things work if we do not get up and do it.
- The article appeared in the The Nation newspaper
sometimes u speak like ur brain has stop workng, dnt u see that it was deal to sell. Wen u knw the truth u will cry
For the public debate ask Zodiak and Mayaya it was done several weeks ago and the panelists were our Malawi economists, Mayaya, law society president, some MPs, etc. and I happened to watch a replay on MBC- TV some weeks ago. It was mostly sms participated by most Mchinji guys. If you didn’t watch and participated it is your problem because nowadays people are busy watching DSTv and videos ignoring our local broadcasters and I think the President acted on those debate findings. May be you wanted the debate to be carried out at a stadium so that everyone would… Read more »
Some comment that I see here they really make me feel sad. Walking Bare foot of somebody you are blaming the government. Yet child spacing is not taken care in the village. Mukamaberekana mosaganiza mumati Peter azakulelerani ana anu ? cash gate scandal was done by government official , now Peter is selling Government Bank to make it private so that it can run efficiently why r u crying ? The bank still the same only change of hand so what’s the concern ? some they are saying constructive criticism/advice, where was it before cash gate ? Let the Government… Read more »
With the official opposition that we have, we will continue being played for fools for the next nine years. MCP and PP members of parliament just don’t do their homework. They react to national events the same way an ordinary citizen does – with lots of emotion and little thinking.
Just today it has transpired that they were supposed to FORMALLY summon APM to Parliament. If they bothered to read the laws which they pass, they would represent us better.
DPP doesn’t have the numbers to ride roughshod over Malawians; this is only made possible because our sleeping opposition MP’s…
Koma bwampini…
By the way msb is reported to have made a profit worthy 2.something billion which means the bank did not need any money to be pumped into its system for its survival, they just wanted to rescue Mulli from the loan finish and clear.
Mr Jose who lied to you that msb needed K300 billion? By the way do u know the value of 300 billion kwacha? Its a 1/3 of our national budget for a year. You are one of the people who were telling people lies that msb needed alot of money while it only needed a mere 4 billion to be on its steady feet but the reserve bank exaggerated the figures to 26 billion in order to convince the unthinkable people like you Mr Jose. The selling of the bank is a good development if it is done in a… Read more »
What goes around comes around . Birds of the same feathers and genes will always resemble. What if we …… Hold our uncocievd patience and act. Come out of the cacOon eish.
Walk from Nkhota-Kota to Benga, an school pupils walk barefoot! Poverty still amaze me while a few leaders sit down to steal from the poor. In 2015, pupils can still walk barefoot to school and yet a few misguided leaders can still cash gate to bluff us all. To be honest, the economy has bitten s hard.
Played again for real.