Better Malawi is possible in 2015: Nyasa Times New Year editorial message

The year of Our Lord 2014, which has just gone by, will go down in our national collective memory as one when some ruthless and evil-minded Malawians connived and decided to screw us all of our hard-earned tax in a conspiracy and plunder dubbed the Cashgate.

The year will also remembered in our history books as one in which the democratic aspirations of Malawians were mercilessly crushed under the weight of the mismanaged and chaotic elections that gave a still birth to a government whose legitimacy will always be questioned.

But Malawians are a resilient lot and thank God the nation rode above the two blight spots of 2014 and can now look to 2015 not with trepidation but with hope and courage for things to be better.

We, at Nyasa Times, can only wish Malawians all the best in the New Year and make a solemn promise to contribute to its national development as we continue our role to be the searchlight of society for its sustenance and well-being.

Ours is a pledge to continue this role that journalism has placed on our shoulders and one which we carry with stoic pleasure and determination knowing the difference it makes in the democratic processes of our beloved nation.

To our leaders in the DPP government our message is simple: Our people have suffered enough and they deserve a break in 2015.

There are a lot of evils that beset out nation in the year just gone by and caused excruciating pain in the wrong place for our people.

They range from blatant tribalism lamely justified on DPP’s popularity in the Southern Region to living in an economy that is tanking due to the withdrawal of donor aid as a result of the selfishness of few evil individuals who thought lining up their pockets is more important than using taxpayers’ money to buy aspirin for our grandmothers in the most of rural Malawi.

The general infrastructure is a constant state of disrepair and most of it needs attention. School children especially in primary schools in the rural are still learning under trees in this day and age and that too needs fixing.

Our hospitals have of late become mere waiting rooms for death as they have no equipment and drugs to cure anybody and that too is a long held problem whose solution has evaded our leaders.

These are a just a snapshot of the problems that Malawians have had to live with for the past 50 years and no leader or set of leaders have decisively dealt with.

But 2015 offers a chance of a new beginning and new way of doing things and the Peter Mutharika administration has their work cut out for them. Our hope and that of Malawians is that they are up to it and time will tell.

We wish you a happy New Year.