APM opens K20bn shopping mall: Greed affecting Malawi, says Old Mutual chair

God must help the people of Malawi to learn to love their country by abandoning greed instead of just blaming the country’s leadership for the country’s problems, chairperson of Old Mutual in Malawi, Jimmy Lipunga, said on Monday.

Speaking in Lilongwe during the official opening the largest shopping mall Malawi by President Peter Mutharika, Lipunga said it is greed across the board that is destroying the country.

“The kind of selfishness which fosters self-centredness is the one that is destroying our country. God must help this country by talking to the hearts of its people to learn to hate greed and love other people,” said Lipunga.

He explained that people across the board want to clutch all opportunities and goodies to themselves instead of thinking about the plight of other people.

“It is because of greed that sometimes we hear of demands that are absolutely selfish; they make one wonder whether those making them consider the interests of all,” he said, without referring to specific people.

However some of the country’s commentators and columnists, in referring to demands that some of the public workers who have gone on strike are making, are wondering how such demands would be met.

“Aren’t some demands childish?” was the headline of a column written by ‘Backbencher’ in the Weekend Nation, one of the leading weeklies in Malawi.

“If we are genuinely incensed by the prospects of another 50 years without much to show for it, then the Judiciary, the Legislature and the intelligentsia should stop making ridiculous demands for VXs and 48 percent pay-hikes from a government that is obviously broke and start leading the masses in demanding of APM the transformational leadership that is needed to fix our economy,” reads a paragraph in Backbencher’s column.

Lipunga said until all Malawians become patriotic and become brother’s or sister’s keepers, Malawi will not develop.

“We are so obsessed with the sense of ourselves that we forget other people exist. We are so selfish we think only us, not the other people, are entitled to good things. We need to change,” said Lipunga.

He said it was not enough to demand of change from government when the population does not want to change.

“Before we start praying for government to change, we have to start with the prayer for us to change. This is important because the quality of the government is determined by the quality of the people it leads,” said Lipunga.

President Mutharika on Monday morning officially opened Malawi’s largest shopping mall, which is owned by Malawi Property Investment Company (MPICO), and called on other companies to emulate the example.

“This is an indication of serious investment and commitment that the management of the company has for the betterment of this nation,” said Mutharika.

Mutharika said the facility has increased space for letting, adding that once it is fully engaged, there will be need for companies to offer various services ranging from security, landscaping, cleaning and maintenance.

Gateway Mall stands next to the Africa Bible College complex along the Kaunda Road in Lilongwe. Kaunda Road runs through Area 47, Gulliver, Area 49 and Area 25 townships to Kanengo from the Lilongwe-Mchinji Road.