Malawi at 55: We must be puzzling God!

Malawi must be puzzling God. Much as Jonathan Iwegbu in Achebe’s Civil Peace insists that ‘nothing puzzles God’, there is something about our so-called Warm Heart of Africa and the poorest nation on earth that must be disturbing our Creator.

It is cogent that whosoever bewitched us as nation must have used very strong roots. The tree must have been be created for this country, and Malawi only; for, it seems there are no more roots of that very same tree for other countries.

We needed brothers—or cousins, at least.

There are cousins, of course. Those war-torn countries are. But wait a minute! We are not war-torn. We have not seen war. In fact, most of us would be utterly clueless if a ‘friendly’ war broke out. We wouldn’t know, surely, where to run to or hide. We have known peace. Peace par excellence if you asked me.

But, in the last 55 years we have been free of colonial rule, we have cavorted with immeasurable mediocrity and stupidity that has failed us to make headway progress. Instead, we continue to nose-dive at a supersonic speed with no life savers in sight.

We are doomed. Malawi is doomed. Tribalism continues to proliferate. Swirls of heavy corruption, executive arrogance and a decaying civil service continue to suffocate us all—with no clue of how to end the nonsense.

And, you wonder that while some of our brothers have suffered the worst, maimed by wars—such as Rwanda and Mozambique—and continue to be twenty-times better than us, we continue to wallow in indescribable hopelessness. At  times, to the extent of begging food, experiencing blackouts and water shortages when we have one of the freshest lakes
in the world.

Our universities that have been in existence since 1964, and have produced engineers, agriculturalists, and many more, have failed to remain relevant. Not even a simple hand machine for our frail women breaking quarry stones. Not even simple treadle pumps for irrigation along Songwe or Rukuru or Shire. Just impunity!

Surely, and seriously, God must be puzzled with us as a nation.

May be the next 55 years should help us to re-think our strategies, which must encapsulate viable and doable initiatives to move our country forward. Are we not tired of puzzling God—with our mediocrity?