Mind the gap! Malawians 40% poorer in past 12 months, economist Kachaje says at Oxfam debate
Renowned economic expert Henry Kachaje has said Malawians are 40 percent poorer today than they were a year ago and blamed the citizens for their silence when the economic situation is worsening.
Kachaje, who is also president of Economists Association of Malawi, said this during a debate on Monday in Lilongwe organised by Oxfam to discuss the widening gap in Malawi between the rich and the poor.
He said Malawians are too timid to demand right directions for their country.
“We think they (leaders) are wiser, we think one man is wiser than all of us, we think a group of people is wiser than all Malawians,” he said.
Professor Chijere Chirwa of Chancellor College, a constituent of the University of Malawi, said unless Malawians stop taking their leaders as Messiahs, Malawians will always be impoverished.
He said Malawians should always demand good services from their leaders, make their leaders transparent and accountable instead of hero worshipping them or being perpetual hand clappers.
“We tend to believe in messiahism, we praise them because we take them as messiahs. This must stop. We should be able to tell them if you don’t perform, leave office,” he said.
Professor Wiseman Chirwa also mentioned lack of visionary national leadership and worsening corruption as some of the factors that have worsened poverty while a few elite become richer.
He said: “There have been rising inequalities with concurrent cases of corruption and fraud, what is the correlation? Or, is this just a coincidence?
“The inequality must be first explained by asking the fundamental question why this happening, the focus on access to services is and whether there are rules to protect the poor are crucial. The laws that govern the access to resources favour the rich. Even those who get a coupon in this country have a direct link to a Cabinet minister or the MP.”
Dedza East MP Juliana Lunguzi said it was disheartening that Malawians think criticising politicians is a taboo.
“We are harmless yet you fear to criticise us when we go wrong,” she said.
Oxfam says in these hard and harsh economic times, the gap between the haves and halve not’s increasingly widening as the poor are getting poorer and poorer by day.
Malawi is facing turbulent economy which is forcing the health sector and education sector among key public social services to increasingly collapse affecting millions of the poor.
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Culture of not accepting other peoples views breeds suppression which breeds tribalism resulting into nepotism. Altitude of self enrichment breeds greed that results in a winner takes all which is unfortunate element for leadership.
GoGo Henry tell them the truth. kodi anthu ena amene mukuikira kumbuyo boma muli Malawi mommuno? Mukuti opposition ichitepo kanthu isamangolankhula. opposition ili ndi ndalama??? Misonkho yathu ili ndi boma komanso mmene amabera mavote anatinamiza kuti zinthu zisintha umphawi utha so what is this nonses now. Inuyo ngati mukudya nao just shut your stinking mouths and God is goping to Interviene. Ndipo mudzathera limodzi ndi DPP yanu ya utsiru iyi. People are dying in hosiptals no mankhwala peolpe are dying of hunger people in some government Institutions havent received their salaries yet. Is this normal??? You mean Bushiri adziposa Boma… Read more »
What is this nonsense am always hearing about my country Malawi? Kachaje is saying the rich are getting richer,why then not calling those that are getting richer to attend these debates? We were supposed to hear from these people on how they are making money regardless of this economic crisis so that we should learn something from them. We are tired of hearing from people like Kachaje who don’t have anything but only telling us of what they learnt in college. Call those that own things like Mulli, Mark Katsonga to tell us how they are still getting richer. In… Read more »
some folks busy castigating stinking staff to kachaje,he is demo fool indeed but he is right by the way
“The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer”. Am not an expert in economics but does this not just tell the unfair distribution of worth? Why then the issue of 40% poorer? What is the percentage of richness on those that are getting richer? Or are they somewhere and not in Malawi?
Give us a report on those that are getting richer?
So what is the substance from this discussion? These tired faces tell the story. Talk and more talk. We need economics laboratories in the villages teaching and guiding households to build their economic regeneration by their bootstraps.
Cut the crap and do some real work Henry – look at the Bakuwas, Jumbes, Wanangwas etc farming and recruiting farmers to work with them
Anthu akummwela ationongela dziko… Manyaka eni eni… Mbuli, alesi. Ntchito kubelekana basi. Titati tigawane chitaganya kummwera kungakhale umphawi wa mzanga ali pati…
Let us start with criticizing kanthiti. She was pissed off to the core when Hon Atupele Muluzi asked her a simple question – do your mfumus not want subsidy? Ok uyu wagwa nayo. Tsano a Kachaje kaya Kechenje kodi inu muli nkanthu? Chonde tiuuzeni zomwe mwakundikira osati zomangodya ma allowance wherever some idiots invite you. Where are a million jobs you promised to create in 2014? Please cover your stinking pit latrine (your mouth). Tikachoka apo ndiye tiyambeno kunyoza our leaders?
thats very true, especially most people in south Malawi take Mutharika as their god and don’t mind whether what is he doing is wrong or right. Please my fellows Malawians lets wake up!!! Stop regionalism and tribalism which is the basis of all this shit!!