Malawi, 2016.
Sometimes it is good to talk about the country. I am told there have been a couple of prophecies from prophets I never knew before about a southern African nation that will face a lot of troubles in this year and that 10 out of the 60 or so prophesies are linked to Malawi. Well, I guess we need to brace ourselves for hard times and to pray while working with our hands and brains for better lives and a better Malawi.
Of course when we talk of hard times we talk of financial troubles. That one is a big one and for those who think that economic hardships are not an issue, you should think again with the entanglement of donor aid and homosexuality issues in mind.
Having scooped a gold medal of poverty in 2015 (I am told we might not be the poorest but we are somewhere in the top 10; leaves me not sure if that should be an adequate consolation) people have been saying a lot on the causes of our economic woes while contributing little when it comes to solutions.
Relevant authorities have of course been blaming a lot of things; the floods, the chashgate scandal (funny how presidents claim having inherited empty coffers in Malawi), poor tobacco prices and all the other complicated stuff beyond the comprehension of my medical mind.
If I am to join the sort of blame game we all get into in trying to find what is causing our economic problems as a country, I would say that all of our issues fall into failing to put the resources we have to proper use. This could be the natural resources but above that we have failed to use the available financial resources big time. Unfortunately this happens at all levels; national, district, family and individual level.
At national level, different people will give you different figures as to how the money in the budget is swindled. The highest figure I have heard is 70%; someone claiming that as much as 70% of our budget ends up in people’s pockets, cashed out straight from account number one. How true that is remains an issue of debate, but the obvious thing is that this is happening in our midst. Somehow, some in authority end up blaming lack of donor support when asked as to why we are not developing. No comment (my comments do not come out good on these issues).
I once talked to an MRA worker, who in passing asked me how much I thought MRA collected in a single day. In my naivety I mentioned a modest rand of K100 million to K250 million only to be told that they collect a whooping K1 billion in a single day. Billion, esteemed readers. In a year, the idea is that the money collected, if kept well would accumulate to around K300 billion. Interestingly, we haven’t managed to work with the potential of our tax collector and the proceeds thereof to do anything to show off. This gentleman complained, and I quote, “MRA keeps 1% of the money and the rest is banked with account number 1 which is at the mercy of politicians”. Tikukuonani.
Then comes the funding from international organizations. Some of these have lost trust with the government and its account number 1 madness and have resorted to funding grassroot projects directly. Many of them are working in our villages but we don’t see much of sustained results. Reason? When the money comes it is only 40% or less used for the project while the rest goes into the coordinator or manager’s pocket. That is the sort of Malawi we have.
We have a country in which people look at public and project funds as something they can embezzle without remorse. People in the public service can decide to have a workshop at the lake when they can do it in Chiradzulu, just to have accommodation and meal allowances. People sit in three seminars a day, just to sign for allowances without making any meaningful contribution. Self-enrichment has become the order of the day and it is so rooted that people no longer regard it as an offence.
As young people, we might think that this is none of our business, but it has everything to do with the Malawi all of us are calling for a fix for. I would like to put it to you that this country is not poor because of lack of resources but because of the failure to use the resources that we have
While I have talked of the issue at a national level, I have observed that most problems at national level also manifest at personal level. Everyone wants to develop oneself and there are resources at our disposal for the job. These resources can be human, financial and otherwise. While sometimes we might have issues identifying what we have (this country has that issue), we are being presented with a call to put the resources at our disposal to the best of their use. The time we have, the friends we have, the money, school, knowledge and all. It is only when we do that in our personal lives that we, who will be in authority in the near future will begin to see the need for replicating that at community then national level.
This country can still be saved and this way of thinking is one of the many ways. National problem, from which you can derive a personal lesson when you see it.
While I agree that corruption has been Malawi's achilles heel since Kamunkhwala of Kasungu destroyed "stupid federation" its a bit naïve to paint every soul a disciple of biblical Zaccheous, the very fact that MRA gurus claim they collect more than what is confessed in the official books shows that the financial management and revenue collecting system is rotten to the last brick. You can see how some misguided zinjathropus tampered with the infamous Ifmis to the extent that a whooping 13bn, probably more, was swindled and kept in ceilings. There is need to toughen up, but we know that's a far-fetched vision, we can moan all we can but as long as government structures remain the same ur hard earned tambalas will be snatched under ur nose. Gud to read something political from u.
ReplyDelete70% budget lost through corruption? Whatever ur smoking must be injected with insulin