On the Abuse of Resources

Today happens to be Friday, the 26^th of August in the year 2016. The country is Malawi and we are under the “DPP government” which was ushered into power (we probably need to change this to “responsibility”) in the year 2014.

There was a tight campaign for the presidential seat then with the MCP, DPP, UDF and the then ruling (another word we need to change; probably to “governing” or something) outsmarting each other. There were a couple of other candidates on the sidelines, and they probably knew that they were not going to win (achina Ellen Singh of the “Mbatata ndi yaimuna, mbatatesi ndi yaikazi” fame, John Chisi and Chipani Cha Pfuko’s Davies Katsonga). There was one candidate who came up with one radical point in his manifesto, though. Mark Katsonga told us that the first thing he would do if we entrusted him (which we didn’t) with the top post in the country he would close account number one. Account number one, dear reader, is the gafment’s account, which is probable held at some branch of the Reserve Bank and it is where government resources are pooled. Pooled so that every ministry and department can get the little they need for their activities.

Many wondered as to why he suggested such a radical move. His response? He wanted to protect public funds which he thought were very vulnerable in that account. He probably is more informed than half of the Malawian population so he is entitled to his opinion.

Fast forward to 2016, we have a lot being written in our papers and online publications. MK238 billion cashgate, MK557 billion cashgate and all that are hitting the press now and then and if you think of it soberly, we can never be sure about how much was siphoned from the public coffers.  All we know is that ndizambiri ndithu, but the people who are the master minders of the stealing are still walking free. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about them, but rather the fact that our money was misplaced. Maybe Mark had a point. The main point here is that this was a taxpayer’s money (whether foreign or domestic) and it had its own purpose, before someone decided that he would rather have it as his own. That was a gross misappropriation of funds which had an intended purpose.

Most of us do point to the government when it comes to this issue of kusolola, but we need to understand that this is happening everywhere. I once had a chat with the CEO of one of the Insurance Companies in town and he told me how it is hard to find honest people who you can trust with your funds in a company among the many who qualify for the job. Maybe that is a bit too obvious again. There is the church. Take a look at the news and see how many are abusing church funds. Some have even made a joke out of the fundraisers our churches organize for projects and how those projects never come to completion. Kusolola.

A tale is told of one church that wrote a proposal to its HQ komwe ku Ulaya. They had an idea of a project for helping the underprivileged in their area. On a good note, the proposal got accepted. I mean, those were some good missionary and Jesus-like ideas there. Issues came in when they had to agree on the implementation. Local leaders wanted the money to come into their account while the donors wanted the money to go directly to the beneficiaries. Did they agree on something? Unfortunately, no. People just didn’t want to have the money pass through the church’s account number one. Cases like these make one wonder whether there are people who are for real out here. This gets pretty dangerous when you discover that there are a lot of people who are starting organizations and a lot more who are organizing seminars; teaching them how to write proposals for funding. If they get the funding, they sure will be able to account for it by writing reports and producing receipts, but very little if any of those funds will leave the desired mark in the society.

Talking of the misappropriation of funds, it is happening at many levels in both the public and private sector. His Excellency even conceded to the fact that there is corruption in the country and pleaded with us to leave the public purse alone. Without further comments, I would like to echo his words (mauwotu, eti?) I think it is high time we got the discipline of using money for its intended purpose without compromising. I have a reason to believe that the K577 billion or K1 trillion kwachas (we are currently not sure as to how much) which have gone down the drain could have made a difference in some community’s livelihood had they gone through the intended channel.

Interestingly enough, I think the issues to do with the discipline of using money for its intended purpose or lack of thereof comes from within our communities and homes. Abuse of Area Development Funds (or whatever you call them) is not a thing that sends chills down leaders’ spines in our homes. Spending money that was meant for food on hair products isn’t much of an issue with our ladies. Kumwera fees? Let’s not even go there. I have probably used the money they sent me with to buy tomatoes for ndiwo zalero to buy credit just to update my blog. That is how undisciplined we are.

Generally we are a resource limited country. That is an undeniable fact but some of these issues we have come from our own doing. Misappropriating of valuable resources is costing us development at personal, society, corporate and national level. We need to be thinking about putting money to the intended use if we are to take a step forward.

Extra advice. It is the end of the month and you probably have been thinking of some important things you want to do with your money. You might want to stick to that other than regret and keep postponing progress. For friends in colleges I have this reminder that upkeep allowance is not for swag or drinks or hairdos. It is for food for goodness’ sake. Intended use, right? Osamadzibera.

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