Living Conditions; Random Thoughts

It is yet another Friday and as usual there had to be something to read for the Richie Online Regular. Here it is.

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage on. I am not sure if I made a mention to this but to avoid being overwhelmed by what I think of as unnecessary updates, I decided not to renew my television subscription and to keep away from any news site that provides real-time Covid updates. For some reason relating to work, I found myself looking at the updates only to find that the global case count has more than trebled from the last time I bothered to take a look. Moral of the story? The pandemic is real and as Malawians we out to be doing better in the prevention of the disease. The huge crowds that were put together by political party leaders in Blantyre over the past two days are only preaching hypocrisy on the part of the leaders who have preached physical distancing from time to time. We can do better.

In line with the same issue of political leadership, we saw the presentation of nomination papers by presidential aspirants over the past two days. I am told that out of over ten candidates who collected the nomination papers, only 3 managed to submit successfully. I am not too sure of the numbers but my point is on the fact that a majority of the candidates who collected the forms did not go through with the process. Chikomeni? Anyway. I should not single anyone out on this. Ours is a country in which we like to joke with everything including the very systems that provide for the election of leaders of this country.

I found myself discussing the prospects of a fresh election with a friend earlier this week. According to him, the current regime needs to go for the improvement of living conditions of people in the country. His argument was that the current leadership has been mismanaging resources that could have been used to uplift the livelihoods of ordinary Malawians.

At first, I found myself disagreeing with his assertions. The reason for that was very simple and it could simply be described using one word; naivety. I will explain.

For the longest time, I have held this idea that whoever gets to travel in the MG1 car does not affect what happens to the flow of food to my table. I work for a private organization and what happens there is pretty much independent of what happens in government (to a large extent). The fault in this line of thought it simple; there are a lot of people whose industries largely depend on government policy direction or lack of it. Also, not many would be privileged enough or make the choice to pick a job outside the civil service due to the nature of their professions. I was busy talking to this person about him making his own world better other than waiting for the government to make the country a better place when I had a rude awakening. The conversation we had at the time made me realize that while some of us may consider ourselves as people who are well off than the average countryman, our conditions are not as good as we think they are (or as they should be) and it is the pathological acceptance of these conditions that leaves the country entrenched in poverty.

There would be no better way to define living conditions of people in the country than to highlight the fact that most of Malawians do not have access to basic social services. Recent surveys have shown that less than 20 percent of people in Malawi have access to piped water. One would question the accuracy of the figures, but if this was up to 40 percent, I still wouldn’t have rejoiced. We can only leave to imagination the proportion of the citizenry that have access to electricity. Power and water are basic needs and we are struggling to provide them to a majority of the citizens; but there is another catch to it. Even those of us that have water taps within our compounds do not get to enjoy running water 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Need I say something about electricity? I guess not. Yet those of us who have water and electricity connections in the medium to high density areas of our cities have come to accept that as the standard of living even though we do not have all round access to such services.

Expanding on that, we could talk about other things like access to education. While others would say that they are impressed with the education system, every sober person would not be impressed with the same. I would cite big issue of lack of access to tertiary education. I wrote my University entrance examinations for the University of Malawi (which by then included Bunda College) in 2010. I am not too sure of the actual number of applicants but I am reliably told that after we wrote the examinations close to 6000 of us qualified for a place in the university. Unfortunately, there was only a place for about 2000 of us and that was it. The rest had to figure other options out which was not the easiest thing to do then as the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University were the main public universities then. The cost of private universities is known to be limiting for many and as a country we have not seen any reasonable expansion in our capacity to provide tertiary education except for the construction of the Malawi University of Science and Technology and a bunch of technical colleges. Even now with the Covid-19 pandemic, our institutions of higher learning have had to close indefinitely as they are not able to effectively provide online teaching and learning platforms. Yet some of us have accepted the status quo just because we managed to battle for and clench that university spot and bagged a degree.

We could talk about a lot of things that we have wrongly accepted as okay in this country; access to communication facilities, the cost of living, exorbitant taxes and bank rates, high fuel prices and all sorts of things that could use sorting. For most of use whose lives are just borderline bearable, we feel like we are there and as such have accepted that things can continue to stay the way they are, so long as we are not suffering. Little do we know that what we may think of as a normal life here could be better defined. It is good to have electricity in the house, but it is even better to have it on all day everyday. It is good to have water pipes in the house, but it is even better to not depend on water tanks for assurances of a continuous water supply. It is good to have access to the internet but it is even better to have stable connections at reasonable rates so that everyone can access. It is good to have secondary schools but it is even better to have enough public universities and colleges and to make the private ones accessible in order to improve higher education. It is good to have hospitals, but even better to have well equipped and well-staffed hospitals.

We have come to a point where most of us have accepted suboptimal living conditions as okay and perhaps that is why we do not demand for more from ourselves and our leaders. Here is the message from Richie Online today. Do not get comfortable. Do not accept the status quo. Things could get better, and the more we think that they can get better, the more we will think of ways of creating positive change.

Of Covid-19, MEC and Birthdays

by the Venomous Hope


It’s good to be back as the scribe on this esteemed forum, especially on the occasion of the birthday of the proprietor of this blog. Many happy returns Richie from me and many others who take a peek of your thoughts every Friday. Perhaps it is why the gaff’ment saw it fit that your big day should coincide with the Labor Day, so much that you may have enough time for free uwiri at Chezz Ntemba. Meanwhile cables indicate that your fans here in Mzokoto have started collecting national IDs and signatures to force the hand of our incessantly resurrecting Big Kahuna at State House to change the name of the holiday to Richie’s Day, and I can bet chigubu chathobwa that most chiefs from T/A Ntchema have already been lined up to endorse this change on MBC, so long as your pockets continue to leak coins to bribe them.

So money is where I will begin. Most of the headlines in our social domain in this republic concern someone crying foul because he did not receive a cut he was promised, or the usual embezzling acts that most public officers have now mastered.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Richie and fellow comrades paralyzed the operations of the health system because they wanted a bigger chunk from the Covid Funds so that the “risk allowance" does indeed come close to covering the risks they undertake everyday on the operating table. The so-called “listening government” bowed down to pressure and hiked it to the extent that the least paid health practitioner will cart home at least K20000 per month (well not including salaries), up from the meagre K1800 they were receiving. Well we don’t know how long this will last as the memo indicated the it will only cover the period corona virus is hitting waves. But simple permutations, an ordinary health cover at MASM that does not even insure an air ticket for world-class surgeons to India or an audience with a specialist at Mwaiwathu costs K16000 per month. It just shows they were justified to push hard to get what they deserve and remove the embarrassing 1800 that cannot even buy a cough syrup bottle.
It is the Covid Fund, however, that has generated a lot of interests more than the disease itself, well at least in Nyasaland.

Government monger, party mercenary and agency is wrestling hard to have their dirty hands on it and not much focus is placed on the ground where the virus is silently spreading among us. Now that the controlling shark has changed surname from Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 to Presidential Task Force, the forces with eyes peeled on the ever-increasing hundreds of billions of kwachas’ fund will also multiply. Even our chiefs, prophets, and akutinso professors (well not achina Dr Uladi Musa) will now have windows to see for themselves how the moneys are being shared. Just saw today Gender Coordination Network demanding the president to make the Task Force gender sensitive, with at least 50-50 representation of both sexes. haha zikafika apa umangodziwa kuti chithumba anthu sakuchionera kukondwa.
 My point, though, is that the focus is much on profiteering rather than fighting this fatal silent enemy that is wrecking multitudes of lives across the globe. It seems no one is interested in distributing hand sanitizers to peasants from Mwamlowe nor handing over face mask to traders at Chapananga. We are quick rather to send agents to pacify trigger-happy Prison Service warders who are also demanding a share of the lofty Covid pie. The philosophy we are using all along is that as long as everyone who makes a lot noise has been given a piece to eat then we can go on our business. Well maybe not true. They will mention a stimulus cash injection for financially stricken urban households who will start receiving K35000 per day in their mpamba accounts or MEDEF loans that have been relaunched (4 times now). But 35k is merely a blip for those guarding the purse actually, at least 13 times an amount Botomani, one Misinformation Minister, makes in day when they brief us that the country has registered another case.

I would have liked to see those close to chuthumba implementing strategies to combat the virus, like increasing forced testing, door to door awareness especially in the rural areas where they don’t have access to electricity or Zuku Tv; sealing airtight our borders for non-essential homo sapiens (don’t know why people are still trekking to either Tanzania and South Africa when they know those countries are red hot zones for Covid-19, recklessness above opportunism); procuring more ventilators; supporting small scale businesses (not with mere tantrum and campaign speeches) like barbershops, mandazi sellers and minibus touts who will not be covered by the K35000. We are losing a lot of time debating who needs what and waiting for more cases to rise when we should be debating whether to implement compulsory masks wearing in public. Over a period of two months the country hasn’t yet hit 1000 tests, that alone is recipe for disaster. Malawi alone has returned to the state of nature that Hobbes described as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Survival of the fittest. But only those with long fingers will continue surviving once this Corona virus decide to take a break, assuming they managed to dig themselves a bigger share when no one was looking lest they end up like Loot-e-pal. When all is said, however, we will rue this moment when we should have been doing something that can in a long way help prevent many from contracting the virus. I hope we won’t end up hearing that the Task Force has changed its name to a Commission (I don’t know if NAC still exists), after all, no sane soul that has endorsed the candidature of APM can reject a place on the government board if invited to the banquet.

Speaking of endorsements, the esteemed president of the mighty Assembly for Democracy and Development (ADD don’t confuse with Machinga ADD), who at one time was Vice President without portfolio, Dr Cassim Chilumpha, has publicly added his signature to the candidature of our dear professor at Sanjika in the coming elections. Chilumpha must have been chased by all big wigs in the political arena probably because of his links to one of the biggest party alliances this country has ever seen, Tikonze Alliance, where he was among the founders and at some point leader of more than 8 parties that included Mafunde, Petra, Aford and other tiny shell parties that exist only at the Registrar’s office. It was important that he endorses Adadi as he continue to eat our taxes through his hefty retirement package. It’s a big catch for DPP-UDF alliance who have been battered by bad news especially from the courts in recent months. And with that endorsement, the number of potential candidates for the forthcoming elections has reduced. We just need more bribes to coax Ras Chikomeni, DSD Kuwani of Mbakuwaku and 7 others that are rumored to have already collected nomination papers to come in the open and root for one of the bigger fishes. Perhaps creating a ministry of Herbal Sciences, Roots and Smoking Affairs for the good Rasta from Chimaliro will quench his thirst to run this time, or if bwana Chakwera can add a Vanette to his politically transmitted fleet of cars. if that happens we can only worry that Covid is the only obstacle that can delay these elections. And MEC is still receiving criticisms from its handling of the electoral process. Why does MEC not institute an inquiry on the alleged registration of minors whose evidence has flooded the media? As a registered voter my fear is on the legitimacy of the decisions the commission is making now when they know they have few weeks in office as their tenure is expiring. They haven’t made anything that can wrest away fears that they are a bunch of people who can fix the results. Maybe they are waiting for the court decision next Tuesday, and its then when they will take head on all the allegations with serious gusto. We are doomed if this commission will organize the elections.

On a final note, congratulations to PSG for winning yet another Ligue 1 title after French government suspended canceled all sporting activities until at least September. In German they are planning on resuming the season albeit playing behind closed doors, while in Italy all clubs have voted to resume the season at some point in the future. Some dark forces are rooting the cancellation to happen in England, only different is to call the season null and void (like Concourt), and my Liverpool to continue its dry spell of titles past the 30-year mark. Ufiti uwu. We are already 25 points clear, with only 2 wins to mathematically confirm the inevitable and yet someone wants to void thukuta la season yonse, tikhapanapo kenako. I understand that FAM has created a fund to cater for super league teams in these hard times. it was in the news recently that Wanderers will deduct 30% on the salary of its players, and that Tigers aka Kaukau were close to a deathbed due to financial woes that have crippled them since God knows when. And with this intervention by FAM I am sure it will save the game, clubs, and most importantly lives. The same should be instilled in us, whatever small we can manage we should share to those struggling making ends meet.
Enjoy your weekend folks.