Envisioning a Poverty-free Malawi

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overty reduction has been a song that we have been singing for as long time in Malawi and the fact that little, if any, leaves some people wondering if we could really end poverty in the next 20 years or so. Many young people have lost the hope of a new and poverty free Malawi, but I believe that with some few practical strategies, extreme poverty can be a story of the past.

In my view, the main key to reducing and eradicating extreme poverty is the use of a multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach in poverty reduction. In simple terms, I believe that everyone in the country has a role to play in reducing poverty contrary to popular belief that it is the job of the government to take us out of this extreme poverty. Much as the government has a role to play, the private sector, the academia, media and the general public all have roles to play in poverty reduction and I will try to explain on how this could be done.

We cannot ignore the fact that the government is a key player in the reduction of poverty in the country. This role does not just come with the drafting of economic policies in some office as we have been made to believe over years. It comes with the development of well laid and long term development plans that are carefully made and implemented. Talking of development plans, Malawi does not have a well laid development agenda and as such the government runs development projects mostly for political credit. This is why some projects are abandoned immediately after the transition from one ruling political party to another costing the tax-payer, local or foreign (as some of these are donor funded) a fortune. This is one of the things that have stagnated development in the country for some time and it is one of the reasons we are still where we are, in the top ten of the poorest countries in the world.

Another thing that has contributed to the stagnation of development in the country is the fact that government runs more liabilities than assets and that has been emulated by many organizations and political parties. With the privatization of government owned companies the only revenue the government gets is from the taxes that are incurred. The government, however runs a civil service that is draining a lot in salaries and allowances with little productivity. If we are to move on and to reduce poverty, the government needs to consider ownership of assets in terms of services that can generate revenue for the government directly.

The things I highlighted are mostly to do with the government machinery and the policies therein but the other factor we do not have to overlook is the fact that the people who are running the government also have a role to play. The gap that we have as a nation is that we have a lot of people in high positions who abuse the public purse and that is costing the ordinary Malawian. Malawi needs leaders and technical people who have risen above self-enrichment and look for the common good. Unfortunately there is no screening tool that determines how honest an office bearer can be and thus we need a stronger justice system that can bring those caught to book for them to serve as a lesson to others.

The last thing on the part of the government is that our governments need to seriously consider what it can provide for free within its own means. Currently the government is providing free healthcare, free primary school education and subsidized farm inputs. In tertiary education the government is also providing free training for primary school teachers and sponsoring students in the public universities. This has affected the quality of the service delivered and maintaining the subsidized and free services has proven unsustainable over the years.

There is a need for the review of some of these things that are being provided for free or almost free and they are draining the government of monetary resources while on the other hand creating spirit of dependence and entitlement to the general public. Fees, for example, can be introduced in the teachers’ colleges and health facilities. In public universities, the government should also consider revising the fees upwards while making sure that the private sector and other stakeholders are partnered with to make sure that the adjustments do not affect access to tertiary education. We as Malawians need also need to embrace these changes as they come and we have to realize that the things we call free are not actually free as someone else somewhere pays for them.

A lot of things have been highlighted on the government side but we also need to realize that it is not the job of the government alone to alleviate the country of poverty. This means that everyone also has to play a role in alleviating poverty in their families and societies if the country is to take a step in eradicating poverty, other than pointing to the government. The fact that there is a reciprocated relationship between the economic growth of a country and the people therein and that if we are to individually develop economically, the country would also advance in poverty eradication.

This realization bring us to the fact that most of us Malawians are not financially independent and are contributing little to our development. Most of us think of life in terms of survival in terms of employment and that has limited us to survival and not development. This might be due to the school system which does not include much on financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Our school books have been filled with classical professions but make no mention of business entrepreneurship. As something people can venture into which diverts people’s attention from ways of generating resources that can impact the country on a larger scale through

I feel like there is a need for everyone to take this into account if we are to develop. On the other hand, there is hope in the country as there are some people that have taken up the task of making us all realize that there is more we can do for the country through entrepreneurship and job creation.

The government should consider supporting these initiatives as they can lead to the development of small and medium scale businesses; widening the tax base and creating some job opportunities that can in turn improve the living conditions of the people. Courses on entrepreneurship and financial literacy should also be integrated in the school curriculums to encourage the art of saving and investing in young people. To be realistic, this might take time to be implemented and this where the importance of the media comes in.

The media has a role to play in making sure that opportunities are given to those who would like to share knowledge on financial literacy and entrepreneurship in the country. This can be in terms of offering free slots and coverage of events that are aimed at imparting skills in business and financial management and it can be a more development oriented form of social responsibility to any form of media house.

The academia also has a very crucial role to play if the country is to move from the extreme poverty it is in. this role comes in the form of generation of more development oriented evidence in crucial fields like health, agriculture, engineering and natural resource management among others. Malawi has been blessed with a lot of resources, natural and otherwise and we have a lot of untapped potential for development. With just the right amount of evidence and application thereof we could see the country transforming beyond recognition.

In the same line, there is a need for the bridging of the gap between those who generate evidence i.e. researchers and those who need it i.e. the lawmakers to improve the quality of argument when debating on matters of national importance in parliament.

The role of the youth in poverty eradication cannot be overlooked in Malawi. As future leaders, we have a role to play now and it is encouraging to note that with time many of the young people in the country are coming to realize the importance of thinking beyond oneself when it comes to development and are doing something about it. This, however, is not the way everyone thinks and there is a need for snowballing of these ideas among the youth to ensure sustained development in the future. Young people also need to voice out views on issues that matter in the country other than just staying silent on issues that affect them.

On the government side, the youth need empowerment and their initiatives need to be supported if the country is to develop. There are so many young people who have brilliant ideas that have the potential of transforming the country. Many of these ideas and dreams die before actualization because of lack of support from the government and other stakeholders. For the country to develop, however, the youth need to be empowered financially and intellectually for continual development.

The youth themselves also need to come to the realization that they need to work their way out and rise if they are to make things work for the betterment of the country. The reality on the ground in the country is that there is need for hard work and persistence is someone is to get support, financial and otherwise for a new idea. This is what lacks in many young people and others have resigned to fate pointing it at the big people and accusing them of not giving young people opportunities. The counter argument to that could be that young people do not need to sit down and wait for the support of whoever can provide it but have to constantly keep knocking on their doors while giving them enough reasons to support their initiatives.

The main emphasis of my argument is on the importance of a multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach. Everyone has a role to play in the reduction of poverty in the country and if we are to do that in unison as a nation we might just see the country transform beyond recognition within the next 20 years or less. This however depends on a strong political will from the government and the support of everyone from the non-governmental organizations, private sector and the general public.

The first way to go if we are to develop and to eradicate poverty is mindset change. Both the government and the general public need to think in terms of asset accumulation and revenue generation for the development of our country. The government needs to be run like a business and it should be running some assets that can generate some reasonable revenue at the end of the day. We also need to change our mindset and switch to focusing on wealth building other than poverty reduction which is limited to solving the problems of the day.

We also need to get into the habit of thinking beyond ourselves in order to develop and to rise above extreme poverty. People need to move from self-enrichment to thinking of the greater good and about the next generation when planning developmental projects.

This reflection might not be as technical as it can be, but it is a big part of what Malawi needs if it is to move from extreme poverty. It might have not contained economic terms and figures, but if applied on the ground the fruits thereof might be reflected in both our development indices and above that the living conditions of the people.