It is yet another beautiful Friday. Unlike most Fridays, I didn’t have to struggle with what to write because of the past week’s eventualities of my personal and professional life. I have had to resist a lot of temptation to finally come up with this article on housing.
Some of you who know me personally (unlike achina Robin Sinsamala who only know me as Richie Online) know that I finished college in May 2016 and went on to start my work (clinical internships as some demeanors would call it; shut up) in the month of December in the same year. That was all good and everyone was so happy about it until we remembered about where I was stationed. It was the same sort of thing that happens when the first born in the family gets selected to a national secondary school. People celebrate wildly and then become silent when they begin to think about the source of the fees.
That was a digression.
I am stationed at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and I was, at the time staying with my parents in Lunzu (which I am told is in Blantyre). Due to issues to do with public transport (among others), I was not too keen on extending the 23 year old stay with the parents and I wanted to move out from the word go. Sadly I was out of Blantyre in the period surrounding these transitions from waganyu to a civil servant on probation. On the other hand, I though it was still wise to start my house hunt and being a cyber human, I decided to do the unconventional. While I had one of my guys running on the ground in Blantyre, I decided to complement (someone needs to text me if I got this one right) their efforts by doing my own search. Turns out I was both wrong and right at the same time because neither their search nor mine brought something to point at in the end.
The house hunt began on some Facebook called Blantyre Property Solutions. Some of you know this Facebook. It’s that group where one agent (Isaac Gent, Sestino Simbani, Lusungu Nyondo and the others that I can’t remember now) post about all the nice houses they know to be free. The way it works is that you call them on the numbers they drop and you go to see the house you like, pay them the viewing fee. I am told you have to cough up some extra aloe’s when you finally get the house too and that they also get something from the owner. Clever people, huh?
Someone posted a good picture of a nice house in Zingwangwa and got me excited. It was newly built (yoti ndikaiyambe ndekha), nice design and secure. Above that the rentals were reasonable. I quickly called this agent and told him I was interested. To cut this whole story short, after a long discussion with Agent Impatient I got to realize that the house still had some finishing to do and it was not ready for use for another three weeks at the very least. I had been counting on this fella and all of the sudden he broke the bad news via a phone call when I was in Lilongwe en route to Blantyre from wherever I was that day with the hope of kukalowa nyumba yanyawani. No house for me.
For the first few days of my work I was operating from Mwanza (Lunzu) and it wasn’t that pleasing. I somehow managed to get a room in the house of one good Samaritan called David. That is where I stayed until December 26. I later moved to Chitawira and now Manja where I am living in my lonesome. No agents were involved in both transfers and I found these places through friends of mine.
The long boring story was just about painting a picture of how it is not so easy to find suitable and affordable accommodation in our cities. I might have been lucky to find a place in Chitawira and then Manja in the first place but many who sailed in the same boat with me in college are still struggling with the same issue. We have substandard pieces of accommodation with far-fetched rates.
One would wonder as to why we have this problem of housing in our cities. Well. I have a thought or two on that. The first issue is that we have an exponentially increasing number of young graduates who are coming to work in the cities. You have to understand that these are not just your Blantyre, Lilongwe or Mzuzu guys. They are coming from all corners of the country to the commercial capital or to any other city for work. What they mostly need is this nice piece of self-contained accommodation where they can keep their startup kit and sleep. That has proven to be too difficult to find. If you know much about Blantyre you would know that the sort of houses I am talking about are concentrated in the Chitawira-Nkolokosa area and all of them are full of people who are not planning on leaving anytime soon. The others that are not are currently housing students from the MIJ-Poly-MCA-COM college belt. In other words, there are so many people who need these places in town and the demand is ever growing.
The other side of the same issue of the growing demand is that there is nothing being done on the supply part. We are not building. I am told we have a housing corporation or something of the sort but of late there hasn’t been much to show for it save for the rampant and dubious selling of houses to crooked politicians. I am yet to be notified of new structures constructed by the same in recent years. Their function now is probably that of collecting rentals from clients and selling more houses.
There we are, then. We have an ever growing demand for housing and a stagnated supply. If we continue at the rate we are going, the gap between the two will continue to widen to the dismay of many. The only people who will celebrate this will the agents who get the viewing fees for showing one house to seven hopeful clients, six of who will end up not liking the house with the most desperate one having to top up a ridiculous amount for the rentals and fee for the agent.
Having said that, I think it is high time we did something about this as a nation. I will dismiss you if you are thinking of malata subsidy. This is an issue of urban housing and I am afraid that if we are to sort this out for good we might have to use something that is more focused and a bit less political. I would suggest that we get the MHC to work but that is a statutory corporation. We at Richie Online do not have that much trust in those so this goes back to us. I have a lot of optimistic friends who always talk of thinking solutions and not problems. I also have a lot of friends who like to say that and entrepreneur is that guy who makes money from solving people’s problems. Well. World changers and entrepreneurs, here is your challenge. Isaac Banda is still looking for a house and while you may not help him now, you may help my little bro Andrew when graduates from medical school. Making money while solving problems; isn’t that the deal?
As for the rest of us house hunters, things will remain tough whether we use agents or not. We better get connected in town and up our searching game. Unfortunately I don't have proper tips on this one. Befriend Maradona Kanyenda on Facebook, maybe. I am told he is an honest agent. And probably Matthews Fatty Joe Gomani too. Who knows? They may just come through.
Your thoughts?
Friday, 14 April 2017
Friday, 7 April 2017
PRISONS OR DEATH TRAPS?
With the Richie Online Resident Lawyer.
Civilization of a society is measured by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members (Alexious 2015). Ramcharan a human rights scholar argues that the way a society treats its vulnerable members reflects its social health and conscience. Apart from women and children (girls and boys; emphasis added on male children) being a vulnerable group, those in prison are a vulnerable group. This is the case because in incarceration one is under the control or mercy of jailers/state and so they are a vulnerable group deserving protection. Talking of prisons and well-being of prisoners, raises furious reactions usually because the majority feels a prisoner’s welfare should not worry us when the citizenry are dying due to lack of medicine, hunger and many struggling in dire poverty. Why then should we worry of those in prisons when the innocent are suffering? These thoughts reveals the hypocrisy of a self-satisfaction oriented being who is blind to the fact that to really raise the living standards of people, a holistic approach is needed; thus no sector of society should be left behind. Again, that human rights are inalienable entitlements to human beings by virtue of birth, as such a fight for human rights include the fight for prisoners’ well-being. It is in my belief that this piece will open space, if not to raise a movement towards improving conditions in prisons, at least to create a platform for discussion on this matter of national interest.
There are many reasons why prisons are an essential part of our society wealthy our energies. Firstly and commonly of all, prisons are places where those that have done evils, that’s finding themselves in the wrong side with the Penal Code for committing crimes, are incarcerated. This not only serves as a punishment, but also prevents the confined from committing other crimes thereby keeping the society safe. For those with a chance for parole, it gives them an opportunity to change and retract from doing similar conduct once released. Of importance also is the fact that it acts as a deterrence for would be offenders. There can be a lot of reasons why prisons are vital, but one common aspect of it is that the person incarcerated remains a human being, as such entitled to human rights. But also not all the people serving sentences in prisons have really committed crimes whereas others have committed crimes whose punish was not suppose to be custodial. The challenge in Malawi that leads to others being convicted is the lack of legal representation mixed with ignorance of the law (or general illiteracy).
While others find themselves in prisons convicted wrongly, or given stiff punishment due to inability to afford legal advice, others are in jail awaiting trial. Others have been in prison for 10 years awaiting trial. A Decade. Yes, while the argument for giving a blind eye to prisons welfare mostly tends to till towards the reason that the culprits breached the law knowing the conditions of prisons, many people are languishing in cells on remand awaiting their trial. So, if you do not believe in human rights or you believe in selective enjoyment of human rights, those that are innocent awaiting for the courts to decide their fate, at least even to you do deserve humane conditions. Now the naked truth is that we can not be proposing for improved conditions for the remand section not only because the contact of the two groups remain an unavoidable reality, but also it would be an unspeakable and atrocious path to take against our common conscious and humanity.
Being a member of Community of Sant Egidio gave me an opportunity to understand many things on life in prison. Miraculously, I feel I found true freedom through being in prisons. Visiting the prison once every fortnight makes us convinced that most that argue against improving the conditions have neither been to the prisons nor witness the life a Prison in Malawi. And in our invitation to new people it has manifested as upon acceptance of our invitation, it is usually their first time and they are shocked by the poor poverty of impoverishment (For emphasis). So one wonders where do they get the courage and the wisdom to oppose the drive to reach out to our fellow mankind in prisons? On the other hand, there are those that were and have been in prison before, the likes of Bakili Muluzi, Lucius Banda, Sam Mpasu, Peter Mutharika and most politicians who have experienced life in prison. This group is usually quit and exercises a silence of conviction that nothing can be done. Is it that just because they are out then it does not matter anymore? How many others have not made it out due to the inhumane conditions (probably hundreds)? Shocking is the lack of will by most of these politicians. While it is easy and simple to condemn those in jail, thinking of it everyone can find himself/herself in prison whether on crime commission or mere suspicion.
Selective application of the law continues to be a drug that is sending our democracy to a deep slumber. Our Constitution is clear on the right to human dignity, right to health and right to life among other rights, yet the conditions in prisons continue to violate these rights. Specifically, the law in Gable Masangano v Attorney General, a Constitutional Case No. 15 of 2007, demanded the state to improve conditions of prisons not as a privilege but an obligation. Since 2007, the conditions of prisons have gone from bad to worse. This is a clear breach of the law and so the recent news of Maula prison being the mosquito of Tuberculosis is a slap on the wound. Yet such is business as usual as far as life of those in prison is concerned. In our prisons, when there is no electricity it means they will not be given food, that is when the food supply is available. So even the one meal of M’gaiwa with peas is not given when there is no electricity, and how many times do we have black-outs. In Malawi we have Death Traps not prisons as such these institutions sometimes raise monsters in their quest for survival at all cost. If not for our respect for the rule of law and pursuit of human rights realization, may we fight for urgent improvement of prisons for the sake of our social health and common conscious as well as respect for humanity.
By…ALEXIOUS KAMANGILA…..Private Legal Practitioner and Volunteers for Community of Sant Egidio
Civilization of a society is measured by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members (Alexious 2015). Ramcharan a human rights scholar argues that the way a society treats its vulnerable members reflects its social health and conscience. Apart from women and children (girls and boys; emphasis added on male children) being a vulnerable group, those in prison are a vulnerable group. This is the case because in incarceration one is under the control or mercy of jailers/state and so they are a vulnerable group deserving protection. Talking of prisons and well-being of prisoners, raises furious reactions usually because the majority feels a prisoner’s welfare should not worry us when the citizenry are dying due to lack of medicine, hunger and many struggling in dire poverty. Why then should we worry of those in prisons when the innocent are suffering? These thoughts reveals the hypocrisy of a self-satisfaction oriented being who is blind to the fact that to really raise the living standards of people, a holistic approach is needed; thus no sector of society should be left behind. Again, that human rights are inalienable entitlements to human beings by virtue of birth, as such a fight for human rights include the fight for prisoners’ well-being. It is in my belief that this piece will open space, if not to raise a movement towards improving conditions in prisons, at least to create a platform for discussion on this matter of national interest.
There are many reasons why prisons are an essential part of our society wealthy our energies. Firstly and commonly of all, prisons are places where those that have done evils, that’s finding themselves in the wrong side with the Penal Code for committing crimes, are incarcerated. This not only serves as a punishment, but also prevents the confined from committing other crimes thereby keeping the society safe. For those with a chance for parole, it gives them an opportunity to change and retract from doing similar conduct once released. Of importance also is the fact that it acts as a deterrence for would be offenders. There can be a lot of reasons why prisons are vital, but one common aspect of it is that the person incarcerated remains a human being, as such entitled to human rights. But also not all the people serving sentences in prisons have really committed crimes whereas others have committed crimes whose punish was not suppose to be custodial. The challenge in Malawi that leads to others being convicted is the lack of legal representation mixed with ignorance of the law (or general illiteracy).
While others find themselves in prisons convicted wrongly, or given stiff punishment due to inability to afford legal advice, others are in jail awaiting trial. Others have been in prison for 10 years awaiting trial. A Decade. Yes, while the argument for giving a blind eye to prisons welfare mostly tends to till towards the reason that the culprits breached the law knowing the conditions of prisons, many people are languishing in cells on remand awaiting their trial. So, if you do not believe in human rights or you believe in selective enjoyment of human rights, those that are innocent awaiting for the courts to decide their fate, at least even to you do deserve humane conditions. Now the naked truth is that we can not be proposing for improved conditions for the remand section not only because the contact of the two groups remain an unavoidable reality, but also it would be an unspeakable and atrocious path to take against our common conscious and humanity.
Being a member of Community of Sant Egidio gave me an opportunity to understand many things on life in prison. Miraculously, I feel I found true freedom through being in prisons. Visiting the prison once every fortnight makes us convinced that most that argue against improving the conditions have neither been to the prisons nor witness the life a Prison in Malawi. And in our invitation to new people it has manifested as upon acceptance of our invitation, it is usually their first time and they are shocked by the poor poverty of impoverishment (For emphasis). So one wonders where do they get the courage and the wisdom to oppose the drive to reach out to our fellow mankind in prisons? On the other hand, there are those that were and have been in prison before, the likes of Bakili Muluzi, Lucius Banda, Sam Mpasu, Peter Mutharika and most politicians who have experienced life in prison. This group is usually quit and exercises a silence of conviction that nothing can be done. Is it that just because they are out then it does not matter anymore? How many others have not made it out due to the inhumane conditions (probably hundreds)? Shocking is the lack of will by most of these politicians. While it is easy and simple to condemn those in jail, thinking of it everyone can find himself/herself in prison whether on crime commission or mere suspicion.
Selective application of the law continues to be a drug that is sending our democracy to a deep slumber. Our Constitution is clear on the right to human dignity, right to health and right to life among other rights, yet the conditions in prisons continue to violate these rights. Specifically, the law in Gable Masangano v Attorney General, a Constitutional Case No. 15 of 2007, demanded the state to improve conditions of prisons not as a privilege but an obligation. Since 2007, the conditions of prisons have gone from bad to worse. This is a clear breach of the law and so the recent news of Maula prison being the mosquito of Tuberculosis is a slap on the wound. Yet such is business as usual as far as life of those in prison is concerned. In our prisons, when there is no electricity it means they will not be given food, that is when the food supply is available. So even the one meal of M’gaiwa with peas is not given when there is no electricity, and how many times do we have black-outs. In Malawi we have Death Traps not prisons as such these institutions sometimes raise monsters in their quest for survival at all cost. If not for our respect for the rule of law and pursuit of human rights realization, may we fight for urgent improvement of prisons for the sake of our social health and common conscious as well as respect for humanity.
By…ALEXIOUS KAMANGILA…..Private Legal Practitioner and Volunteers for Community of Sant Egidio
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