Envy - the enemy hiding in our camp

This is a ramble in response to a very good feature by Victor Kaonga in the Nyasa Times. He wrote a feature entitled “Malawi's 2009 battle on the Internet”.Undeniably there is a huge role the Internet can play in democracy and development. The borne of contention is why as a nation we are not doing better with all the skilled people we have? In a word I would say Kaonga says "we can do better". Of the many setbacks we face as a nation I would like to expose one - the old ugly enemy hiding amidst us.

I do track visitors to Malawi more especially the comments they post on their experiences here. Most of them get shocked at the levels of our poverty. There minds get blown by what they see. It is as if we don’t share the same planet with them. I am afraid to say that I do agree with most of their descriptions of the deprivation they see in Malawi. They are indeed appalling. Of course you can choose to disagree.

Back to Mr. Kaonga’s article, my attention was especially drawn to very interesting comments and thoughts from Nyasa Times readers. The comments reinforced my stance that the remedy to poverty in Malawi is multifaceted. It is a puzzle which calls for different pieces to come together. The piece I want to raise in this post is envy. I want to argue that envy is beyond the good efforts of our politicians, donors, religious leaders, non governmental organizations only etc. We have to do something for ourselves as a people.

I strongly believe there isn’t much that donors and missionaries can do to address some intrinsic issues deeply imbedded in a Malawian brain. Jealousy and envy is a huge setback to all our development efforts. All the witchcraft we hear and read about have their origins in envy and jealousy. The ignorant donor community, missionary and philanthropist are unaware how a typical Malawian who can do anything to see the demise of a seemingly prosperous fellow citizen thinks.

The comments by one Mike Ndau on Mr Kaongs's feature have found themselves the privilege of being hosted on this auspicious page! Ndau pointed out that:

People who have knowledge are sometimes deliberately frustrated; they cannot be allowed to bring in new ideas. We have seen people being moved from one department to another even when the government knows that their skills will be under utilized in their new positions. We also see how sometimes people react to someone when he/she wants to introduce something new. The most common remark is “IWO AKUFUNA AKHALE NDANI”? We mock and scorn the efforts of others until they are frustrated.

My friend Joe Mlenga lamented the oppression he received from his superiors at his former place of work. What was his sin? He had a master’s degree. Joe had to resign. He is no exception. Such experiences are echoed by many Malawian professionals. Many in diaspora express fears once they obtain a higher qualification of not being welcome home. Their crime; a good education. I did also mention on this page the opposition Malawian research students get in Malawi. Akufuna akhale ndani ameneyu? Akaphunzila adzatinyasa.

Our Malawian politicians and religious leaders need to address these cultural issues. Unfortunately the disease is spread among their rank and file as well if not worse... adziwanso Bingu. We will frustrate him. There goes the current number one song on our polical chart. Sang of course in hidden party caucuses but seen by all by the voting trends in our often abused parliament building.

Who should we call on to help us as a people? We have been praying through our national anthem for many years for God to remove envy (nsanje) in our midst. Unfortunately the more the years we pray, it seems the problem is getting worse. If you are a prayer warrior, you may argue that this is the case with many prayers before they get answered. However if we are to see a change in our attitude I want to suggest that we put in place practical measures to eradicate the problem. One way would be incorporating in our schools and radio stations (especially the public-funded MBC) teachings on cerebrating the achievements of other people.

If you have better suggestions to uproot envy in our camp please write them on the comments section on this post. I value any comments. I here by rest my ramble the ball is in your hands give us your comments.