It cannot be disputed that Malawi is going through a period of change. I am talking about economic change. In the next 5 years, if everything accelerates along the same way, we are going to see significant changes in the country - the social life our people will improve.
It is encouraging to see remarkable attempts by donors to stop the vicious circle of debt repayments being stopped by the cancellation of our debts.
What with the grace of God who has given us enough rains for our agriculture-based economy. We have experienced a good harvest for our staple food maize in the past two years. This has assured us, for the first time after a long time of starvation for most of our people, of enough food. This is a great development for most of our people who starving has been part of their lives.
As if that is not enough Malawi is set to contribute 1.7 percent of global uranium production once the country's Kayalekera Uranium Project (KUP) starts producing uranium oxide late next year. We are set to join a club of elite countries that produce clean uranium! Just to put you in the picture. Currently, Malawi produces 275 megawatts of hydro-powered electricity every year. However from next year we will be producing up to 3.3 million pounds of uranium oxide every year. Converted into electricity production, 3.3 million pounds of uranium is enough to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity each year. This is projected to earn the country about 200 million U.S. dollars every year for the mining life span! This is unprecedented for our country. I can't stop thinking of what we could do with electricity generated from the uranium...a stop to the constant power cuts, a huge surge of power into our manufacturing industry, what about a good electricity powered transportation system (don't stop me dreaming) may be thus a possibility? Not really, all these benefits will go to the developed nations who have exclusive rights to our Kayalekera mines.
Surely good rains and our own nuclear plant (!) is the way to go as a nation than relying on donor aid which has shown no impact on our country for many years. However we should never forget that this could just be for a season. There is a need to plan well otherwise we may end up in the same position when this season of blessings comes to the end.
Here are some things to reflect on. Have we as a nation put in place mechanisms to manage these blessings? Think of it, our government 'granted Paladin exclusive mining contract'. What does this mean? I don't know. We certainly need an interpretation. All I know is that there is the possibility of all the benefits of the uranium mining in the country going to the economies of the developed nations. There is the high possibility of Malawi only reaping poor salaries of the local employees and a polluted environment. What we should know is that having mines in an African country does not necessarily translate into benefits to the host country. You don't need to go very far to see that. In many African countries gold and diamond mines are owned by Western companies and all proceeds go to their countries leaving our countries poorer. I don't want to take you to the pathetic picture of our neighbouring country Zambia who have nothing to show for their copper mines apart from an ugly country side.
Secondly, what are we doing with the extra maize harvest. Its disheartening when you start reading in the press that our maize is being exchanged with Zimbabwean sugar. The Zimbabwe Independent this week reported that Zimbabwe sugar was being transported to Malawi in 30-tonne trucks which then came back into Zimbabwe with Malawi maize. You start wondering about the wisdom behind that. Kapena tikungofuna kuthandiza apongozi? Surely we don't have shortage of sugar in the country to warrant such an exchange. In fact we produce enough sugar to export some. Don't we have a better way of using the surplus maize than bartering it with the Zim Sugar?
Anyway, we thank God for this season of blessings for our country. Let us pray for courage and wisdom for our government.
28 April 2007
22 April 2007
My lamentations on donor aid
I have been too busy with my studies to post anything on this blog. Today I had to come out from my cacoon to ponder on the suffering we go through as a nation. On the onset I should say this is not for the well-meaning donors and neither is this posting intend to hide the poor governance issues in our country. Of course these are my lamentations on donor aid.
Here are a few thoughts that are calling on fairness from donors and a move towards independence from them. I believe a truly independent country could never rely entirely on help from others. However a nation cannot survive in isolation. The fact is there are few who can help in good faith. Imagine that little has changed since Malawi was called Nyasaland. As a nation we remain the most disease stricken and poorest in the world yet for a long time we have been 'beneficialies' of donor aid. Between 1979 and 1999 we earned a place among what the IMF characterises as ‘‘very prolonged users'' of its facilities! I cannot stop wondering what good has these donor facilities done to us?
In our desperation during the Muluzi era we turned to the East for help. The aid which was solicited by Bakili Muluzi from the East during his term in office came with the spread of the Islamic faith in the country. We saw the mushrooming of mosques and Islamic institutions across the country. Even after Muluzi is gone we are still stuck with Radio Islam (and many other institutions) - a radio station that broadcasts 'provocative and insulting programmes' on its airwaves without any restraints from our toothless regulatory body, MACRA.
Just last week on on 18th April Madonna celebrated introducing her Kabbalah cult to Malawi when she and Lourdes were VIP guests at a “graduation” for 12-year-olds who have completed a Kabbalah education programme. Madonna who seemed to defy traditional family values came to Malawi on the pretex to help the orphaned population in the country. But the critical point to note is that in return for her financial support, Madonna and Michael Berg have instructed staff to teach Kabbalah to the orphans in their care. Last November, a team of Malawians were flown out to the States for an intensive three-month course in Kabbalah, so that they could teach it to orphans back in Malawi. Of course, not everyone in Malawi is fooled. The Roman Catholics raised objections to Madonna's Kabbalah-spreading activities, and many of the "Kabbalah bibles" Madonna sent remain undistributed. But for how ong? By the way here is a brief take of Madonna, the mother of reinvention, as described in the Metro newspaper: outraged the Catholic Church, starred in bad movies, dated pop stars and politicians, married, divorced, remarried, dabbled in lesbianism, found religion and is now adopting African orphans. What a mum for David! We are yet to see what Madonna will become next.
There are several donor conditions over the years that have hit us hard as a nation. To mention a few I can recite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank who were blamed for the tragedy that hit Malawi during the 2002 famine. The international human rights organisation Action Aid, for instance, indicated in a report in October 2002 that the IMF had instructed the Malawian government to sell the strategic grain reserve to repay a debt incurred by the statutory National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA). Consequently more than 1,000 Malawians died and 8 million of the country's 12 million people suffered from hunger but heads did not roll at the IMF and World Bank. Just of late, Action Aid research in Malawi has shown that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required the Malawi government to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment. In effect, IMF has forbidden the Malawi to hire sufficient teachers leaving pupil to teacher ratio in Malawi at 72:1!
In reference to Madonna I believe if you give you give openly with no strings attached. To put a proviso that her funding comes with the condition that her religion is taught is not charity in the true sense. It is using charity to further her own ideology on some of the poorest people in the world who do not have the luxury of choosing to accept her cash or not.
The abuse to the poor are diverse and take many forms. Because poor people often don’t know what’s good for them, they are assigned to the tutelage of richer people. It is difficult for the poor to bite the hand that feeds them. They are venerable to abuse therefore need protection. In fact some of the rich amass their riches from the poor! They pretend to help. These are the rich who are shrewd, manipulative, and brilliant and there is always something they want to control and get from the poor at the end. By the way do you know that IMF receives much of its income from loan repayments from poorer nations? As a result, that leaves nation like Malawi stuck in a vicious circle of misery.
To the rich: how can you live in this world happily while other people are suffering especially with the fact that you can help? Who is there to protect the poor? Who is there to speak in earnest for us? Is there anyone out there who values the African life and wants to help in sincerity?
Here are a few thoughts that are calling on fairness from donors and a move towards independence from them. I believe a truly independent country could never rely entirely on help from others. However a nation cannot survive in isolation. The fact is there are few who can help in good faith. Imagine that little has changed since Malawi was called Nyasaland. As a nation we remain the most disease stricken and poorest in the world yet for a long time we have been 'beneficialies' of donor aid. Between 1979 and 1999 we earned a place among what the IMF characterises as ‘‘very prolonged users'' of its facilities! I cannot stop wondering what good has these donor facilities done to us?
In our desperation during the Muluzi era we turned to the East for help. The aid which was solicited by Bakili Muluzi from the East during his term in office came with the spread of the Islamic faith in the country. We saw the mushrooming of mosques and Islamic institutions across the country. Even after Muluzi is gone we are still stuck with Radio Islam (and many other institutions) - a radio station that broadcasts 'provocative and insulting programmes' on its airwaves without any restraints from our toothless regulatory body, MACRA.
Just last week on on 18th April Madonna celebrated introducing her Kabbalah cult to Malawi when she and Lourdes were VIP guests at a “graduation” for 12-year-olds who have completed a Kabbalah education programme. Madonna who seemed to defy traditional family values came to Malawi on the pretex to help the orphaned population in the country. But the critical point to note is that in return for her financial support, Madonna and Michael Berg have instructed staff to teach Kabbalah to the orphans in their care. Last November, a team of Malawians were flown out to the States for an intensive three-month course in Kabbalah, so that they could teach it to orphans back in Malawi. Of course, not everyone in Malawi is fooled. The Roman Catholics raised objections to Madonna's Kabbalah-spreading activities, and many of the "Kabbalah bibles" Madonna sent remain undistributed. But for how ong? By the way here is a brief take of Madonna, the mother of reinvention, as described in the Metro newspaper: outraged the Catholic Church, starred in bad movies, dated pop stars and politicians, married, divorced, remarried, dabbled in lesbianism, found religion and is now adopting African orphans. What a mum for David! We are yet to see what Madonna will become next.
There are several donor conditions over the years that have hit us hard as a nation. To mention a few I can recite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank who were blamed for the tragedy that hit Malawi during the 2002 famine. The international human rights organisation Action Aid, for instance, indicated in a report in October 2002 that the IMF had instructed the Malawian government to sell the strategic grain reserve to repay a debt incurred by the statutory National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA). Consequently more than 1,000 Malawians died and 8 million of the country's 12 million people suffered from hunger but heads did not roll at the IMF and World Bank. Just of late, Action Aid research in Malawi has shown that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required the Malawi government to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment. In effect, IMF has forbidden the Malawi to hire sufficient teachers leaving pupil to teacher ratio in Malawi at 72:1!
In reference to Madonna I believe if you give you give openly with no strings attached. To put a proviso that her funding comes with the condition that her religion is taught is not charity in the true sense. It is using charity to further her own ideology on some of the poorest people in the world who do not have the luxury of choosing to accept her cash or not.
The abuse to the poor are diverse and take many forms. Because poor people often don’t know what’s good for them, they are assigned to the tutelage of richer people. It is difficult for the poor to bite the hand that feeds them. They are venerable to abuse therefore need protection. In fact some of the rich amass their riches from the poor! They pretend to help. These are the rich who are shrewd, manipulative, and brilliant and there is always something they want to control and get from the poor at the end. By the way do you know that IMF receives much of its income from loan repayments from poorer nations? As a result, that leaves nation like Malawi stuck in a vicious circle of misery.
To the rich: how can you live in this world happily while other people are suffering especially with the fact that you can help? Who is there to protect the poor? Who is there to speak in earnest for us? Is there anyone out there who values the African life and wants to help in sincerity?
01 April 2007
Nsima party
Today we had nsima party. I enjoyed the okra (thelele).'Madzi saiwala khwawa' takulila zomwezi. The Zim people call nsima, sadza. There were eight of us: An Irish and English guys, three Zim crew and our Japanese housemate plus Donalisa and myself . We also enjoyed the discourse: student talk, food, Iran and the Zim politics. Charity and Ruth from Zim said the last time they ate sadza was July last year! They dearly missed it. Of course our nsima party was heavily dominated by English food. Never mind we had a fantastic time!
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