It is not by miracle that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Some of the decisions we make have very adverse consequences. Truth be told, we cherish mediocrity over quality. Some reckless Malawians are deliberately obsessed with quantity rather than quality. Others even make decision that will only benefit themselves and their accomplices at the expense of the welfare of local Malawians. A few examples will suffice.
First, it is a fact that any informed Malawian knows that electricity is a necessary ingredient in our day to day lives. One wonders why Electricity Supply of Malawi (ESCOM) was unbundled in the first place. This only increased the number of key players and stakeholders involved in the generation and distribution of electricity. In commerce, if you extend the supply chain of goods and services, prices automatically increase.
Unfortunately, price increments are borne by the final consumer. This simply means that amid incessant blackouts due to inefficiency of electricity producers and distributors, a local consumer still has to pay more for the limited electricity supply. Multiplying the number of companies involved in electricity generation and distribution without tackling the root causes of blackouts in Malawi was not the solution. It is pathetic that some unreasonable Malawians value quantity more than quality.
Second, after unbundling the University of Malawi into other independent universities, has the quality of university education improved? Not at all. The truth is that university standards are dwindling at an alarming rate. I was alarmed to hear that our public universities are registering more student dropouts due to poor academic performance colloquially known as weeding. Some unscrupulous Malawians are happy that we have many public universities now even though our public universities rankings are almost neglible. In some countries, even one university can still increase its intake and programmes. It is usually organized in various clusters of faculties, schools, departments and academic centres. In such a way, quality of education can still be enhanced without unbundling public universities. For instance, university of South Africa has an annual intake of close to 50,000 students with an aggregate population of 400,000 students.
Third, let us delve into politics. Haven’t you wondered why comedians, Chakwera and Chilima took advantage of cherishing quantity over quality with a view of duping innocent Malawians? They promised one million jobs within one year of their tenure. Did Malawians question the quality of jobs these comedians were promising? Indeed after one year in office, the comedians reported that they had managed to achieve their target of one million job creation. How? They argued that these one million jobs included informal employment such as prostitution, kachasu brewery, household non-permanent jobs, temporary manual works among others. What an entertaining art!!
In agriculture, comedians, Chakwera and Chilima increased the number of beneficiaries of farm input subsidy programme. Unfortunately, the quality of delivery was wanting and undesirable. As usual, Malawians did not bother asking about the quality of this project. They were happy receiving fertilizer mixed with sand. Some did not even receive the actual promised fertilizer at all but you will find them defending these comedians in various social media platforms, day in day out. Clueless Malawians.
The infamous political comedians went further to promise us three meals a day. To them, the number of meals matters and again reckless Malawians did not even bother to question them. In my view, what is important was the food security so that everyone should afford a decent meal. For sure, comedians,Chakwera and Chakwera cannot give you three meals a day. They were only fighting for their protracted bellies. Now, the same clueless Malawians face unprecedented hunger. As if they are doing something, the incumbent government is busy misprocuring maize with the Chairman of ADMARC Board bypassing the Chief Executive. Our notable political comedians at the helm are just watching from their comfort zones.
Lastly, our public service delivery is in total disarray due to mediocrity. The government promotes a concept of multiplicity over quality. It is only under the leadership of Comedian Chakwera when we have many political advisers while cabinet ministers again play the very same role of advising the government in their line ministries. Corruption too has taken the centre stage in all public sectors
In case some lazy bones may wonder why I call Chakwera and Chilima comedians. Exactly, they are chatterboxes. Malawians are aware how comedian Chilima was busy carrying a 50kg bag of fertilizer promising people that their government would reduce the fertilizer prices. At time you are reading this, fertilizer is unaffordable. Chilima even used to chew dirty usipa and bonya in view of the public just to win votes. What an entertaining episode!!! Here is another funny entertainment about comedian Chakwera. Malawians are busy jubilating and ululating when Chakwera puts on military attire, or when he kneels down to some chiefs or to a young lad. Geee!!! Recently, we have witnessed another comedian, Ibrahim Matola, weeping in public over pathetic electricity blackouts. Enough of this nonsense. Malawians are looking forward to solutions not rhetoric weeping.
Malawians, let us wake up from our deep slumber. We should stop compromising quality in preference to quantity. We need to be audacious enough to question government proposals. Time of acting is gone. We are sick and tired of these political comedians. It is time for action.
Rick Dzida
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