Way to go Ibrahim

The initiative by Mr. Ibrahim is laudable. It is time we started looking for solutions from within the African continent rather than continue to depend on the west for support. Mr. Ibrahim's initiative will be a better incentive for African leaders to perform well. To agree with him, THE DAY THAT AFRICA WILL NO LONGER NEED FOREIGN AID WILL BE THE HAPPIEST DAY OF OUR LIVES. WAY TO GO IBRAHIM MAY YOU RECEIVE BACK MANY MORE FROM THE POCKET THAT YOU TAKE OUT THE PRIZE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

The Tragedy That is Darfur

"An Efficient and Effective African Union for a New Africa," reads the motto of the newly re-organized Organization of the African Unity-The African Union. Some of the ideologies behind this re-organization were the spirit of Pan-Africanism as a starting point for the continent to find its place in the world. An analysis of what the African Union has achieved in the years that have gone by does not show quite an impressive picture. Whether the Union is living up to its motto of being and efficient and effective organization for a new Africa is a matter of personal opinion.

In my opinion the African Union risks falling back into oblivion of history as just another form of human fellowship without a mark on the face of the earth if the present generation of leaders does not do something about Darfur in Sudan. What started as a political wrangle has degenerated into a humanitarian tragedy with women and children being raped and killed each passing by. As always the whole world is crying for the (western) international community to do something about the situation. The leadership in Sudan has not shown interest in ending the massacre of its own people. While fellow African leaders are burying their heads in the sand another Rwanda is underway on the continent. Opposition the United Nations' efforts to send a peace keeping force into Sudan, Al-Bashir says any country that sends troops into Sudan will be regarded an intruder and the action will seen as a hostile move.

The talk about Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance will not yield any fruit if leaders on the continent continue to turn their back on the Sudanese tragedy. The failure by the AU to initiate real action at its recent heads of state meeting has been big disappointment to peace loving Africans. The AU's recent press statement through its Peace and Security Council-Sept 4, 06 is so mild and does not seem to recognize the human catastrophe that is Darfur. The Council casually talks about a transition of the end of the AMIS mandate in Sudan and the coming of UN peace keepers as if it is a hand over of night shift between two train drivers. It does not give the Sudanese leadership any conditions or sternly remind it of its obligations to the safety of the Sudanese. This is a wake up call to the leaders of the continent to come out of there deep slumber and take up issues with their Sudanese counterpart if indeed the AU is to live up to its motto of being an efficient and effective organization for a new Africa. Africa has looked up to the west for salvation for a long time. We have swallowed its medicine and it has hurt our stomachs. It is time we solved our problems by being responsible and answerable to our brothers and sisters on the continent. If the African Peer Review mechanism is just an economic white elephant, the AU will remain in pages of history books without a real impact on the lives of people that the organization vowed to ameliorate.

Of Malawi's Economic Growth and the Reality

Business: Economy’s harsh reality
by Taonga Sabola, 09 April 2006 - 06:49:10 Picture this. An economic growth forecast of seven to eight percent, bumper maize and tobacco harvest, an aid programme with International Monetary Fund (IMF), a declining fiscal deficit...The list could go on. What more does one need? Is this not honeymoon time again? At one point, even Britain’s locally-based top economic advisor, Alan Whitworth commended government’s management of the Treasury purse. And just last month, an IMF mission leader Calvin Mc Donald had more goodies for the ear; just the news anyone would have loved to hear. “In assessing performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) [lending programme with Malawi], the mission found that all quantitative targets through end-December 2005 were met,” he said. “There has been progress in implementing structural reforms, although at a lower pace than anticipated. Hence, most structural targets were only met with a delay,” he added. But unfortunately, the sweet-sounding story seems to end there. What remains thereafter is a berating noise of reality as it hammers at the ear. If one were to ask Simeon Nfunokutcha, the tale of reality on the ground would be told without a twist. Nfunokutcha is a second-hand clothes vendor at Ntcheu boma. He does not deny what the high-sounding messengers of the economy are saying—but rather that what they have to say is hard to believe and no different from the rhetoric he has grown tired of hearing in his 29 years on earth. For this Ntcheu clothes vendor, the economy cannot be said to be fine when he is struggling to put food on the table to feed his family of four children. From sun up to sun down—Monday through Sunday—Nfunokutcha waits for customers to come and buy from him. But to his awe, hardly a handful is turning up these days, he says. Those very few that come go back as fast as they arrived, most times cursing under their breath for the “high” prices he is pegging to his used clothes. “To me the economy can only be said to be in good shape when commodity prices are kept under control. There are no signs to show that the economy is in good shape,” he told Economic Report. Mabvuto Tebulo is a hardware trader in down town Blantyre. In recent years, life for him has been another nightmare with no signs of getting better. Tebulo reminisces that the old days of former President Hastings Kamuzu Banda were far much better. “In the days of ‘Angwazi’, we did not worry about economy this and economy that. You did not need to worry about how the economy was doing. But now, the economy is stupid,” he said, rather out of anger and frustration than anything. Everyone seems to be complaining, anyway. So when Economic Report bumped into Thomas Matewere at Bvumbwe produce market, his reaction could have been easily discernible. Not too long ago, Matewere ‘graduated’ from Secondary School with an MSCE, thinking everything would be rosy. In his mind, everything was going to be simple; knock on a few offices in town, and a clerical job would be had. He even thought lamely about buying his own Toyota Carina after a year on that job. Reality however, had its own lessons to teach. To Matewere’s utter disbelief, the job he had always dreamed of was nowhere to be had. Roam the streets for a year he did, even though he knew he was not born a cell phone handset. When the soles of his only pair of shoes started to give in—what with walking long distances in search of the job—Matewere became wiser; there are no jobs! It was then that he settled for vegetable business at Bvumbwe, where Economic Report found him. “A lot of school leavers can’t get a job out there. I know many friends in town who have settled for mini-bus touting,” Matewere, 25 said. Sadly, that is the reality—not the rhetoric—for most Malawians.

thumbs up Mutharika

It is tobacco season again in Malawi. Last year tobacco sales were interrupted by violent protests from growers who demanded fairness in prices from the buyers. Press reports indicated a slight improvement following the outcry. This selling season the State President has thought it wise to side with the growers by setting minimum prices at the auction floors. Press reports indicate that the tobacco barons claim they cannot 'afford' to buy the tobacco at the set prices. What a joke! While the wealthy buyers claim they cannot afford the prices, consideration for the poor farmer who had to borrow money for inputs and use own unaccounted labor (wife, himself and all the seven children) spending sleepless nights tending the crop has been thrown to the dogs. I have never tended a tobacco crop but I have watched others do it, it is neither an easy nor cheap task to accomplish. I have a conviction that it is time someone stood by these poor farmers so that they get what they deserve after a season's sweat. What type of trade is it that a buyer names a price for a commodity he did not help in producing? Stand your ground Mr. President. If those white shirt dark suits multi-national boys will not buy the crop we will take it across into Mozambique. Actually people have been doing that and it has proved to be a more profitable venture than having to pay all those stupid auction fees and taxes. Azungu inu, Alekeni anzanu nawo agule ma 4 X 4 ngati anuwo. It is high time someone stood against these exploiting multi-national companies that have impoverished the African continent from time in memorial.

I would rather hear it from my grandmother

An article in one of the daily papers in Malawi, The Nation says Malawi has recorded a reduction in poverty levels. According to the National Statistical Office, the percentage of people living below the poverty line in Malawi has dropped to 50% this year from 52% in 2004 and 54% in 1998. The research experts sampled about 5,400 households in the country.

Recently in the same paper we were told that Malawi had impressed the International Monetary Fund-IMF with its recent economic performance. While this may be good news, I would be slow in celebrating. There could be improvements economically but certainly rationalizing that because families were now living on more than a dollar a day is a sign of decreased poverty is taking a risk of reductionism. True economic growth in Malawi would be seen by the spending and saving power of the middle class. So to be told of how good Malawi's economy is from a governmental official makes me skeptical. I would rather hear this good news from my grandmother who would know better as to what it means to enjoy a life of reduced poverty.

missing middle indeed

Today I stumbled unto a midwife's blog calling herself a "baby catcher". The symbolism of baby catching is rightly proclaimed because sensing from her writing, she is actually catching the babies from their mothers' wombs to save them from the impossible conditions under which they are borne. The baby catcher talks about suffering, pain and hopelessness and yet there are so few hands to help. It makes me angry that more than 40 years after independence our mothers should continue to die from preventable conditions and diseases. It is disheartening that while our leaders engage in political battles of supremacy and building political empires hospitals are going without adequate facilities and personnel to take care of simple procedures like child births. What is missing in the whole picture? The 'middle'? I long to see the day when leadership in Malawi will be people centred and not self centred.

amazing how shallow minded leaders can be

A Namibian cabinet minister was recently sent by his president as current chair of the SADC organ on security to check out reports of political instability in Malawi. The honourable minister has been quoted in the Malawi press as saying he drove from Blantyre to Lilongwe, a 300 Km stretch and did not see any sign of political instability. In his ministerial intelligence, the honourable gentleman concluded that Malawi was, therefore, politically stable because he did not see any sign of instability. He accused the media of painting a negative image of Malawi worldwide.

Quite amazing as to the kind of sign the honourable minister was looking for. Perhaps he was looking for multitudes of people carrying placards and destroying public structures. However, while he talked to the press and expressed his surprise at not seeing any 'signs' of political instability, government lawyers were battling it out with lawyers for the state vice president at the high court following the vice president's unconstitutional removal from office by the president. At the same, some quarters from the society were planning to match, a group calling itself defenders of the constitution had issued a statement condemning the firing of the vice president and relations between the president and his former party had just taken another nose dive after press reports indicated relations were getting better...and yet one Marco Hausiku spent the regional body's resources to travel all the way from Namibia and failed to see any 'signs' of political instability in Malawi after all this mayhem.

Malawians were blessed with peaceful hearts and they are naturally peace-loving people. There have been situations in the country where all recipes for an all out conflict were brewed and yet the people have chosen to sort out differences amicably. No one in his right senses can therefore say that because no one is fighting or rioting to show disfavour with the president's unilateral decision to violate the constitution then there is no political instability in Malawi. If Africa is to make any progress at all leaders should learn to tell one another the truth. Without backing the vice president who chose not to report for duties in spite of drawing a monthly salary, the decision by the president to fire him when constitutionally he cannot do that was not living in accordance with the vows of the high office-preserve and defend the constitution. For a long time now leaders on the continent have always told one another everything was well even when people are starving and many go without jobs. Amazing how leaders can be so shallow minded.