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.