Africa-Press – Malawi. Being Malawian has never been easy. Ours is a place with very few opportunities and too many obstacles, a place where the likelihood of failing surpasses any hopes for success.
We are one of the least developed countries although we have never had any serious crises to land us there. And in this space, successive regimes of power have failed to find solutions to our problems, only making promises that never get to see the light of day.
To cover for their failures, politicians have then resorted to punishing Malawians in one way or the other, including the introduction of punitive taxes.
In the week that just ended, we woke up to news that there will be new tax measures for the purchase of vehicles. Looking at what has been decided on, one wonders whether this is for the benefit of anyone in this country.
The purpose of the new levies seems to do more with milking the citizenry of the little resources they have to cover for government’s failure to generate income.
Over the years, our government has demonstrated that it lacks creativity in devising means of survival. As such it is always the poor who are at the receiving end.
Surprisingly, when the Tonse Alliance was campaigning for power, they had all the right things to say and they convinced us that we were heading in the right direction.
Their promise that they wanted to create a balanced nation that would be fair for everyone has proven to be false. Just three years down the line, the cost of living has become unbearable for the poorest of the poor and there are no signs that this will improve soon.
The economic environment itself has become stifling for small businesses, most of which have become unsustainable. Factor in forex shortages and fuel crises, Malawians are in for a long dive into a dark abyss.
What is infuriating is that these problems are of our own making. It is not as if there was never a time when things used to work in this country. We always talk about the good old days when the economy was vibrant and the nation had a future to look forward to. It is disheartening to learn that back in the 1970s, Malawi was self-sustaining.
We had a well-organised system of commercial agriculture, we had functioning industries, and citizens were reaping from the sweat of their labour. Fast forward to 2023, the government cannot even generate any income as if it is naturally incapacitated.
There is something we are not doing right and our leaders need to assess themselves and search within their souls to see if what we are getting is the best we could get.
As we will be commemorating our 59th independence anniversary in the next two days, it was about time we reflected on what we have done with our freedom. Most Malawians have become disillusioned by how their country has been governed, especially in the later years of our independence.
After Dr Kamuzu Banda, the leaders that have come seem to have misunderstood the meaning of freedom and independence. Our politicians have championed their welfare over the fate of millions who depend on their decision making. We have turned out to be a country that pays too much attention to frivolities over priorities and this is the reason we are destitute.
The Tonse Alliance administration must wake up and realise that there is something they are not doing right. Malawians are being punished for being born in this country which otherwise promised to be a blissful haven of milk and honey. There is no milk here. There is no honey. And there is no money.
Most of the citizens are frustrated as things keep on getting tougher by the day. We never thought 59 years since independence the average Malawian could not afford a loaf of bread and a packet of sugar.
We did not think that by today, having electricity and running water would still be luxurious. We never thought that as the years progressed, we would be moving backwards.
The present administration does not need to work miracles for us to move from this dungeon of despair. They just have to live up to their campaign promises.
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