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| Columns |
| Backbencher |
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by
Anonymous, 13 August 2004
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15:26:25
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Time to put our house in order.
Honourable Folks, the 2004 Human Development Report shows we haven’t moved an inch forward in poverty reduction. Instead, living standards of our people continue to deteriorate. Two years ago, our poverty levels were worse than they had been in 1992. Twenty four months later, we’re still moving backwards.
All the more reason why I have nothing but contempt for the Bakili Muluzi government which misruled this country for 10 years. These folks betrayed our trust and used the power we gave them to plunder the economy. I’m yet to hear any independent enlightened observer, local or foreign, defend the K60 billion they borrowed from the local market to defy donors who froze budgetary support in protest against overexpenditure on non-priority areas, rampant corruption, interference with the Judiciary and other vices bordering on bad governance.
Muluzi loudly boasted that this is an independent sovereign state which could not take orders from anyone, saying “we would rather be poor looking up than down”, whatever that meant. Today, we’re indeed poor but I doubt if there’s anyone other than Muluzi himself and his cohorts who are looking up. As for me and my constituents, we’re too burdened with poverty to look anywhere other than down.
All isn’t lost, though. President Bingu wa Mutharika, despite the fact that he was carried on Muluzi’s shoulders to the highest office on the land, seems determined to do what it takes to put the economy back on track. He has promised to drastically cut spending on non-priority areas, make the cabinet and civil servants work for every tambala they earn, stimulate agriculture by subsiding production (fertiliser) as opposed to consumption and start servicing the debt incurred by his predecessor. Mutharika also seems determined to live up to his pledge for zero-tolerance for corruption.
But isn’t it ironic that while the Executive is talking tough on overexpenditure, we in the Legislature, who are supposed to check government excesses, are the ones who appear hellbent on encouraging unreasonable spending by demanding a pay-package hike of more than 100 percent?
Hats off to Cllr. Peter Chihana, deputy chairman of Rumphi District Assembly, for ably setting the parameters within which our controversial demand for Sadc salaries can be discussed.
While we sent representatives to various countries within the Sadc/Comesa region to look for justification for our demand for a pay package of K280,000 ($2,593) a month, Chihana, in The Nation of August 3, challenged us to consider the demand in the light of the K80,000 development funding the 120,000 people of Rumphi get from the DC’s office.
The Rumphi case is a typical example of the poor funding that trickles down to the voter in all parts of the country. It is also a reflection of the current levels of poverty in Malawi. Does it make sense then that, instead of focusing on growing poverty in our country, we should be galivanting from one country to another in the Sadc/Comesa region, checking what’s on the pay-slip of other MPs?
I share the sentiments of those who think we’re being unreasonable if not outright irresponsible. We should consider our wage package in relation to what the government is paying our teachers, the police, civil servants, doctors, etc. True, K100,000 may not fetch much these days but how many, in the public sector, earn even half as much?
Shouldn’t we be debating the fact that many graduates working in government as professional officers earn less than K6,000 a month when basic necessities alone will cost an average family of six, over K12,000 a month? Shouldn’t we really be lobbying for a decent wage for the messenger who earns even much less? Has any of us posed just for a moment to think about how the police constable who earns less than K3,000 a month makes ends meet?
Malawians are watching us. So too is the world. It is suicidal to repeat the mistakes of the past 10 years when our economy and the hope of our people in multiparty democracy are hanging by the thread. The low turn out of voters for the general elections this year is an obvious sign that we’ve denied many people the incentive to stand in a queue and cast their vote for us. Unless we represent their interests, voter apathy is more likely to grow.
And if we do not show the ability to put the economy back on course, we risk losing the sympathy of our development partners. The trend of thought within the donor community these days is to support countries with the capacity and political will to use aid as a catalyst for economic growth. Countries like Malawi, which do not show signs that donor aid can facilitate economic takeoff, may be left on their own to die.
So, if we don’t spend the little we have productively now, we may wake up some day, sit at our usual place by the roadside with our begging bowl and be surprised to see we’re only attracting flies as the once good Samaritans pass by while eating their ice creams, without giving a damn.
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