In his article to the UDF News of 1st June 2005, titled ‘UDFs Record of Economic Development’ Sam Mpasu wrote about the achievements of the UDF in the last ten years and the short falls of the Bingu wa Muntharika government in the past year.
Whilst Mpasu is entitled to his democratically given opinion, I beg to prove that he too is being economical with the truth. Mpasu tried to paint the rosy picture that UDF never had.
Sam Mpasu observes that half the people in Bingus government came from UDF and rightly questions why they are only speaking now. He also reminds us that the president was Deputy Governor for RBM and later Minister of Economic Affairs.
It seems that Mr Mpasu has since forgotten what happened to people who spoke against Bakili Muluzi when he was in power. Because of the economic woes that befell on the nation, people had to survive, people needed jobs. Is it not Sam Mpasu himself whom when appointed minister from speakers position said Muluzi was simply trying to get rid of him because they had disagreed? So no one would have spoken out then, for though there was freedom of speech there was no freedom after the speech. It is an undeniable fact.
It’s obvious that in its ten year rule UDF did some good. But it did a lot more harm and that’s what people, like I am arguing over. Mpasu says UDF inherited a lousy economy and believe that they handed to the Muntharika government a stable one. It’s understandable that Mpasu should think like this, he was employed during all the UDF years.
It is true that free primary education was a good idea. But its implementation was lousy. The question however is, what was the purpose. If it was to show off a good idea, fair and fine but if it was meant to educate people then it was flop. My point is no one employs a person because they have a General Certificate for Primary Education. The qualification attained in primary is useless in these modern times. Secondary school fees went up during the UDF rule to around K3000.00 per term which means the poor couldn’t afford it. University fees went up to K25 000. Bottom line is that only the rich could get good education whilst the people were blinded by free primary education. How good is free primary education then in such a scenario?
In 1994, I was 13 years old learning at Chimutu Primary School in Lilongwe. When I returned to register to vote in 1999, I found a standard eight teacher who kept breaking his English. He translated every Chichewa word into English. I asked the headmaster who had considered me one of his favourite students and he said ‘government sends them, what can I say.’ Now if this teacher had gone through some ‘ambitious training programme’ that Mpasu boast about then the programme should be questionable.
No one can ever argue that Masaf was a good programme, but like Brown Mpinganjira observed, ‘UDF politicised it too much.’ My understanding however is that MASAF funds are a loan, which will be paid years from now. Many of Masaf boreholes have since dried; many schools blocks have crushed and roads have disappeared. The worry of most of us youths is that we will have to settle that debt and yet the structures will be long gone too. Had it been that the structures built were durable, I would not have argued we would have been clapping for muluzi too.
For Mpasu, to stand on a platform and boast of achievements made in the north whilst only mentioning of Mzuzu is I believe an insult to northerners. Mzuzu is the smallest district in northern region. But then it only shows what UDF did in ten years of government in the north. Yet Mpasu expects us to think UDF did well.
Whilst it’s important to accept that investors came into Malawi, it is also fair to realise that many people lost their jobs due to the more than 39 company closures in ten years. These however do not cancel each other out. The banks that Mpasu mentions opening in Malawi have employed people with good education. But how good is that if we can not educate our people to that standard. More over Portland Cement, Import and Export and David Whitehead, each employed more than 3000 people, I doubt the banks reach a thousand considering technological advancements. It stands to reason that only the rich benefit and the poor continue being poor.
Once again Sam Mpasu writes like a pure Muluzi loyalist who has blinded himself off reality. Which people have been empowered? Many people have gone into huge loses cause of minibuses business. Only those rich enough or perhaps lucky have been able to make profits out of minibuses. I suppose Mr Mpasu has never attempted to venture into this business.
‘Government departments and parastatal organizations opened their doors and supported indigenous Malawians with supply contracts.’ One wonders here what Mpasu means. This is how Malawi ended up with many corruption scandals starting with Feildyork, to the Education scandal, Apex cars, the Demat Story, the ID scam etc. Only a hand full of people, who were able to dish out bribes and those ready to take bribes benefited from this system. Mpasu, himself being one. Malawi lost millions of money through this irresponsible system.
Once I argued with the then Deputy minister of finance, Phillip bwanali. He like Mpasu thinks vending has helped Malawian youths. That’s absurd. I have never met a person who went to school because he wanted to become a vendor. I have never met a person who proudly calls himself a vendor. Just because Mpasu sees the vendors in towns does not mean they are making money. He should take time to talk to them and realize just how much money they earn a month.
The UDF government promised vendors loans which never came. But even if they did, loans without training on how to run a business is useless. It solves nothing. It has no long term benefits.
Its funny that Mr Mpasu decided to measure UDFs ten years against a one year period of the Bingu wa Mutharika administration. He even argued over the one billion small business loans. Sadly a man of Mpasus status should be in a position to know that such a program can not be implemented in a year and its benefits can not be seen immediately.
Lastly, Sam Mapsu writes about UDFs usual claim that there is a lot of political witch hunt. The fact of the matter is that the UDF top gurus want us to believe they are innocent. A year after leaving office, the UDF top heir still have not come to understand the public mood in Malawi.
Bingu can not arrest anyone. He neither has the physical nor the political powers. So it’s improper to blame him for the arrests. The fact of the matter is many people believe Bakili Muluzi and others are guilty of many corrupt acts. Muluzi and his henchmen believe they are not. In such a dilemma, they should go to court so we can hear what JUSTICE will say.
Whilst Mpasu is entitled to his democratically given opinion, I beg to prove that he too is being economical with the truth. Mpasu tried to paint the rosy picture that UDF never had.
Sam Mpasu observes that half the people in Bingus government came from UDF and rightly questions why they are only speaking now. He also reminds us that the president was Deputy Governor for RBM and later Minister of Economic Affairs.
It seems that Mr Mpasu has since forgotten what happened to people who spoke against Bakili Muluzi when he was in power. Because of the economic woes that befell on the nation, people had to survive, people needed jobs. Is it not Sam Mpasu himself whom when appointed minister from speakers position said Muluzi was simply trying to get rid of him because they had disagreed? So no one would have spoken out then, for though there was freedom of speech there was no freedom after the speech. It is an undeniable fact.
It’s obvious that in its ten year rule UDF did some good. But it did a lot more harm and that’s what people, like I am arguing over. Mpasu says UDF inherited a lousy economy and believe that they handed to the Muntharika government a stable one. It’s understandable that Mpasu should think like this, he was employed during all the UDF years.
It is true that free primary education was a good idea. But its implementation was lousy. The question however is, what was the purpose. If it was to show off a good idea, fair and fine but if it was meant to educate people then it was flop. My point is no one employs a person because they have a General Certificate for Primary Education. The qualification attained in primary is useless in these modern times. Secondary school fees went up during the UDF rule to around K3000.00 per term which means the poor couldn’t afford it. University fees went up to K25 000. Bottom line is that only the rich could get good education whilst the people were blinded by free primary education. How good is free primary education then in such a scenario?
In 1994, I was 13 years old learning at Chimutu Primary School in Lilongwe. When I returned to register to vote in 1999, I found a standard eight teacher who kept breaking his English. He translated every Chichewa word into English. I asked the headmaster who had considered me one of his favourite students and he said ‘government sends them, what can I say.’ Now if this teacher had gone through some ‘ambitious training programme’ that Mpasu boast about then the programme should be questionable.
No one can ever argue that Masaf was a good programme, but like Brown Mpinganjira observed, ‘UDF politicised it too much.’ My understanding however is that MASAF funds are a loan, which will be paid years from now. Many of Masaf boreholes have since dried; many schools blocks have crushed and roads have disappeared. The worry of most of us youths is that we will have to settle that debt and yet the structures will be long gone too. Had it been that the structures built were durable, I would not have argued we would have been clapping for muluzi too.
For Mpasu, to stand on a platform and boast of achievements made in the north whilst only mentioning of Mzuzu is I believe an insult to northerners. Mzuzu is the smallest district in northern region. But then it only shows what UDF did in ten years of government in the north. Yet Mpasu expects us to think UDF did well.
Whilst it’s important to accept that investors came into Malawi, it is also fair to realise that many people lost their jobs due to the more than 39 company closures in ten years. These however do not cancel each other out. The banks that Mpasu mentions opening in Malawi have employed people with good education. But how good is that if we can not educate our people to that standard. More over Portland Cement, Import and Export and David Whitehead, each employed more than 3000 people, I doubt the banks reach a thousand considering technological advancements. It stands to reason that only the rich benefit and the poor continue being poor.
Once again Sam Mpasu writes like a pure Muluzi loyalist who has blinded himself off reality. Which people have been empowered? Many people have gone into huge loses cause of minibuses business. Only those rich enough or perhaps lucky have been able to make profits out of minibuses. I suppose Mr Mpasu has never attempted to venture into this business.
‘Government departments and parastatal organizations opened their doors and supported indigenous Malawians with supply contracts.’ One wonders here what Mpasu means. This is how Malawi ended up with many corruption scandals starting with Feildyork, to the Education scandal, Apex cars, the Demat Story, the ID scam etc. Only a hand full of people, who were able to dish out bribes and those ready to take bribes benefited from this system. Mpasu, himself being one. Malawi lost millions of money through this irresponsible system.
Once I argued with the then Deputy minister of finance, Phillip bwanali. He like Mpasu thinks vending has helped Malawian youths. That’s absurd. I have never met a person who went to school because he wanted to become a vendor. I have never met a person who proudly calls himself a vendor. Just because Mpasu sees the vendors in towns does not mean they are making money. He should take time to talk to them and realize just how much money they earn a month.
The UDF government promised vendors loans which never came. But even if they did, loans without training on how to run a business is useless. It solves nothing. It has no long term benefits.
Its funny that Mr Mpasu decided to measure UDFs ten years against a one year period of the Bingu wa Mutharika administration. He even argued over the one billion small business loans. Sadly a man of Mpasus status should be in a position to know that such a program can not be implemented in a year and its benefits can not be seen immediately.
Lastly, Sam Mapsu writes about UDFs usual claim that there is a lot of political witch hunt. The fact of the matter is that the UDF top gurus want us to believe they are innocent. A year after leaving office, the UDF top heir still have not come to understand the public mood in Malawi.
Bingu can not arrest anyone. He neither has the physical nor the political powers. So it’s improper to blame him for the arrests. The fact of the matter is many people believe Bakili Muluzi and others are guilty of many corrupt acts. Muluzi and his henchmen believe they are not. In such a dilemma, they should go to court so we can hear what JUSTICE will say.
Andekuche D Samalani Chanthunya
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