Utilities are organisations which provide commercial services considered as extra essential to the public. These include water, electricity, telecommunications and posts. The services provided are not as free to the public as defence, security and medical. But to charge full market tariffs is never considered right on the part of the State which exacts taxes…

In the middle of 1950s, I visited a Catholic mission secondary school at Benga in Nkhata Bay, riding a motorcycle. The head teacher and priest (a European) who greeted me asked what make was my motorcycle. When I said German, he responded: “It must be good”. The inference there was that any manufacturer from Germany…

Before we can answer the question on how Malawi can be transformed, we must specify from position what to position what. In other words, we must know the position we wish the country to be in tomorrow. Today, Malawi is a multiparty democracy and before 1994, was a one-party democracy, or if you want to…

  Whenever i learnt that something that i want to do is being done successfully in another country, I sent my experts to go and study it.” These are the approximate words Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore says in his autobiography First World to First. Four or five years ago, the Economics…

  Before we can answer the question on how Malawi can be transformed, we must specify from position what to position what. In other words, we must know the position we wish the country to be in tomorrow. Today, Malawi is a multiparty democracy and before 1994, was a one-party democracy, or if you want…

  In 1924, there arrived in this country a man who was widely known and believed to be the best educated African. His name was James Kwegyi Aggrey. He was from Ghana then known as the Gold Coast. He came as a member of the Phelps Stokes Commission on African Education in Eastern Africa. In…

  In 1924, there arrived in this country a man who was widely known and believed to be the best educated African. His name was James Kwegyi Aggrey. He was from Ghana then known as the Gold Coast. He came as a member of the Phelps Stokes Commission on African Education in Eastern Africa. In…

  Currently, one of the books I am reading is Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. I am impressed by how often the man regarded as one of the greatest British scientists of all the time acknowledges the debts he woes to other scientists and scholars like Thomas Malthus and Herbert Spencer. This is the…

  The distinguished English writer of the 20th century W. Somerset Maughan in his book The Summing Up said among other things that he had come across men who had brought prosperity to big companies but that in anything not concerned with their business, they lacked even common sense. Whenever I read this, I try…

  Someone said that if you want to become rich overnight try politics. To a large extent this is true, but where there is honey, there are stings. In The Economist of April 7 to 13 2018, we read of corruption and conviction in South Korea and Brazil. Those convicted are presidents and other slightly…

  From time to time when we come across speeches by politicians or writings by economists of the West, especially the United States (US), we are confronted by the phrase “Big government”. It is uttered or written with disapproval. Indeed one of the reasons President Donald Trump proposes higher tariffs on certain imports from China…

  From the middle of the 17th Century when British, Dutch and other European merchants started arriving in India, the journey to the ascendancy of the West over the East had started. By the year 1850, this ascendancy had reached its apogees and was to remain until the end of World War II. Sometime either…

  Can Malawi learn anything from China and Botswana? On one side is the largest country in the world in terms of population with 5 000 years of civilisation. On the other hand is a country ninth the size of Malawi in terms of population though much bigger geographically. From the article that appeared in…

We are told that peace is the indispensable foundation of economic development. We have enjoyed peace since 1959 when the governors of Nyasaland declared a State of emergency and went about arresting about 2 000 people to restore law and order. We are told a country that has plenty of natural resources such as good…

  The poor shall always be with you,” said Jesus, in response to those who felt the woman should have sold the perfume, given the money to the poor instead of anointing Jesus. Yes, the poor are with us. In fact, they are the majority. There are degrees of poverty because there are different levels…

  The theory of monopoly in economics states that; There is a monopoly if in the market only the sellers exists. The firm is also the industry. This happens when for example there is one firm operating a diamond mine. All people who want to buy diamond must buy from that firm. During the one…

If we want to be a healthy nation, we must know something about what it takes to be a healthy nation. If we want to be a wealthy nation, we must know what we must do to make the nation wealthy. So often have we been told that Malawi is one of the poorest countries…

  Let us begin with anecdotes. A humble looking businessperson called at a bank to open an account. In his bag, he carried $60 000. Given an application to fill, he just fumbled with the form. The bank official had to complete it for him. “I did not even pass the Junior Certificate exams,” he…

  Looking at the physical and social infrastructures he had built, Dr Hasting Kamuzu Banda boasted that he had transformed Malawi out of recognition. Physical infrastructures comprise tarmac roads from Bangula, Nsanje in the South to Karonga, in the North. Social infrastructure comprised  secondary schools in every district, the University of Malawi and new referral…

  The long awaited National  Planning Commission has at least been established with well-qualified members. Ideas from the public should be solicited or welcomed. If the commission operates effectively, it can be instrumental in the genuine transformation of the Malawi economy. If the plans of the commission are to bear fruit, there must be a…