Malawians have no jobs?

Esteemed Raw Stuffers, we continue highlighting the good things that Chemwaali JB is undertaking, for example, this week’s announcement that parastatal CEOs should be using ‘baby’ Prados and sell off any higher version Land Cruisers in the interest of saving and what one Ephraim Munthali would call ‘fiscal prudence’.

This indeed makes sense in an economy that is fast going down the ‘fiscal and monetary’ slope.

In fact, as we have argued before, get to the Cabinet ‘dogs’ as well. Most of these folks fly the flag on their top of the range Mercedes vehicles or VX Landcruisers. When expedient, the fellows also use non-descript pool vehicles for their non-descript errands. That Christmas, esteemed Raw Stuffers, must stop. As we said last time, ministerial and now parastatal travel must be controlled.

After all, the folks have representatives all over the Republic who are trained and experienced enough to execute what ‘Head Office’, Capital Hill or ministers do on the ground, for example, opening small workshops and petty buildings, fact-finding missions or visiting establishments under their ministries.

Acheemwa JB should also clean up the fuel rot in the public sector’.  About 2 500 litres for one ‘dog’ per month, or what one academic translated as 25 drums in one month? The story is the same for some heads of parastatals, whose ‘drummage’ is way above any logistical sense.

A  story is told that such fuel, which is more than enough for the busiest brand sales manager/supervisor, who is on the road daily across the whole country, is most times converted into ‘fiscus’.

So, let OPC make a due announcement in due course in line with Acheemwa’s austerity budget.

We also applaud Acheemwa for taking a tough stand on what she calls ‘long-nosed’ fellows from north-eastern Africa, who have given a bad name to the country’s immigration rating, notably the capacity to police our borders and passports. The illegal fellows, according to the reports that are awash in the media, either use this country as a final destination or a ‘sleepy’ conduit on their way to the south.

Then there is yet another issue Acheemwa has to contend with: unemployment. Something funny is happening in this country only. Why do you allow ‘small boys and girls’ from other countries, notably the East, to monopolise even the pettiest of jobs Malawians can do?

In comparison to the original Ngwazi days, today you find a lot of clerical jobs, office and/or shop assistant positions, supervisory work, driving, etc, all being occupied by ‘outsiders’ who don’t even understand a word of English. This does not happen anywhere. A country only imports labour it does not have. And when it does, such labour is supposed to pass on skills to locals and leave after a given date.

But what is happening here is as if Malawians of all grades have jobs and are leaving ‘the crumbs’ to the visitors. Which is a very doubtful case, given the many school leavers and fired veterans who are Raw Stuffing around looking for basic jobs.

In fact, the other day Kweelume Henry Mussa, when he was Minister of Industry and Trade, lamented the proliferation of petty trading and business even in rural areas by outsiders at the expense of the growth of local entrepreneurs.

When he said it, that was the end of the story. Nothing happened till now.

The folks at Immigration, Labour, Industry and Trade, Home Affairs, all of them, have some work to do if our children must have jobs in this country.

In our raw terms, it is a shame for ordinary Malawian drivers to be getting a licence, walking around with it for five years without any job, and then going back to queue at the Road Traffic Directorate for renewal, where the new fees structure is yet another nightmare.

Esteemed Raw Stuffers, we submit that these are the tiny tiny little things that matter in our lives, which call for Acheemwa JB to calm down, sit in her Capital Hill office and deal with.

If she has to win the 2014 elections, it will not be through bad-mouthing Moya Peter Mutharika and other political office aspirants, kuchotsa ma PS ntchitu, having unnecessary political and development rallies or arguing her People’s Party (PP) has graduated from being a briefcase party to a national movement position; no, it will be through delivering where it matters.