Mercenaries on the prowl

 This week, we have seen an outpouring of anger over a leaked confidential memo which revealed that President Lazarus Chakwera had approved an expenditure of K311 million for Mary Chilima, wife to Vice-President Saulos Chilima, for her medical treatment in South Africa.

Some argued, mostly on their Facebook pages and other social media platforms that the amount was excessive to be spent on one person. They contended that such an amount would make a huge difference and enable many Malawians to access quality healthcare if invested in the country’s public healthcare system. Others said at a time the economy is bleeding, it is insensitive for the government to spend such an amount on one person. And yet others said the Vice-President’s wife is not entitled to receive medical treatment outside the country on government ticket.

They also argued that if government invested all the money VVIPs spend outside Malawi receiving medical care, the country can have hospitals capable of providing specialised treatments.

“We would no longer have to be wasting millions of dollars every year to pay for treatment abroad. Even Mary Chilima would have been treated in Malawi. I’m aware that hundreds if not tens of Malawians are currently in India for medical help,” someone wrote on his Facebook page.

Also writing on Facebook, another person poured scorn on the system in Malawi which he said favours the rich who are funded by taxpayers to get medical help while poor Malawians are forced to use their savings for the same or languish.

“Our health system is pathetic. People that are not supposed to die are dying because of poor health services delivery. These top government officials—the President and Vice-President, and their families—fly outside the country to get better treatment. They use taxpayers’ money. This must come to an end.”

So many things have been said. Some genuine complaints but a majority of them just unbridled anger driven by emotions and devoid of logic or not backed by law at all.

Take, for example, an argument by one commentator that Mrs. Chilima should not have gone to South Africa with local security because the South African government provides security to all VVIPs when they go to the Rainbow Nation. Serious? Then we should not have been seeing foreign VVIPs with their security personnel when they visit Malawi because even here government provides security to such people. It is clear there is something about VVIPs’ security we really don’t know or choose not to appreciate.

If someone wanted to argue that K311 million was bloated, then at the very minimum they should have volunteered a breakdown of approximated costs for air tickets, food, accommodation, local transport, etc. and for the number of days Mrs. Chilima and her entourage would be in South Africa. But not just arguing because K311 million sounds huge. Or because someone has said it is huge. People should learn to appreciate that VVIPs enjoy privileges not available to everyone even in an economy that is bleeding like ours. Regardless of their political persuasion, people should also learn to isolate politics from entitlements.

Agreed, our health care system is not up to the mark, largely because of lack of state-of-the-art equipment. We have a top-notch medical school that churns out some of the best medical cadres in the region. But without equipment, they cannot use their expertise. That is why a privileged few will always fly to South Africa, India, Kenya, United Kingdom, etc., for medical care on the taxpayers’ expense. It’s not out of the ordinary.

Government did not start spending on VVIPs’ spouses with Mrs. Chilima’s medical trip to South Africa. We learnt in 2007 when the former First Lady Ethel Mutharika (may her soul continue resting in eternal peace) died that she had been receiving treatment in South Africa and France, as well as a number of other European and Asian nations. Was she not travelling to those countries and receiving medical care on the taxpayer’s expense? Those criminalising the K311 million expense on Mrs. Chilima’s medical trip to South Africa should have started with pouring scorn on all other previous expenses on VVIPs’ spouses. For not doing that, we are compelled to conclude they are mercenaries cashing in and subsisting on demonizing their masters’ political opponents.