One does not have to be a sycophant nor an apologist just because one’s argument happens to fall on government court.
As political pundits often put it, we, the people, are government.
Ife tonse boma! This clears the way for anyone to speak their mind as a citizen of this country, where free speech and opposing viewpoints do not mean insults and lack of manners.
Because of the di re economic situation, resulting in part from uncontrollable disruptions beyond our borders, Malawians are blaming government as a scapegoat.
Hiding behind various agendas and playing to the gallery, Malawi is now awash with talented but untrained writers who do not know what media ethics is all about.
Joined by just as clamorous civil society groups, they have moved centre stage, threatening to unleash demonstrations against the government.
Same old story.
These writers and their civil society colleagues share the same sponsors, to create political chaos so that they should call for a change inpolitical leadership.
It is textbook sequence. And the hapless citizenry will inevitably find itself tear-gassed and bruised by baton sticks as the ringleaders line up for their rewards for a job well done.
In new Malawi, journalists and writers subscribe to the mercenary code of operation.
The syndrome of allowances payment to journalists, which originally occurred as a necessity in a limited sense, has now degenerated to full-blown covert cash offers upon demand, to write specifically for the benefit of certain potentates against targeted individuals or corporations.
Little wonder politicians have muscled onto this sub-culture of mercenary writing service and are pumping large sums for it.
Same thing with civil society groups. Writing and agitating superficially for bribes is a recipe for disaster.
Unsuspecting readers, beware of these media mercenaries and the civil society counterparts, who deliberately obscure the true silhouettes of Malawi’s economic woes.
Let us look at just one— fuel. Where does Malawi get fuel? Does this country have control over all dynamics of getting the fuel to this country? Who guarantees that fuel is plentiful and awaits collection each time our reservoirs run dry?
The landlocked country has to depend on reliable transporters to bring fuel into the country. Those transporters have re-current qualms that government has to address from time to time.
These negotiations inevitably contribute to delays in delivery.
If fuel is available, there is the perennial question of the scarcity of foreign exchange to buy it, before there is talk of bringing it in. Once the fuel is in, how much of forex is there and is its consumption steadily regulated to determine how long it lasts?
We just learned that Malawians are importing on the average 1000 cars every month. That eats into our forex and fuel reserves at an uncontrolled rate.
Should there be legislation limiting car imports to align with regulated fuel consumption our landlocked country should import?
Or is that another economic pandora’s box that would affect natural expansion?
Looking at external factors affecting fuel availability in Malawi the last six months, one comes with the American and Iranian war as culprit, which has induced scarcity of the commodity in a big way. How does our government surmount that scenario?
There are more factors contributing to fuel scarcity than mentioned, which could fill pages. However, the point here is, what does one expect the government to do about it? Will agitating and exchanging diatribes against government solve the problem?
Fuel is just one of the essential commodities whose scarcity triggers derivative crises in transport, price shoot-ups, practically in every item both domestically and commercially.
Whether we like it or not, it is the government of the day, our government, chosen by the people.
Our mercenary friends may still earn their loot if they could, through their organisational hierarchies, respectfully request a press briefing with government’s ministry responsible for such information.
Our neighbours within the region follow that route, instead of the dramatic confrontations that might end in unnecessary injuries where nothing would have been achieved except for a chagrined status quo.
