State of the Nation potholes
Prepare yourself for the bumpy ride of your life. It matters less which road you take as you are highly likely to drive yourself into dangerous potholes. There are some stubborn ones which have located themselves in the middle of the road such that even the most skillful driver will have nowhere to run.
Welcome to Malawi where no one seems to care about the agony drivers are experiencing every time they jump and bump headlong into these death traps. The cost of maintenance on car owners will triple if the situation continues to deteriorate. Additional costs arise in the process of having to replace and fix tires that suffer punctures after hitting the galleys.
A few days ago, the famous Masauko Chipembere Highway in Blantyre, which was once called Kamuzu Highway, developed huge potholes that almost made it into the Guinness Book of Records. One of those potholes almost became a tourist attraction as it conveniently located itself on the very base of the Independence Arch. It has since been filled. However, a hundred of these death traps still linger in many roads and streets of Blantyre. Now, as if not to be outdone by Blantyre, some of the streets of Lilongwe have intensified their bid to top the list of the most pothole-infested roads in Malawi. It does not matter which township you take your vehicle, there is literally nowhere to escape. Perhaps, the only exception is the Presidential Way that connects Bingu National Stadium to Kamuzu Palace through the interchange and City Centre.
Nonetheless, the extent of equity in the distribution of potholes is so impressive that low density townships such as parts of Area 10 and Area 43 are no longer better off when compared with the gargantuan potholes that have become sights to behold in roads connecting high density locations of Area 25 and Area 49.
Here I have deliberately excluded my observations on ridges that have developed in ghetto streets deep in the hinterlands of Chilimba, Bangwe-Ntopwa and Machinjiri in Blantyre, as well as Ntandire, ‘Dubai’, Area 36 and Kawale in Lilongwe. It will come as little surprise to hear that Mzuzu has also joined in this race for dishonour as the most pothole-infested cities of Malawi.
The M1 has not been spared. A drive between Lilongwe and Blantyre now needs drivers with special skills for dribbling around potholes that have elevated themselves to a status of trenches. A lot has already been written about the state of the road between Lilongwe and Kasungu to Nkhamenya. Years of neglect have turned the stretch into a death trap that looks like a war zone.
The same can be said of some stretches, including the Balaka- Zomba via Liwonde Road. Driving on the Zalewa Road between Chingeni and Neno to Blantyre also has some surprises where unsuspecting motorists occasionally burst tyres while some suffer damage on vehicle suspension.
Why does this issue become an accountability matter? First, the roads of Malawi have overaged and are outliving their lifespan. Some of these roads were constructed immediately after 1964 and they have never been subjected to major rehabilitation. Secondly, Malawi is experiencing an exponential rise in the number of motor vehicles plying our roads yet the rate of expansion of the road network is low.
Third, corruption, bribery, misprocurement and other forms of abuse of public funds have resulted into construction of substandard roads that develop potholes every rainy season. Sadly, motorists continue to pay toll fees at Chingeni and Kalinyeke toll plazas and then they fall into massive potholes in the next minute. Lastly, the National Budget should urgently address the state of the nation’s potholes. n
