Today, we want to concentrate on how government makes Malawians poor. It does not matter who the President is and where he comes from. In fact, it is the DNA of all politicians, mostly Malawian politicians, and all appointed civil servants, to keep Malawians poor. They enjoy it. Very much.
A few months ago, we were in that long season when we average Malawians, the voters who had been kept poor for four years we could remember, vowed that we would punish wrong-doers, the corrupt, and push into government the right doers, the clean, the very people we dragged out five years earlier.
During that period of campaign, politicians came with zipondamthengo, brown envelopes, khaki envelopes, facilitation, or soli as journalists call bribes. And we received them. We, in turn, promised giver that the more they gave the higher their chances of being elected. Some believed. Give more they did.
We also told our fellow voters in our respective villages not to be afraid to demand money in exchange for our votes. If electoral management officials asked them (the voters) why? They should answer m’maso muli gwa “that it was our time to eat”. We advised them to tell MEC that life is about eating. In fact, we leave to eat.
We had struggled for a long time to get our CDF to work for us. CDF was K200 million per year per Member of Parliament (now it is K5 billion). Multiplied by six years (the then MPs served six full years and a few fully remunerated months). The answer is K1.2 billion. What had each done for their constituents? Zero. It is time to eat.
Senior Genuine Professor Felix Mnthali wrote, in the meaning resurrection, that there was nothing so sweet as something whose time has come. Yakwana yokha. You give what belongs to Caesar and from Caesar you get the votes. Nothing for nothing. So, why should we cry for the absentee MPs today? We got paid. Nothing for nothing.
Then there are those who still receive wages from government and salaries from the private sector. They part with as huge taxes. Some pay as much as half in Pay As You Earn (Paye) alone. If government did not want its citizens to fill the pinch, why maintain tax? To buy medicines? Why do we pay in hospitals for the drugs? Mention one thing that we get in Malawi for free. The poor aged citizens are sent back, pitani mudzikafa.
Then you have another tax: Teveta tax goes to government. There is value-added tax on nearly every item, in every shop worth a name 17.5 percent goes to government. If you have the misfortune of owning motorised means of transport, in addition 17.5 percent VAT, they are several levies (taxes) on every litre of that precious liquid from the pump. Already the second highest in world. Natural disaster levy; hunger levy; refugees levy; marriage levy; death levy.
Now, for the President, Vice-President, and Speaker of Parliament, all these are free, tax-free for life. One former president, who aspires to be the future present, declared that he got over 16 000 50-kilogramme bags of cement free of tax. Ministers, senior civil servants, and MPs may appear to pay tax but they recoup that though other means, legal. They get an allowance. A huge allowance of K300 000 per night. Some for as many as 40 nights in a month. Free car, free fuel, free drinks, free girls or boys. We mean drivers or servants. Free medical insurance. Nanga inu?
Well, you got paid during the campaign.
If you thought politicians spend colossal sums during campaign on bribing voters because they think and care about you, think again. Think hard.
