By K Iron Msiska:
As we wind up the five years that started in 2020 and head to another election to choose an administration for the next five years, I want to state that for the sake of progress this country needs continuity, not looking back.
In the past five years, those who are not motivated by jealousy, hate and anger will highlight the restoration of foundations that are critical for economic development.
Critical among these foundations is the re-establishment of a sound transport system. You cannot succeed economically without a sound transport system.
In the five years we have seen government rehabilitating both the railway and road networks.
The rail system, connecting the country and its western neighbours to Nacala and Beira in Mozambique, was literally killed by previous regimes who preferred road transport because they had interests in freight business.
This was despite the fact that rail transport is the cheapest when considering its ability to haul huge volumes of both liquid and solid cargo at the same time. The closest to it is water transport.
After decades of being literally in the grave, with some in the Shire Valley building on the rails, rail transport has sprung back to life. Our neighbours on the west are already salivating that they will soon start hauling their goods from the sea using our railway system.
This was only a dream in the past.
With most goods coming into the country cheaply using rail transport, prices of goods are expected to drop significantly because of the reduced bill of landing. This is basic economics.
Along with the railway line is the rehabilitation of roads.
At the onset of the five years ending, the country’s roads were death traps and made the country a laughing stock. You can refer to what former South African President Jacob Zuma said about our roads.
Roads in Lilongwe, the capital city, were not looking like capital city roads. It felt comfortable driving on the earth road, constructed using hoes and shovels under MASAF public works programmes, than driving on the roads in Lilongwe. That sad story is history now.
If you have not been to Lilongwe recently ask those who have been there. I bet even those who ignored them are proud that roads in the capital city are now looking like roads in a capital city.
Other road sections that hold up people on traffic jams in the City are also being upgraded to a state that will speed up as well as ease travel.
The M1, so crucial for trade through ports in Tanzania, was full of potholes that slowed down travel. It started wearing a new face within the five years and the quality of works is admirable.
The M5 or Lakeshore Road, so billed as a shorter route from north to south, and for sugar transportation from Dwangwa in Nkhotakota, got damaged during the time of former President Bingu wa Mutharika.
During Joyce Banda’s time potholes were filled with earth/soil. The situation worsened during the regime after her. That road is undergoing rehabilitation.
Malawi’s donor partners raised the need to rehabilitate the existing road network and to construct roads that run from east to west during Bingu’s first term (2004-2009). However, nothing was done.
Rehabilitation of the M1 from Bunda roundabout in Lilongwe to Kameza roundabout in Blantyre started in 2008, but stopped as soon as it started. Nobody knows where money for that project went.
Besides a sound transport system, economic development requires a base. Malawi’s economic base has been agriculture, with mining only becoming a recent phenomenon.
Regrettably, agricultural infrastructure was ignored from the time this country adopted multiparty democracy. They were literally buried as was the railway system.
The country stopped being a bread basket and became a perennial food beggar, often relying on food donations.
Today, those who do not like the incumbent are frowning at government’s decision to import maize to cover for a shortage created by unreliable rains the previous season.
In watering down the decision they cite the availability of perennial water bodies, including Lake Malawi, which could be used for irrigation. To them the gesture, short term as designed to meet the prevailing shortage, is characteristic of a country with priorities upside down.
They are not talking about the irrigation schemes that were escorted to the graves by the regimes gone by. Nobody is talking about the fact that those they support and ruled the country before this regime did nothing to use the cited water bodies to make the country food self-sufficient.
Reason? They are afraid that they will dent the image of those they sympathise with. They are better off concealing the truth they know because they are deep in politics of patronage.
Those irrigation schemes are rising again, one by one. New schemes are being constructed and some farmers are already reaping from the resuscitated schemes.
So, much as there have been economic turbulences in the five years, government has revived crucial benchmarks for economic development. What remains is to build on the benchmarks and take the nation to the next level.
We need continuity on the recovered benchmarks. Those who recovered these benchmarks are the ones who know better how they can deliver on what they have recovered.
We do not need to change because nobody else can guarantee the desired continuity apart from the incumbent. Change might come with reversals on the gains.
Economic turmoil experienced in the five years should not overshadow the critical gains. Even the Bible preaches perseverance as good things take time.
