The Debate – 44% Malawi Kwacha Devaluation
Opinion….
Sunday 12 November, 2023……
Introduction
I woke up into an early morning discussion at the market. It was nothing other than the 44% devaluation which occurred recently during the week. Everyone is concerned about the state of affairs.
The past…,
In the recent past not long ago we had forex, fuel, stable Malawi Kwacha. I have heard many times people saying Arthur Peter Mutharika was a better President than Reverend Lazarus Chakwera.
Having meals three times a day was possible at the time of mass protests but today it is a struggle for the majority of Malawians to feed themselves adequately. The price of fertilizer, so that people can go into farming, has become expensive from MWK22,000 to MWK107,000 in three years.
The present…….
The present administration today is marred with corruption, inefficiency, lack of Forex, fuel challenges, devaluation, selective justice, unlawful arrests, murder and intimidation.
I have been trying to check on different social media, they are all predicting a hard life for the citizens of this country.
The local currency has been devalued by 82.1% or even above in one year but if government decides to increase salaries it may not go beyond 20%, that is if they will consider increasing in the first place. However, with the mindset of Tonse Alliance Government, they seem to be ” kanga ndi wamba,” they are egocentric.
Even if government is to award a 44% salary increment, it won’t be enough because there are many pressing issues already but the increment is necessary at this point.
The future……
The future for Malawi looks bleak, uncertain and scary. What is worrying is that government doesn’t seem to be laying any foundation stone for the economy.
Nothing seems to be working and the weaknesses are numerous. The people are poorer today more than before and it is sad.
Solutions…..
First, people of Malawi must accept that the economic challenges are here.
Secondly, at this point fellow Malawians, we need to go full throttle into our jobs, small businesses and farming using manure. The little you may harvest is better than going to buy from the market. Fertilizer has become exorbitantly expensive, but the solution is there – using manure now. The harvest may be poor during the first farming season compared to when you use fertilizer but as you go along, farming using manure can get you there. For now, ordinary citizens should stop thinking about using fertilizer because it has become very expensive and unaffordable for the poor farmers.
Thirdly, let’s use manure now. Whatever will come out from it will still help unlike buying everything from the shop or market.
Let’s go full throttle into farming. The current challenges should provoke our way of thinking. Let’s brain storm and provoke our mind to think deeper than normal because of the situation at hand.
Let us begin concentrating on producing enough food for our families unlike buying everything.
Challenges such as these must make us think big and look for ways to overcome them.
Fourthly, challenges of COVID-19 in 2019 should have taught us a different way of looking at things. Finances were shut down, no salaries for some people but rentals and eating had to continue. It should have given us an opportunity to think big.
We are facing similar challenges today concerning fuel and high cost of living.
A salary can be low, medium or high but it will never solve everything especially when you think of tomorrow, time to invest is not waiting for us. These hardships will never stop especially here in Africa because they are somehow artificial, there is a hand putting us in these situations. Wet must think of a way out, that’s what is needed now.
Finally, We need to consider three sources of income.
- Work
- Farming
- Business
These three will help you to invest, save enough and also keep the family happy. You can also consider planning to increase the number of farm animals because that’s another good business. Imagine if you had 5 cows it’s equivalent almost to MWK 1.5 million.
