Shadreck Chikoti
There are four major ways through which individuals can become wealthy or earn money. These are: working for a salary, engaging in business or trade, stealing, or begging. In the first three methods, one must contribute something in order to gain something. You invest effort.
When you work, you contribute your time, education, and expertise. In essence, you are engaging in a form of business. Your employer is effectively purchasing your skills, experience, and time, resources they use to advance their own goals. Therefore, employment itself is a business transaction.
The second method, selling goods or doing business, is straightforward and needs no elaborate explanation.
Stealing is also widely understood, it is acquiring what belongs to others by force or without consent.
A country, much like an individual, must also utilise these methods in order to attain wealth. No nation becomes rich or developed without applying these same principles. Unfortunately, as a country, we fall short in these areas, perhaps because we do not appreciate that the nation is simply the collective sum of its people.
For a country to develop, it must generate its own income. It must employ the methods outlined above.
Most wealthy nations utilise the first three.
They run businesses.
For example, when you see China constructing roads in Malawi, that is business. It is the Chinese government itself that undertakes those projects, and Malawi pays for the work. Consider the Parliament building: it was built by the Chinese government. It was not built for free, we paid for it. They may have financed it through loans, but for the execution of the project, we pay them.
In China, many companies are government-owned. The state operates shops, buses, and numerous other enterprises.
In Malawi, the government once owned companies and generated revenue from them. However, when multiparty democracy arrived, many of these enterprises were sold off during the privatisation programme under President Muluzi. As a result, the Government of Malawi now lacks the state-owned enterprises that wealthy nations typically depend on.
Ideally, national enterprises should operate in two categories: producing goods for export and selling goods locally. Export-oriented enterprises bring in foreign currency.
But Malawi does not engage in significant trade. We do not produce goods for export, and we lack strong industries capable of generating substantial revenue. This makes it difficult to obtain development funds or foreign exchange. Money only comes when a nation trades.
Another way countries acquire wealth is through stealing. Many wealthy nations have a history of stealing from others. Consider the “Scramble for Africa.” European countries partitioned the continent among themselves, and Malawi fell under British rule. They took our minerals, crops, and other resources without our consent, because they regarded them as their own. They knew these resources were not theirs, but having power, they took them anyway.
This continues today.
When wealthy nations discover valuable minerals in poorer countries, they often identify influential individuals, offer them money, and convince them to sell the minerals cheaply, or they simply take them under the guise of samples. Many African leaders became wealthy through such arrangements, receiving money while giving away national resources for little or nothing. The story of the Nyala Ruby in Malawi is one such example.
In some instances, wealthy nations even instigate conflicts in poorer countries, so that during the chaos they can loot resources freely. This is partly why conflict in the DRC never ends; powerful nations ensure instability so they can continue stealing from the country.
Malawi, being poor and not as militant, has no capacity to steal from other countries.
Therefore, for Malawi to develop, or even to earn foreign exchange, it must engage in business and export goods. Politicians understand this well. They also understand that building industries and establishing viable businesses takes time. Instead of being honest about this, they often deceive Malawians with empty promises of rapid development.
Today, Malawi depends heavily on donations and loans because the country does not generate its own income. The funds the government celebrates are either borrowed or begged for. And because politicians know that real economic transformation requires long-term investment, often beyond their time in office, they exploit incoming loan funds, stealing and enriching themselves, while leaving the public with minimal development meant only to appease or blindfold them.
When President Chakwera came into office, he attempted to create mechanisms for Malawi to generate its own revenue. He introduced three major strategies.
The first aimed to generate income through agriculture. Since Malawi lacks industries, he promoted the establishment of mega farms. The goal was for Malawi to increase agricultural production, export more, and earn national revenue.
The second strategy sought to ensure Malawi takes control of its mineral resources. The country has gold and many other minerals which, if managed properly, could generate significant revenue through exports. Currently, mining activities are secretive, (ma minerals amagulitsidwa ngati business yaku dambw Kapena kuchinamwali, za chinsisi) and revenue remains unaccounted for.
The third strategy focused on tourism, drawing more foreign visitors who would spend money locally and bring in foreign exchange. This approach could have significantly boosted the country’s forex reserves.
He called these three, the ATM strategy. Agriculture, Tourism and Mining.
The challenge with these strategies is that they require time. Malawi is impatient and short on time. Many citizens did not understand these plans, and politicians fought against them deliberately.
In brief, Malawi’s development will take time because the country does not generate its own wealth and does not engage meaningfully in trade. Dziko kuti lilemere limayenera kupanga ndalama zake osati zopemphetsa. Most essential commodities, such as fuel, must be imported, yet we lack the foreign currency to purchase them, because we do not export. This is why fuel shortages persist and why taxes continue to rise, the government needs revenue. I did not include taxation earlier as one of the four ways because taxation is simply the government collecting money from citizens to fund public needs. Yet, at times, taxes become burdensome, almost resembling a form of forced extraction, more like stealing from citizens, used merely to keep the government afloat.
Let us pray for our nation, for our leader, for wisdom and for true love for our country. One Malawi uja ndi m’modzi. I come in peace.
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