Some Development Issues and Debates

'There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction ....that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till', Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841

He was a marvel of nature, a God's gift to the world and indeed a King of pop. For me, Michael Jackson goes into history as the greatest pop star of all time. He brought to this world, talent, originality, and his success in his heydays, brought to question, the notion that people of his colour and/or social status at the time were only hewers of wood and drawers of water, with neither talent nor inherent ability to propel themselves into careers worth discussing! May his soul rest in eternal peace Mfumusaka (GC Matchaya)

December 09, 2008 04:55 AM (as it appeared on nyasatimes) By Greenwell Matchaya Just like any other individual in the global economy, I crave to understand the meaning of the financial turmoil hitting the developed countries, for the developing world including Malawi. In this post I will say something briefly about it. To do this, I will make some assumptions about the predominantly Western economic downturn in the short, medium and long term. As a point of departure, let's assume that the downturn will continue to trouble Western countries for sometime considering that part of its life span is hidden in whether consumers will soon regain confidence in the financial markets or not, then one would argue that for countries like Malawi, the short-run is less troubling because Malawi does not have a vibrant financial market and the Malawian economy is only indirectly and perhaps remotely related to it. Malawi's economy is also not driven by the housing market, whose collaps...

GC Matchaya One month after the Malawian people from all parts of the country gave the DPP a mammoth vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections, the DPP top brass has now released this year’s names of men and women who will head ministries as the president endeavours to forge ahead with development goals for the nation. The just-gone elections were unique and memorable with regard to the voting pattern that ensued and the absence of serious voting irregularities as such, people had unique expectations regarding the composition of the cabinet that was to follow. The cabinet has many new faces and some old faces have lost their posts which is normal. At present we do not have the CVs of the appointed ministers and we will postpone any serious and specific comments about expected performance of individual ministers to a later time. The cross-regional or district distribution of the ministers which people are implicitly or explicitly alluding to in their deliberations on issues o...

GC Matchaya we will comment on it later, but it seems promisory to me! Size PORTFOLIO June 15, 2009 1. President Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika 1. Vice President Joyce Banda (Mrs) 1. Agriculture and Food Security Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika 1. Agriculture and Food Security(Deputy) Magret Roka-Mauwa(Ms.) 1. Finance Mr. Ken Kandodo 1. Finance(Deputy) Mr. Fraser Nkhoma Nihora 1. Foreign Affairs Dr. Eta Elizabeth Banda 1. Foreign Affairs (Deputy) Augustine Mtendere 1. Education Dr George Chaponda 1. Higher education, Science and Technology (Deputy) Otilia Moyo-Jere (Ms) 1. Primary Education (Deputy) Victor Sajeni 1. Development Planning and Cooperation Abi Marambika Shawa 1. Development Planning and Cooperation (Deputy) Daniel Siwimbi 1. Transport and Works Khumbo Kachali 1. Transport and Works (Deputy) Lazaro Kasaila 1. Justice Dr. Peter Mutharika 1. Irrigation Ritchie Bizwick Muyewa 1. Irrig...

GC Matchaya I may not claim to have a lasting answer to this question however given the silence I will try to give my sketch of ideas on this as follows. The concerns about the Mw Kwacha being held at some fixed but high level surely spring from many angles but possibly the most useful one for most of us is the effect of such an exchange rate regime on the Malawi’s national accounts analysed in the context of a nation that has more on its table (projects etc requiring increased government spending) to deliver. As appoint of departure therefore it might be important to recap the basic major components of the two major accounts that may be impacted by the exchange rate regime more directly and these are the current account here proxied by the trade balance (value of exports-value of imports) and the capital account proxied by the value of capital inflows into Malawi minus the value of capital outflows to other countries. Now remember again that under a market determined exchange rate, th...

The Republic of Malawi held its fourth Presidential and Parliamentary elections on the 19th of May, 2009 under the supervision of the Malawi electoral Commission (MEC) chaired by Mrs Anastasia Msosa. This election was of its own kind not only in the manner in which it was conducted (which was characterised by drama as one major presidential contestant-Muluzi got barred from contesting), but also the campaign process, themes and tools as well as the outcome, were by and large quite fascinating. Indeed for those who were found in the middle of their studies, the fun that accompanied this election surely robbed them of their good chunk of precious time. I still vividly remember the despair in the voice of a friend of mine, a student in China, who almost failed to submit his essay on time as he had spent most of his time, listening to Zodiak online radio, to try to acquire a picture of what was going to ensue on the voting day in Malawi. The good news is that he passed, and his party won L...