Some Development Issues and Debates

Ask not, what God can do for you, but ask what you can do for God

The master economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must reach a high standard in several directions and must combine talents not often found together. He must be a mathematician, a historian, a statesman and a philosopher in some degree. He must study the present in light of the past for the purpose of the future. J. M Keynes

I am very happy to learn that Hon JZU has deemed it wise to pave way for new blood in 2014. There is no sin that is never cleansed, and if we thought he was going to cling to power and leave a divided MCP, and hence a politically insecure Malawi, we were wrong. He has once again proved that he is a changed man, who, even though led the MCP to a massive defeat by the ruling DPP, realises that the nation must come first in his decisions. A democratic system with a weak opposition, lacks the much needed checks and balances, constructive criticism of government undertakings, and is as good as ‘dynamically dead’. Hon JZU’s decision on this issue is wise and is in line with democracy consolidation and equitable distribution of opportunities, development and many other things in the country. He deserves honour! Viva democracy. Viva Malawi.

'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...