Some Development Issues and Debates

I rarely write on any Malawi matters since the 23rd of June 2020 except formal research pieces etc, but I think it is important to join the voices that seek to outlaw tribalism as sparked by the (fake) letter from the CHEFO. In my view, that letter , whether it is fake or genuine has come as a blessing so we can debate these issues openly and perhaps at length too. Firstly, it is important to note that our democracy is founded on the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. It is also founded on the value of non-racialism and non-sexism, supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law, among others. So, in whatever we do, the key should be to ensure that our actions do not unfairly violate these values. It is thus straightforward to conclude that any conduct that unfairly discriminates a section of the population based on constitutionally listed or non-listed grounds including gender, race, and disability tribe etc is in

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On the degrees issues: Lets us differentiate authenticity from illegality The jurist is not defending anything or 'not defending' anything... But just that , from first principles of legality , retroactive application of law etc, 1. Where there is no law forbidding, nothing is illegal 2. Where a law later changes to introduce a new norm, those who acted differently before the change have not fallen foul of the law. This is important principle of legality Thus, where an institution confers degrees lawfully, but later fails to satisfy certain new legal or quality criteria, the consequences of the inability to satisfy this new norm do not affect those who acted in the absence of the newly promulgated prescriptions. This is logical for to behave any differently would offend ius certum and ius praevium sub elements of the nulla poena sine lege maxims as well as nullum crimen sine lege principles But legal does not of course mean robust or the most optimal ...

On the billboard issue that carried a controversial religious message, i have noted several dissenting views... 1. Some are of the view that we must allow religious competition through negative marketing until the most negative wins against the meek. I find the above as naive and analogous to stirring a religious fight in a generally peaceful country. This is bad advice. 2. Some think the best is to leave those who provoke others alone, because in heaven God will punish provokers.... I find the above as ill advised. What would happen is that non action would pass as tacit approval of the provocation and over time these would multiply and a confrontation would become inevitable. We do not want such an avoidable future strife of a religious nature. We are a peaceful and tolerant nation yes and that is why we even elected Muluzi as president at a time when his religion accounted for under 9% of the nation's faiths. But this peace must be guarded

Greenwell Matchaya, PhD Email: Greenwellmatchaya@yahoo.com Malawi’s economy at present is between a 100 to 200 (or more years) behind many African countries and indeed behind advanced countries of Europe and North America. A simple economic growth calculation reveals that, to move from the current Gross National Income of circa $389 per capita to US$1037 per capita threshold for being categorized as a lower middle income country, and assuming the current 5% average growth    rates of incomes per capita, it will take Malawi at least 63 years. Similarly, under the same assumptions, it will take Malawi, 111 years, 165 years, 188 years and 306 years to reach levels of per capita incomes enjoyed by Ghana, Namibia, Botswana, and Germany respectively. This is unacceptable and we must collectively reduce these ginormous time gaps in less than two decades by doing business differently, or we will perish. The encouraging news is t