Cut the pretence and be efficient for once

Dear judge Mbadwa,

The much-talked about Sadc Summit is now behind us, my lord, but one take-home message from Nyasaland’s hosting of the meeting is that this country can choose to be efficient in everything if it wants to. And that is where my problem is.

My lord, I looked with awe at a well-coordinated organisation of the summit with almost everything running at pitch perfect execution.

For the first time I saw the utility companies managing to provide constant water and electricity supply, at least in areas where delegates were putting up.

Of course, my lord, I understand that some outlier areas were starved for the sake of the Sadc summit, but that does not remove the fact that utilities did their job well.

The capital city was looking squeaky clean again and the trash that is usually left to accumulate into mountains of nauseating filth was cleared.

Even the most arrogant service providers we love to hate at least wore a courteous face this time and appeared ready to help.

Everybody you met and asked looked friendly and ready to help, including cadets of the People’s Demagogic Party and party zealots of the cockerel and Tokha group of companies (oh! parties).

My lord, if the organisation of the summit is anything to go by, we either choose to deliberately wallow in mediocrity or we are just good at masking our inefficiencies at times.

It will be sad, my lord, to see Nyasas reverting to the pre-summit nature of ‘I don’t care’ with everybody behaving as if they are some royalty who need to be served rather than serve.

But trust me, my lord, we will go back to our old ways of doing things. The streets will be dirty again and utilities companies will no longer care as always the case.

Politicians will wear their true colours of self- importance while those who plunder taxpayers’ money will take it from where they left before the summit.

My lord, the hosting of the summit is also a clear indication that Nyasaland can pool resources together and end most of the challenges that has made us one of the poorest countries on planet earth.

Why then do we spend our energy and resources pretending to be a warmhearted nation to foreigners when we are neither warm nor hearty to the majority poor who lack basic amenities in the country?

While I don’t want to delve into the narrative that some have already enriched themselves courtesy of the summit via inflated bills (as I chose to be optimistic), I will be waiting with bated breath how the government will account for every penny spent on the summit.

My lord, now that it is incontestable that Nyasas like to hide their true self, why can’t we cut the pretence for once and be efficient in everything for real instead of just performing for the camera?

Regards,

John Citizen.

With Emmanuel LucianoFeedback: whatsapp 09 99 253 633