No reason for happiness in Malawi
The 2018 United Nations world happiness report has shown that Malawi is one of the countries with the least happy people. This is mostly due to having visionless leaders. Hence it is very rare that one can come across a positive rating, which puts Malawi ahead of other African countries. With all the negative ratings supported by the real situation on the ground proves that there is no way Malawians can be a happy people.
As it were, the Minister of Information who is also a government spokesperson Nicholas Dausi, has rejected the UN report on happiness. This might be the opinion of the Peter Mutharika government. But what is obvious in this country is that nothing much comes out to make one happy. Probably, the Minister rejected the UN happiness report because as a Cabinet minister, and others in the corridors of power and influence, are always in the comfort zone. They have money and properties.
Their children go to good schools and colleges abroad. After graduating, they go into lucrative jobs in the country. At the moment, the country is grappling with the problem of electricity loadshedding. This has negatively affected businesses, some of which are now history. People have lost jobs and joined the already flooded streets of job-seekers. Those in power and the elite can afford personal generators. To such people, load shedding is not a problem at all. This is likely the reason the President and his government do not bother to come up with permanent solution by connecting Malawi to power grids which are reliable such as DRC, Zambia and others.
What is stated above are some of the luxuries enjoyed by the leadership and other influential people who account for 10 percent, or so, of the Malawi population. These are the people who are perpetually happy. The rest of Malawians are loaded up with problems and have no reason to show any happiness. How can they be happy when their children learn under trees, where it is a foregone conclusion that when it rains there are no classes. University and college graduates can hardly get jobs, instead the Head of State advises them to be self-employed. With such a statement from the leadership, it is a clear admission that the Mutharika government has failed to create jobs. With no starting capital, it makes no sense to advise one to be self-employed.
The other sad things in Malawi are the health services. Some government hospitals perpetually have no medicines. If one needs treatment abroad, they can remain on the waiting list till death, before government provides help and give a go-ahead. One other problem in this country is lack of security. The security system is so porous that tricksters are roaming the streets that even Cabinet ministers and other leaders have been duped in broadday light, and losing lots of money. The problems stated above are a tip of the iceberg.
Experience has shown that the Mutharika government might take all the suffering that Malawians are going through as an exaggeration. This can be naturally so because all the leaders are in a comfort zone and, therefore, they find it difficult to have empathy for the poor majority.
With due respect, and honestly speaking, Malawians have never before suffered as they are doing at the moment.
In conclusion, there is no reason for people of Malawi to be happy with all the hardships narrated in this article and many more out there. Therefore the UN report which says that Malawi is the least happy country has hit the nail on the head. n
