Passion for holidays slowing growth
Rest is good. Sleep is equally good. Rest allows us to unwind and recharge after hectic schedules in the different endeavours we undertake in the course of earning a living to bring food on our tables, shelter over our heads and indeed clothing.
This is one reason there are several holidays, including public holidays which cut across the board.
Malawi, like any other country, has its fair share of public holidays in a calendar year. There are 14 public holidays in Malawi compared to 12 each for Zambia and South Africa, 10 for Mozambique, 11 for Zimbabwe and 18 for Tanzania.
In Malawi, when a public holiday falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the holiday is observed the next Monday. On the other hand, where a public holiday falls within another holiday—like was the case with this year’s Eid-ul-Fitr holiday which coincided with Independence Day on July 6—such a holiday is observed on the next working day, giving people and businesses a double-header kind of rest.
I have no problem with public holidays. However, I have a problem with the manner in which such rest days are being celebrated or should I say abused in this country, as it were.
Take the example of the Mother’s Day holiday which is commemorated on October 15 in Malawi. This year, the holiday fell on a Saturday, but the official calendar as released by Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development provided that the Mother’s Day holiday be celebrated the following Monday, October 17.
However, what happened was that Malawians, mostly businesses, decided to have “a long weekend” and had a double Mother’s Day toast i.e. on Saturday and Monday.
Many businesses in the formal sector, notably commercial banks, telecommunications and ICT service providers and others, who normally open for some hours on Saturdays, closed shop. They again closed on Monday!
Now, this is where I have problems. Elsewhere, such businesses would have opened on Saturday, but close on Monday, the actual day when the public holiday was being observed. By closing on two days, the businesses not only lost business, but also gave their customers a raw deal.
In contrast, I noted many businesses owned by foreign nationals operating on both days whereas my entrepreneurial compatriots closed theirs and went out to the lake to “chop” their money or chill (kuzipepesa). When our businesses struggle or collapse, we then start hating ‘MaBurundi’.
This passion for celebrating holidays is slowing down economic activity and growth in this country, I must say. We are already a society whose businesses operate from 8 to midday and then 1.30pm to around 5pm. Even the many so-branded ‘24-hours’ service stations rarely operate around the clock whereas in countries like Uganda you find barber shops operating around the clock.
In Proverbs 20 verse 13, the Bible deplores the love of rest or sleep. It is a recipe for poverty: “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.”
Next year, there are several public holidays that will provide Malawians “long weekends”. I am not against the holidays per se, but my humble plea is for the business community to ponder whether the double-header holidays are good for their businesses and the economy at large. I mean if a holiday is on Saturday, but observed on Monday, should both days be holidays?
This passion for holidays must be tamed. n
