Rail transport, one of Kamuzu’s dreams

The name Kamuzu is synonymous with terror and tyranny to many people. Like the biblical Nathaniel who wondered if anything good could emerge from Nazareth, these people have thoroughly demonised Kamuzu and cannot find anything positive in him.

Let us wind back to 1934 and we will meet a guy who would have completely dwarfed Kamuzu in the game of tyranny. He is Adolf Hitler. To equal Hitler’s record, Kamuzu would have needed to wipe out the whole population of Malawi as at 1964—plus a further two million people from I-dont-know-where! This was, by any human or standard, or indeed by the standards of Lucifer himself, a tough record to beat.

And yet even Hitler had something positive to contribute to civilisation. I will highlight two of such contributions. The first one is in the form of some philosophical expressions he coined. One of them went like this: “Life is like a mirror. If you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.” Another interesting expression was: “When you are in light, everything follows you. But when you enter dark, even your own shadow will not follow you, that is life.”  It is paradoxical that despite such articulation of profound wisdom, Hitler continued to walk in the dark.

The second is the Volkswagen (VW). In 1934, Hitler instructed Ferdinand Porsche to design a car for the masses (the people). He had his own sketch of the car which he handed over to Porsche. It took Porsche four years to complete the design of the vehicle. Eventually, in 1938, the Volkswagen Beetle was born. The VW Beetle went on to become one of the greatest success stories in the motorcar industry. It has sold more units in one design than any other make of car. Only the Toyota Corolla has sold more units, but in various designs.

As we celebrate Kamuzu Day tomorrow, it might be useful to shift our attention away from the atrocities he is infamous for and focus, for a moment, on some of his positive contributions to this nation.

Kamuzu was religiously dedicated to infrastructural development. There is not enough space in this essay to discuss all the infrastructure that Kamuzu’s government laid down. I will single out one: rail transport.

At independence, Malawi inherited a functional railway transport system. The British had between 1901 and 1935 constructed a railway line from the Port of Beira in Mozambique through Blantyre to Chipoka and Salima.

When Kamuzu arrived on the scene, he and his government decided to improve on what was available. He often said the railway was the “lifeblood” of the Malawi economy. One of his philosophies was: “If I inherit anything, by the time I leave, it must either be the same as it was when I inherited it or it must be better” or words to that effect. True to this philosophy, he entered into serious negotiations with the Portuguese administrators in Mozambique to be allowed to construct a rail extension from Nkaya through Entre Lagos to Cuamba where it would connect to the existing railway line from Lichinga to the port of Nacala. Opened in 1971, this extension provided Malawi with access to an alternative port of entry to Beira.

Later, Kamuzu pursued another extension of the railway from Salima to Lilongwe and on to Mchinji. This extension was opened to traffic in 1979 and provided the rich agricultural area around Lilongwe with a cheaper way of carrying produce. It was envisaged that this line would eventually be extended to Chipata and would connect to the much-touted Tazara rail line, providing access to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Because of a functional railway system, Malawi’s imports and exports were relatively cheap during Kamuzu’s time. The major industries in Blantyre and Lilongwe had rail spurs branching off into their premises for loading and offloading of their cargo. One still sees these spurs at Lafarge, Admarc and other companies, but they have largely fallen into disuse.

When Kamuzu left the scene, the railway system began to crumble. I once visited Bangula and almost shed tears when I saw people sitting on the railway, selling all manner of merchandise. That is what neglect has done to our rail transport. Instead, we now rely on trucking to bring goods in or take exports out. Little wonder that Malawi now has some of the highest import and export costs in the world.

**The author is a provider of printing services and a social commentator.