Malawi is one of the least developing countries with a very slow growing economy.
There are a lot of factors that have led to the economic crisis of the country. One of the leading factors to the slowed economy is the increased number of vehicle importation.
Money is a scarce and limited resources are supposed to be allocated with caution and wisely.
One needs to invest money in order to increase their income.
Some of the good investments that an average Malawian can invest include purchasing a house, putting it in a fixed account, buying a piece of land or starting any other business.
The problem that has now dragged our economy down the drain is the act of the majority of middle-income individuals who opt to purchase luxury cars as soon as they secure a job instead of investing the money.
I do not regard buying a car as investing because the owner spends a lot of money each day on the vehicle. The expenditure does not increase the value of the vehicle.
For example the owner buys fuel, engine oil, tires, pays insurance and services the vehicle on a regular basis.
If you multiply the costs of maintaining one vehicle by the number of the running vehicles that our country has you will realise that we are not allocating our funds properly.
You may agree with me that a number of people are renting houses and park multiple cars outside the house instead of having just one vehicle and invest the money that would have used to maintain the other vehicles.
The increased and unrestricted importation of vehicles has even put much pressure on government as it struggles to supply the goods in demand. This pushes government to shift its attention from basic needs to luxuries.
For example the government has to import more fuel and other related goods in the efforts of satisfying citizens who are not investing. We all must understand that our demands push the government to address them as a result other important projects fail.
The use of public transport can help to solve our problem of relying a personal vehicles. An ineffective public transport system is one of the reasons why people choose to use personal vehicles.
If the public transport would be very effective, surely a number of people would choose to forgo their personal vehicles which have also led to high traffic congestion on the roads.
It is also common to see people, who are going to the same destination, using different vehicles each instead of just using on specious vehicle and share the costs.
It is not the question of whether you can afford it, but the pressure that you put on yourselves and government to make the goods available.
My appeal to the responsible governing bodies is to make public transport as effective as possible by ensuring good time keeping and the recommended carrying capacity. Public transports should also be introduced to the areas which do not have, mainly the low density areas of our cities.
The youths are also encouraged to invest their money other than buying saloon vehicles which do not appreciate in value but take in a lot of money. The high earning individuals are asked to be humble and exemplary enough by sharing one vehicle when going to the same destination other than using different vehicles each. Let us all join hands as a nation and put the economy back on track. This will take us all to be humble and focused. Let us not put luxuries first because we cannot match the pace of a luxury life but will only this will make us suffer and leave us poor at the end.
