The tyranny of numbers
Benjamin Israel, not Bibi, threw a punch line on statistics. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics” he argued, and since then, it is a key subject taught in the underground universities of propaganda.
Even colleges that offer courses on “common sense” teach numbers of some kind. Do numbers lie? Possibly yes and no, depending on how one uses them.
There are a lot of numbers floating around, but I realise that sometimes we do not pay attention to what they actually mean. One great invention I hate and detest is the alarm clock. It has numbers built in, and I get annoyed when in the middle of winter mornings it murders my hard won sleep.
Solution to such a nuisance is pretty easy of course. Don’t set the alarm or better switch off the gadget, but reality avails itself. The next day eventually comes irrespective of a dead alarm clock. The counting cannot be stopped even if your alarm clock is faulty or deliberately shut. Malawi too as a country will outgrow and out-count each one of us. It simply calls for each of us to do the best for our country. Theft and abuse of taxpayers’ money is not one of them, as it lacks class. How do we count then?
From our number series last week, we counted 51 or counted one depending on where you started. Others have counted K577 billion. Never mind the introspection behind it. It is a count still in the numerical adage of the number line. Others have indeed counted K92 billion while others love the fateful K13 billion. Number 13 is not good and amongst fortune tellers of the West, they just hate it. The Japanese avoid four altogether but it does not make adultery better than theft.
The distributive function of the social construct is twisted by those without mandate. Money counting is even more appealing. At the heart of every conflict, opportunism and crime there is money involved. For the spiritual, the root of all things satanic has hallmarks of currency, no matter how weak or strong the currency might me. Speculators are even very good at their game. Their act is evil and opportunistic and they are now cashing on the Malawi kwacha whose brake pads require replacing. We still live and keep counting on our days. Year in and out, birthday comes and our cities get congested.
For the medical doctor, the count is the number of patients that they have to treat and the many that die from curable mild infections. It is tough and psychologically draining.
They even think of supplies such as medicines, surgical equipment and sanitary supplies among many others. I cannot even imagine what goes in the mind of the mortuary attendant or the nurse that delivers the message of death. They count too. For the loud mouthed demographer, the worry is a population boom and the family planner concerned with how to stop it. Think of Kamuzu Central Hospital, that is a referral facility for the over five million people of the Central Region. You can say the same thing about the other three referrals.
Educationists too are counting and are in love with demographers. They think about the number of schools and the many youths that cannot access quality education. The employment activist is worried with the numbers that are simply not adding up. Lack of jobs and, more importantly, decent ones that ensure a decent living. The investor is cocky and possibly caught in the middle. How to turn around a business without paying a bribe to make profits healthily count. It’s all in one package.
The philosopher and the preacher are possibly at crossroads and pulling each other part. One might be counting souls that require thrill in prosperity gospel while that former provides the thinkers narrative. For the politician, it is even more complex. Some are counting to 2019 and want it fast while others want it later. Others ponder how much they need to raise to make their wishes count.
And there is opportunity where hope is fading. The Mchesi trader and associates is happy with the lifespan of the average geek that cannot avoid private health insurance or the luxury of Milpark. It is good business.
But as an admirer of Rostow, I have a question. How many years do we have before reaching the conditions of take-off? They include each one of us having a decent living, where jobs are easy for all. They include an environment where you don’t need to pay someone for a public service. I mean that time you walk into a public hospital feeling you will come back alive. I mean that time when each one of us feels safe anytime of the day. That moment our homes have electricity 24 hours and Malawi ceases to be four cities but offers similar opportunities for folks in the most remote parts of the country.
Numbers are tyrannical but if you are in a position that can inspire all of us pay some attention. Whatever you do, and whoever you are, pay some attention to numbers and what they communicate. You don’t have to go public but enjoy the comfort of truth, painful as it is, but it heals. Each one of us has some tiny but powerful function to get this act together. Numbers make and unmake our hopes. Today there are close to 14 million of us after 51 years of existence and public services still appear to serve the four million that existed at the birth of the republic.
Think numbers and happy counting.
