Bad Moon Rising
on Me Talk Pretty One Day (Malawi), 26/Nov/2009 11:43, 34 days ago
When the newspapers finally reported the national fuel shortage, they echoed the Government’s claim that the ports in Mozambique and Tanzania were at fault. Congestion, they said. Technical problems. At the time, it seemed somewhat coincidental that two ports, separated by hundreds of miles, located in different countries and managed by different organisations, should experience the exact same problems at the exact same time.Later that week, a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for an end to the practice of arbitrarily fixing exchange rates. The Government’s overvaluation of the Malawian Kwacha, they said, was one of the reasons behind the country’s current shortage of foreign exchange, and hence its inability to purchase fuel on the international market.A day later, the manager of Mozambique’s Beira port told journalists that the problem at the depot was not one of congestion, but of inactivity. Fuel supplies to Malawi had simply been suspended due to the fact that the country had defaulted on its payments. The manager went on to say that Malawi had asked to borrow fuel and that thisrequest had been rejected.The story was the same in Tanzania. The Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Corridor, which operates the port in Nacala and the railway system that delivers fuel to the north of Malawi, told the media that the country had run out of foreign currency and had been cut off.Authorities in Mozambique and Tanzania were understandably annoyed by claims that their countries were to blame for Malawi’s fuel shortage. It has since been reported that Mozambique has withdrawn its support for a $6 billion waterway project that plans to link Malawi—and further upstream, Zambia—with the Indian Ocean. The landlocked countries are relying on Mozambique as the trade route would need to pass through several hundred miles of its territory.The Nyasa Times, Malawi’s sole online newspaper, then reported that President Bingu Wa Mutharika had recently purchased a luxury jet. The press had not been officially informed of the development after some reporters responded negatively to the President’s earlier shopping spree, which saw six Hummers and 22 MercedesBenz vehicles purchased at taxpayer’s expense and flown into the country for use by the President and members of his Cabinet. The Nyasa Times implied that these purchases might have contributed to the fact that Malawi’s foreign currency reserves are now well below the minimum level recommended by the IMF.The next scandal to break was that President Bingu had leant $100 million to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, and with just a month left until the loan was due to be repaid in full, not a single dollar had so far found its way back to Malawi. The President had freely leant $100 million to the corrupt leader of a bankrupt economy, sanctioned the world over by all discerning governments for his brutal disregard for the rule of law and human rights, and it is now the people of Malawi who are suffering.Faced with such damaging accusations, the Government decided to act. They first called upon the middle classes not to purchase Christmas presents from abroad this year, a practice that would further damage the country’s balance of payments situation. “We are in a crisis,” stated the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi. “In hard times like these, we cannot afford luxuries.”As the debate about Government’s ‘extravagant use’ of foreign currency escalated, and with the Governor’s warning ringing loudly in the ears, the Minister for Youth Development and Sports travelled to Burkina Faso to watch Malawi’s final qualifying match for the African Cup of Nations.After the team lost 1-0, but still qualified for the finals in Angola next January courtesy of the Ivory Coast’s victory against Guinea, the Minister hosted an all-night celebration for players and officials at his luxury hotel in Ouagadougou. The team, which was roundly criticised back home for its poor performance, was invited by the Minister to party all night at the taxpayer’s expense. Newspapers reported that player’s efforts on the dance-floor were an improvement over their efforts on the field earlier in the day.The President then asked his troop of much-travelled ministers to restrict themselves to no more than six foreign visits per year, and asked that no visit should exceed 14 days in duration. Again, this measure was designed to restrict the outflow of foreign currency from the country.The President attempted to set the example by refusing to attend a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately, his gesture saved the national coffers very little as he sent two representatives in his stead. Malawian reporters, who had already travelled to the Caribbean to cover the President’s visit, flew home before the summit even started.The Government then moved to put an end to the immediate shortage of foreign currency, and hence the shortage of fuel, by borrowing money from a regional development bank. Malawi borrowed $50 million in total, or about the same amount of money it would cost to purchase a luxury jet, six Hummers and 22 Mercedes Benz vehicles, and have them all flown into the country, express delivery.Such comparisons do not make for comfortable afternoon debates in Parliament for the President’s governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The final chapter of this tale then tells the story of how the Government recently changed the rules in Parliament, allowing the entire House to elect the leader of the opposition.By virtue of the fact that the opposition are, quite obviously, in the minority, they now effectively have their leader chosen for them by the governing party. The Government chose a young, first-time politician to lead the opposition, a man renowned only for being a DPP sympathiser.A week later, a Government-sponsored bill on police reform was put before the House. The bill seeks to give the police powers to search without warrant, to prevent public gatherings and to enforce regional curfews. Ironically, the new legislation, which aims to limit human rights and empower the police to exert more control over the actions of civilians, will also see the‘Police Force’ renamed as the ‘Police Service’.Newspapers reported that Honourable Abele Kayembe, new leader of the opposition, gave his support to the bill.