If you ask me to describe
a Civil Servant for you I would tell you that a civil servant is that miserable
man in town, who dresses shabbily and is not expected to own a house, car or
run any business at all. Doing so would mean having “unexplained wealth” according
to Malawi’s standards therefore the ACB, Police and the Financial Intelligence
Unit will be breathing heavily on your neck because you deserve to be bundled
in a police Land Cruiser, having your house searched and thrown into jail
because you have committed a crime.
Not that I am trying to justify
the looting of public resources, no, but am just trying to look at this episode
with different lenses. The question being whispered heavily in my mind is;
which one is explained wealth and which one is unexplained wealth?
For example what do you
call this? I remember very well sometime back I was asked to attend a press
conference somewhere in town to do with football. The one addressing the media
was a certain big business guy from Lilongwe. This man is well known for
sponsoring some football activities and he is extremely rich. But what amazes
me is that this big man is somebody who cannot utter a simple word in English
and I hear he struggles to read or write but he is such a big guy in the
capital.
At the press briefing he had come with a blue plastic bag that
contained huge sums of money and he told us that he was carrying K3 million in
that bag. According to him this was money he had collected from some of his
customers in Limbe. Is this explained or unexplained wealth?
Where did this man get all
the money to turn into a business tycoon?
To us having explained
wealth is where somebody who is working for a bank that bombards us with so
many charges simply for keeping our money where for you to get a loan you will
be greeted with an unexplained interest but be assured that the gentleman who
heads that bank at the end of the year will be pocketing close to K50 million
in bonuses. This to us is explained wealth. Forget about how that bank makes
its money, how they are reaping customers off their money and all that. As long
as he pockets K50 million we are okay with it and we call him a big man.
Explained wealth is where
a cabinet minister gets into government driving a Toyota corolla but barely two
months in office he now owns 3 houses, the car in town, Toyota Fortuner, a
Pajero, 3 pickups, 5 Lorries and other property. Remember he gets not more than
K800, 000, but to us that’s explained wealth and the police can’t do anything
about it.
Let’s take a look at these
parastatals, how the CEOs there are owning mansions in town, driving posh cars,
changing concubines at will, throwing parties and splashing money to these
small small girls. The police are okey with it; the ACB can’t even investigate
them and this Financial Intelligence chanichani can’t even make steps against
them because this is “explained wealth”. Oh my God!
Have I mentioned the
president here? We all know the stories about Bakili Muluzi, now allegations
about Bingu, as for Joyce Banda we don’t need to be told the stories because we
are able to see for ourselves. This again can be categorised as unexplained
wealth (writing wile laughing)
If a civil servant dares
to take to the streets asking for better perks he becomes an agent of the
opposition sent by Peter Mutharika to fight amayi. Why? Because this is a
person who is destined for misery.
My point is, as we are sweeping
the civil service of corruption and theft; let’s not neglect other systems that
are prone for abuse. It’s not only the civil service that is rotten, even the
private sector and other public sectors stink of corruption and theft, only
that they seem to be very big people that can’t be touched. Tawapezelela ma
accounts assistant omwewatu ndithu.
By the way, greetings to
the Vice President Khumbo Kachali. Let’s meet at the Sand Festival in Lilongwe,
tikukadya money ya misonkhotu ife kumeneku, mwatilira.
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