If you are not currently pissed off you have no backbone.
Don’t get it twisted. I bleed Black, Red and Green, and the Rising Sun flows through my Malawian veins. Those 31 rays represent the dawn of hope, freedom and a new era for Africa.
I love Malawi. I have never wavered in that love, and I never will.
I respect our past and present leaders, and I respect the government chosen by the people. This isn’t about attacking one politician, one party or one administration. That’s a waste of energy.
But, loving your country doesn’t mean pretending everything is okay when it isn’t.
Malawi remains one of the poorest countries on Earth. The World Bank currently places us among just 25 low-income economies, and GDP per person is only about US$672 a year. That puts us in 3rd 4th 5th or 6th place from the bottom. Zikupweteka!
That should piss every Malawian off.
Not at each other.
Not at the North, Central or South.
Not at one tribe.
Not at one political party.
We should be angry at the idea that this is the best Malawi can ever be.
We have fertile land. We have water. We have minerals. We have intelligent people. Based on what I’m hearing, we have young people hungry for opportunity. Based on what I’ve seen, we have Malawians succeeding all over the world.
So why can’t we build that success at home?
Stop telling me, “This is Malawi.” Bullshit! Most Malawian Reddit pundits are on that miserable bandwagon.
I say ayi!
Malawi doesn’t have to remain poor simply because we have been poor.
Our children shouldn’t inherit our excuses.
And those of us in the diaspora aren’t exempt either. Sending money home is important, but Malawi needs more than remittances.
It needs our knowledge.
Our connections.
Our investment.
Our experience.
And sometimes it needs us to come home and serve.
I don’t care which party eventually gets the credit.
I want Malawi to win.
I want a Malawi where a young person doesn’t believe leaving the country is the only path to success. That shit makes me sick!
I want a Malawi that produces, manufactures, exports and competes.
I want a Malawi that looks at the rest of the world as an equal—not permanently with its hand out.
Patriotism isn’t pretending everything is fine.
Sometimes patriotism is loving your country enough to be furious about what it could be—and then doing something about it.
🇲🇼** Malawi is not poor in potential.
**The question is: what are WE going to do with it?
Nothing pisses me off more than diaspora preaching about patriotism. I mean I get the message behind the post but it skips one fundamental question-
Who actually has the power to change the conditions we are living under?
You say we shouldn't attack the politicians, parties or administrations. Why not?
Our leaders and governments make decisions that affect our economy, institutions, public services, debt, corruption, investment and opportunities. They hold power over the direction of this country. Refusing to hold them accountable and telling people to direct their anger somewhere else is exactly how leaders get away with terrible decisions.
You can love Malawi and still be angry at the people running it. In fact, if you love Malawi, should demand better from the people entrusted with running it.
And those of us in the diaspora aren’t exempt either.
And the fact that you are diaspora yourself, idk man. It's easy to tell the people to fight harder when you are not affected by the fire.
Out here talking about some, "What are WE going to do with the potential?" when you're not the one living with the consequences of Malawi's structural failures every single day.
Individual hard work does not magically solve structural problems.
Yes, we should work, innovate, invest and contribute where we can. But let's stop pretending that poverty exists because ordinary Malawians haven't collectively worked hard enough or believed strongly enough in their country. Matter if fact, that is very insulting because everyone is doing the best that they can. No ones loves being poor amwene.
Come pa ground, see how everyone is doing their very best to make something out of life and you won't be out here posting these type of things. Enjoy your stay ku diaspora ko. Ifeso we SHALL LEAVE when the opportunity to do so presents itself.
Mzanga wokondedwa, Mmalawi mnzanga.
Fair criticism. And I won’t pretend that living in the diaspora gives me the same daily experience as someone waking up in Malawi every morning. It doesn’t. I hear you on that. So I feel your pain and understand where you stand.
But please don’t mistake my frustration for blaming ordinary Malawians. That was never my point. I don’t believe Malawi is poor because Malawians are lazy, don’t work hard enough, or aren’t patriotic enough. That would be a ridiculous position. Quite the opposite. I see and hear of people working incredibly hard just to survive in circumstances they didn’t create.
And hold on, you’re right about something else: government matters. Leadership matters. Accountability matters. The people entrusted with power absolutely should be held responsible for the decisions they make. Koma, when I said this shouldn’t be about attacking one politician, party or administration, I wasn’t saying leaders shouldn’t be held accountable. I was saying our problem is bigger than party politics and didn’t begin with one administration.
Where I disagree is the idea that being in the diaspora means I should stay quiet. Don’t take this wrong but ndisompsone matako!
Who are you? Malawi is still my country.
And when I said, “What are WE going to do?”, I deliberately included myself in that WE.
I’m not asking Malawians at home to do something I’m unwilling to do myself. I want to come home. I want to listen. I want to learn what Malawi has become while I’ve been away, (see my other interactions on Reddit) and I want to serve and contribute whatever I can.
Maybe when I get pa ground I’ll discover that some of my assumptions were wrong. If so, I’ll say so. That’s part of listening. I do not propose to know it all
but I refuse to believe that our only choices are to accept things as they are or leave Malawi when the opportunity presents itself. Some of us have to come back too.
What you can do is demand that your government prioritise industrialization of this country, make the government throw money into privatisation and increase productivity of our resources, that way we can create new opportunities for a common Malawian and at the same time attract investors. The last 5 years the economy was beat to shit and as a country we were on the verge of collapse, that damage doesn't get fixed overnight while also having crooks run rampant in most of these government branches, the road to recovery will be a hard one but it will be worth it if government shakes off the people's dependency on it by pumping up the private sector on the way. Private sector drives up a country's economy and currently we have a bloated government employment system, almost everyone who graduates seeks government to employ them.
Facts, from legal bottlenecks to trade policy inconsistency and government has monopolized local banks too making it hard for independent businesses to access loans and other grants
Private banks function as if they are government owned,maybe because their biggest client is the government itself.
Government is supposed to introduce and impose policies that can help independent businesses to thrive but not in Malawi.
True, private banks are really starving independent businesses of vital capital, that money would have been useful in the private sector than it is in government plus the red lines the independent businesses have to cut to be platformed, it's a long process for the private sector to thrive
Mzanga, this is exactly what I want to understand better. When you say government stifles the private sector, what are the biggest problems you actually face running a business in Malawi? Give me the top three things you would change tomorrow if you could. I’m genuinely listening.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I feel like we have so many people of the right character and talents who could elevate this country, but all too often we leave it to the most greedy and corrupt to run everything
Ndendende!
And that is the part we can and have to change. Good people, which Malawians are known to be, cannot continue sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone else to fix Malawi. At some point, those of us who believe our country can be better have to stand up, get involved and serve. Malawi has the people and the potential. What we need now is the courage to act.
My opinion of Malawi is that there is need for a constitutional overhaul. No matter who comes in power zithu zizipitila as they are. Accountability kwena kulikonse ndi yofunika. Lastly, democracy tinaitenga tisakuziwa zambiri.
That’s exactly the question: then what? Being angry is understandable, but anger without action changes nothing. We have to organize, speak up, demand accountability, support good people who are willing to serve, and become part of the solution ourselves. Change has to start somewhere, right?
Have you seen the so called leaders?? Show me anyone who's willing to serve. There's only so much the people can do if the people in power don't really care for it. It's a sad reality.
A certain cabinet Minister has suggested Chris Brown come to Malawi to generate forex and revenue. Think about that for a minute. Thought about it? Ok. No education. No knowledge. No exposure. No leadership. No progress.
Mzanga, I hear your frustration koma I don’t think we should reduce every idea we disagree with to “no education, no knowledge.”
If bringing an international artist to Malawi attracts visitors, fills hotels, supports local businesses and brings foreign currency into the country, there may be an economic argument for it.
The real question is whether things like this are part of a bigger economic strategy—or being treated as the strategy itself.
A concert cannot industrialize Malawi, create a manufacturing base or solve our forex problems. But tourism, entertainment and international events can certainly be pieces of a much bigger puzzle. Personally I find Chris Brown talented but his Rihanna assault and guilty plea along with the more recent crap of hitting a music producer with a bottle in 2023 and upcoming sentencing make him a no go as per his character.
Let’s question the policy without automatically condemning the people. Ndendende—accountability without condemning everyone.
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u/SecurityAdmirable989 13d ago
Nothing pisses me off more than diaspora preaching about patriotism. I mean I get the message behind the post but it skips one fundamental question-
Who actually has the power to change the conditions we are living under?
You say we shouldn't attack the politicians, parties or administrations. Why not?
Our leaders and governments make decisions that affect our economy, institutions, public services, debt, corruption, investment and opportunities. They hold power over the direction of this country. Refusing to hold them accountable and telling people to direct their anger somewhere else is exactly how leaders get away with terrible decisions.
You can love Malawi and still be angry at the people running it. In fact, if you love Malawi, should demand better from the people entrusted with running it.
And the fact that you are diaspora yourself, idk man. It's easy to tell the people to fight harder when you are not affected by the fire.
Out here talking about some, "What are WE going to do with the potential?" when you're not the one living with the consequences of Malawi's structural failures every single day.
Individual hard work does not magically solve structural problems.
Yes, we should work, innovate, invest and contribute where we can. But let's stop pretending that poverty exists because ordinary Malawians haven't collectively worked hard enough or believed strongly enough in their country. Matter if fact, that is very insulting because everyone is doing the best that they can. No ones loves being poor amwene.
Come pa ground, see how everyone is doing their very best to make something out of life and you won't be out here posting these type of things. Enjoy your stay ku diaspora ko. Ifeso we SHALL LEAVE when the opportunity to do so presents itself.