Reading Time: 3 minutes A friend mine, a locomotive driver, called me one morning last month. He and several of his colleagues were on a train, testing the recently restored railway section between Balaka and Salima. This section, like many others in the country, had descended into a deplorable state of neglect and disrepair. When I was a boy, […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes This nation confronts numerous challenges, leaving many people bereft of hope regarding their standard of living. Some have dubbed it “Bagamoyo”, alluding to a notorious slave trading centre from the previous century, where captives from this country were transported and sold to eager purchasers. Unlike its neighbours, Malawi has not been endowed with precious minerals,

Reading Time: 3 minutes A few years ago, an individual stated in one of the WhatsApp forums to which I was affiliated that it was retrogressive for the Road Traffic Directorate to require trainee drivers to get tested in manual transmission vehicles. His contention rested upon the premise that assessing individuals with manual vehicles proved futile for those destined

Reading Time: 3 minutes Tucked away in the serene environs of the Shire Valley is a project of gigantic proportions. It takes a physical visit to the facility to appreciate the vastness of the Shire Valley Transformation Programme. Those who just hear about it through the media or other secondary sources think it is comparable in scale to the

Reading Time: 3 minutes In 2016, a friend of mine fell victim to an egregious trespass at his home in Manja Township, Blantyre, under the shroud of night. Villains, with nefarious intent, breached his vehicle, absconding with sundry and possessions, among them the car battery. In a display of sacrilege, they even took away some. Bibles. Thus did my

Reading Time: 3 minutes When the British administrators ruled us during the colonial era, they literally lorded it over us, creating a huge gap between them and us. We resented colonialism because, among other things, we wanted the majority of our people to participate in the running of affairs of government and commerce. Blantyre and Lilongwe were never settler

Reading Time: 3 minutes The recent revelation concerning a youthful Malawian’s intent to embark upon the local production of electric bulbs imparted a revitalizing vigour amidst the stifling ambiance of an economy riddled with the dearth of manufacturing endeavours, emblematic of our nation. Let me yet again state that production is the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Monday of last week was a spectacular day in North America because tens of millions of people watched a total solar eclipse. An eclipse is a phenomenon characterized by the alignment of three heavenly bodies – Sun, Moon, Earth. When the Moon blocks the Sun from the Earth, it is called a solar eclipse, and

Reading Time: 3 minutes One problem that has beset this country for a long time is inadequate foreign exchange reserves. Our currency undergoes perpetual devaluation due to the absence of adequate reserves to support its valuation against foreign currencies. Frequently, our authorities find themselves compelled to uphold an artificially inflated value of the Kwacha, relative to other currencies, in

Reading Time: 3 minutes Benjamin Carson, whom I have featured a number of times in the past ten or so years, remains one of my heroes. The African American neurosurgeon has achieved a number of firsts in his life. He was the first human being, for example, to successfully separate conjoined twins in 1987. He has since then successfully