By Brian Ligomeka, Veteran Journalist  

Malawi. Sovereign nation. My foot. Sovereign in what sense. A country that uses hoes for farming. A country that cannot even manufacture a tooth pick.

An agro-based nation that goes hungry every year. A nation which even waits for donors to construct pit latrines and mount a sign post when the pit latrine is constructed! Stop the crap and face reality.

At the height of fuel shortages a few months ago [as we had no forex (US dollars) to import the much-needed driver of the economy, most of us never sang about Malawi being a sovereign nation.

We all bemoaned about fuel queues. Top government officials had to fly to Washington DC in US to beg Bretton Wood institutions to have mercy on us and release some dollars. With their mercy, we have fuel.

Today, when our well-wishers advise us to take the war against corruption seriously by fighting the top corrupt barons we all know, we stand on the mountain top and declare that we are a sovereign nation. State sovereignty has its own limits.

Globalization has taught us many lessons on dependence of countries on each other due to their political, social and economic advantages. Super rich countries need developing nations for raw materials.

Developing nations need First World Countries for export markets. When we are singing about sovereignty, we should also reflect on its limitations.

Out of interest, why can’t the big dogs in government mobilize resources and pursue the corrupt barons instead of fighting an individual that was already forgiven for her verbal diarrhoea?

Why isn’t taxpayer’s money being used for the real fight against corruption?

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