Patrick Achitabwino articles

Professionals form the formidable pillars of national development. Whenever a nation reaches some milestones in some areas, it certainly means that professionals specializing in such fields added value to their intellectual prowess. In other sense they put their intellectual resources into fruitful practical use.
Recently, Malawi has been reported to have slipped down on the Doing Business Index. This certainly puts a dent on the development agenda of this country. It is not that our economic policies are too archaic to go along with the pace of economic revolution. It is not even that we are advancing protectionism philosophy. What is pulling down the investment climate is the inability of key service providers, who are great yardsticks in business indexing, to improve service delivery in their capacities.
At present, electricity generation and distribution remains a challenge. Even the only small 11 percent of the population of Malawians cannot have access to electricity twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. How can this situation entice investors in perishable products?, If Kayerekera Uranium mining, probably Malawi’s money spinning project at the moment, decides to invest million of cash in generators on the pretext that ESCOM power is unreliable, what blow is our inefficient and inadequate power generation dealing to potential investors? If anything, power unreliability makes Malawi a costly country to invest into. Where are our distinguished engineers?
We are proud as a country to have educationists, renowned professors and doctors in education. As the population has been increasing over the years, certainly they should have been forecasting on its impact on the provision of tertiary education. Why is it that the intake of our universities has remained at a static level probably for the past thirty years? What strategies have our educationists been advancing to ensure that the country provides an easy access to tertiary education to its citizens to spearhead continued national development? At present, access to education at our universities is not a birthright but a priviledge. In the advent of technological advances, why can’t our universities go virtual? Advanced countries have gone ahead to offer degree and master degree courses online. Why can’t our esteemed educationists exploit such a route? We are training a few professionals indirectly proportional to the development agenda on the country.
In the interests of justice we rely on our learned colleagues in the law profession to offer us appropriate and unbiased guidance on the application of the law. The handling of disputes, civil or criminal, and the administration of justice has the potential to give people confidence in the law or to disillusion them. Some cases seem to be discharged at supersonic speed while other cases grow moulds in files with no hope of being addressed. In such a situation, what justice hope do our learned colleagues offer us? Many a times court rulings have been overturned by superior courts. What if in the first instance there was no appeal? It certainly means that there are people languishing in jails who could not have been had they appealed.
Of late companies have been folding down having been nursing losses consecutively. We question, where were the men and women of figures, the accountants? Where were the economic forecasters, economists? What strategic advises have they been offering to institute turn-around strategies. The value of their charteredness should have had a positive bearing if their academic prowess resuscitated the sinking ships.
Are our banks accessible to the common man? Are they the hub of economic development through provision of loans without infusing complex bureaucratic procedures that let people down? Are the interest rates being offered in line with inducing economic development at the household level? Probably our professional bankers need to streamline their strategies in the light of the economic development philosophy of the country.
Why is it that only a few Malawians have access to insurance policies? What is it that makes insurance policies not attractive to people? Our chartered insurers have the duty to go beyond the wording of the policies. They have to look at the practicalities of tailoring the policies with the economic interest of the people of this country.
Malawi is awash with professionals. Malawi can develop. The setback is that many professionals do not discharge their duties to the best of their intellectual capacities. We should run away from the temptation of writing high class proposals but unable to turn rhetoric into practical. Our professionalism can help the country if it moves away from the desks to the actual practical concepts.