The cancer of not honouring utility bills

Sometime in October last year, my wife and I sold a house of ours in Blantyre. The house was being occupied by a tenant and the premises managed by Ching'onga Estate Agents. When the tenant vacated the house he left electricity and water bills unpaid. The issue dragged until November when ESCOM disconnected the power on a Friday morning. Knowing that the agents would not pay in time before the 3pm deadline to get power restored on the same day and not wanting the new owner to not have power over a weekend, we took out money and paid the outstanding bills and reconnection fees. I applied the pressure on Ching'onga to give me back my money but they kept insisting they could not trace the old tenant. So I told them to give me their money so they can sort out the old tenant issue later, after all they didn't do their job properly by letting his vacate without settling his bills. In December I managed to get half of the money. The excuse was that the accountant only knew of the electricity bill and not the water one. In January, tired of having to call them every other day, I asked whether they would give me my money or not. After a few minutes of evading the question, they rudely admitted that they would not pay me. End of conversation. Here is a so-called reputable estate agent who demands a percentage of rentals as management fees yet fails to ensure all things are in order. I will not go into the other issues that came about at the transfer of ownership as this entry is dealing with utility bills.

It never ceases to amaze me why people don't care about paying their utility bills. In 2001 when I occupied a house in Area 18 in Lilongwe, I found the water bill at just over K20,000 and it had been like that for months on end. When I approached the former tenant, he agreed to pay the bill but didn't. It was only after Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) disconnected the water and I piled the pressure on this guy that he went to LWB and had the water reconnected. It would appear he paid some K8,000 and asked LWB to reconnect. Upon further investigation it transpired that he had connections in the system who would simply reconnect the supply once it was disconnected hence the large bill. two weeks later he finished paying of the remaining K12,000.

Four years later I moved into a compound of houses that had just been built. These new houses had water and electricity but no account numbers were given to us by the developer. I took it upon myself to find the account numbers and start paying the bills. After some five months, while I was on vacation, I saw a contingent of ESCOM employees in the compound, ladders in hand. They had come to disconnect power for outstanding bills. Of the five houses that had been occupied at the time, only ours survived having the power line removed from the roof. Reason? Our neighbours could not be bothered to find their account numbers, let alone pay their bills. Some ended up with very high bills accumulated over the past months that they had to pay in full before supply was restored.

Last year in January I moved out of a house in Area 3 and pinned up the water and electricity bills on the closet door so the owner could take note and change the address. Thirteen months later I still receive the bills, most of the time the bill has aged past 90 days.

There are many other cases of people who don't bother paying utility bills, some being influential people in society. Ironically these are the very same people who bad mouth utility companies for non-performance. Who do they expect them to perform if they are financially handicapped because they have not been paid for services rendered? Some people never cease to amaze!

Kenya violence disturbing, chilling

At the start of the election violence in Kenya, the country's high commissioner in London played down the incidents and scale of violence in a BBC interview. Three to four weeks later the violence does not only seem to have spread but the ferocity of it all is alarming. Scene's played on Euronews showing a man being beaten to death is shocking. Similar scenes shown weeks earlier on CNN were equally disturbing. Visuals of youths roaming the streets with knives and pangas are beamed day in, day out. Reports of people being burnt alive in their homes are aired daily. Reports that Raila Odinga attended a prayer meeting two weeks ago where his supporters displayed placards written 'Give us Guns and we will show them' were chilling.

In all this mayhem and destruction, Kenya's leaders seem oblivious to the long term damage these killings are having on the people, the country and the sub-region. Neither Kibaki nor Odinga has come out strongly to reign in their supporters and put an end to this senseless slaughter. We have just heard that an ODM parliamentarian has been shot dead early this morning in Nairobi. The stakes have been raised! The poor man is being used as a pawn in this deadly game of dirty politics!! God save Kenya!!

Old map of Malawi

I am looking for an exact or similar map of Malawi pictured on the left. The one I have is damaged and would really love to replace it. It features Nyasaland time names and pictures of wildlife. A bigger (and hopefully clearer) picture can be viewed here.

China: the new buzz word

On our way to drop our child at school this morning, he asked us (again!) where the plane on the Air Zimbabwe billboard was going to. Fed up of giving the same answer, my wife responded 'it's going to China'. The inquisitive little boy then asked 'kukavina? (is it going to dance in China?)'. Not knowing what to say, my wife and I just looked at each other and laughed.

China is the new buzz word in town. Newspaper articles, commentaries and conversations at the pubs. One person even suggested our schools start teaching Chinese in anticipation of both the 'influx' and for our children to know the language so as to assist them on their future trips to the people's republic.

Talking of the 'influx' reports say in the past month the Immigration department has received 400 visa application from China. Whether this figure is exaggerated or not Malawian's better brace themselves for an influx in both human and non-human form.

What's eating the UDF?

Recently there have been accusations flying around as to what or who is causing divisions in the UDF. Most fingers have pointed in the direction of the government, the DPP and the state president. For some strange reason these accusers are failing to see that either the source of divisions is right next to them within the party or that they are actually the source of all confusion. Or maybe it's a case of having their heads stuck somewhere heads are not traditionally supposed to be so much so that they can't see the writing on the wall nor smell the coffee!

The long and short of it all is that greed within the hierarchy of the party is the source of all problems in the UDF. Greed is eating the UDF! Greed is destroying the UDF!

Enter the Dragon

Taiwan's government suffered a double-blow of the weekend; The governing DPP sustained a heavy loss to the nationalists in parliamentary elections that has lead to the president resigning as the party's chairman and it lost a 42 year old ally in Malawi. Malawi has switched allegiance to mainland China in return for several investment projects.

Reaction has mainly been positive. Some commentators says that with Malawi not signing the EPA agreement championed by the EU, Malawi needed a similarly big bloc to ensure a continuation of trade. Others say the Shire-Zambazi Waterway project that China has promised to finance will bring about big benefits to Malawi by providing a transport corridor to the sea for Malawi Zambia and Zimbabwe, countries in which China has great investments. Others view China as an emerging superpower worth having diplomatic relations with.

Then there are those who say Malawi is sleeping with the devil citing China's appalling human rights record, a claim some have rubbished. "We maintain cordial relation with Zimbabwe, a country with a horrible right record. So what is the benchmark we are using to determine who not to have relation with" one commentator said.

However we still need answers to many questions which the ministry of foreign affairs has promised to provide. My most pressing is apart from promising to buy tobacco and uranium from Malawi, what else are they likely to buy? Is Mainland China an open market for Malawian businesses? Will it not be one way traffic for cheap (and sometimes lethally toxic) goods?

Politicians without Issues

I was neither shocked nor surprised when I read in the papers that JZU Tembo had lashed out at President Bingu wa Mutharika saying he (Bingu) was trying to copy Late Kamuzu Banda's style of leadership. Tembo told a rural rally that Bingu can not be like Kamuzu because amongst other things Kamuzu never kept a beard like Bingu's!! Such irrelevant outbursts remind me of a time during the 1999 election campaign when one Gwanda Chakuamba told a rally that people should not re-elect then President Bakili Muluzi because he had a mole on his face!! We all remember Bakili's outbursts towards presidential aspirant Justine Malewezi's health. We remember a group of UDF women, including one Joyce Banda, dressing down parliamentary aspirant Anna Kachiko (then now sit in the same cabinet)! Remember the mudslinging in parliament between Loveness Gondwe and Patricia Kaliati! Remember Dr Ntafu referring to his fellow parliamentarians as dogs!

Are these the issues which people want to hear about, really?

Local Content

Two years ago while at a film makers and distributors conference an issue was raised about film and documentary distribution in Africa particularly English speaking countries. I learnt that most television stations prefer to broadcast local country content above anything else. Stations like SABC Africa only accept and buy material with an African theme and that occasionally they decline new content because they already have too much material yet to be broadcast.

This brings me back home. A few years ago TVM used to broadcast a range of programmes from around Africa and beyond all the way to Republic of China. I can’t competently comment on whether this is still the case. However I can say that the station does sometimes constantly repeat some of it’s locally produced programmes, most outdated, and it has been the subject of many debates and commentaries. One can draw a few conclusions as to why this is the case.

TVM does not like buying content and I speak from experience. The station prefers to be paid for any content it gets even in the case where I assume they would not have anything to broadcast other than programmes that have already been broadcast before. The station is not usually known to go and collect news items either without being ferried to the location for free in addition to be paid too. We have all heard about musicians paying to have their music videos aired.

Another reason for repeats I can only guess could be the insistence on airing local content. While the argument for local content has it’s merits, it can also pose challenges. In a country where film and video production is neither encouraged nor adequately rewarded, it will always be difficult to find locally produced television material and good quality work for that matter. For those who are in the trade video production equipment is not only expensive but very hard to come across locally without having to make a trip south of the Limpopo to find a wide range and a good deal. Regional and African productions will obviously not be an option as the producers demand payment for their work, a practice alien to TVM.

So what’s the solution? Perhaps it’s time for relevant stakeholders to actively encourage, recognize and reward local film producers in an effort to create a wide variety of local produced material. The solution could also lie in the fact that the world is virtually so much smaller than most people think and that local content is no longer relevant to society. Or perhaps the problem lies within TVM itself – the culture, ethics and style.