Acknowledgments, Disclaimer and Kind

On this blog, is my thought, revelations, and my research through the internet, various books and newspapers.

The issues reflect my personal frustrations, my pains, and some realities of life.

2009 at the onset of the conflicts that started with the quota system, I wrote an article, it also carried my personal frustration to have worked so hard to get educated and find no better life.

I have met personally many students who stopped their education in this year 2009. I have personally encouraged them to still go ahead and do school.

Even though I have no salary to this day for various reasons I don't know, my life is better off because of the education I have received, my personal initiative to study, and my faith in God.

I can do things, through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.

It is hard to be regarded useless and your work to receive too little appreciation and be paid on charity when you do really need the wages you deserve. At the moment I decided to put that statement, I really I hard desire to prove my capability. As I have said, on this blog, is my thought, my research through the internet, and also revelations (called it revealed knowledge).

Some might have been heart pursuing what I said, some have been helped, some have been encouraged. I have personally met and encouraged my more in person. It has always been my pleasure to see them succeed.

I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.

I have not resolved any big problem without praying to God.

I have not done any work at office without praying to God.

I have not played my piano without praying to God.

I have always known what to do after prayer.

In most of my actions, I see the points of failure, and I pray that I go beyond these points of failure.

I talked with someone, suppose you have three people who are preparing for exams. One is reading prayerfully, one is praying but not reading, one is just reading without praying. Which of these would you expect to do better in their exams?

It is my opinion, the one reading prayerfully will achieve much more on the basis of his hard work, and God's answers to prayer.

The one just reading, will do more on the basis of his hard work.

The one who just prays, might succeed where he would really have failed, and it becomes very obvious to him the work of God.

No one comes to the Father in heaven except through His only begotten son Jesus Christ, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Potentius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, the third day, he rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

In him, Jesus Christ, I live and move and have my being.

Devaluation Finally?

Malawi Economic Justice Network does not seem to know what happens to the ordinary person that uses public transport. Though it is this person they should have considered first other than the donors wishes who don't even live in Malawi.

Shall companies operating in Malawi make profit with such a huge percentage of devaluation? In my opinion, those that sell their products locally and make international transactions to enable them to do so, if they do not cut their international transaction costs, they may decide to raise the costs of their local sales to cover up because they are buying the dollar 49% expensively.

In short, companies whose Forex earnings are lower than their Forex expenditure, will operate at a loss unless they cut their Forex expenditure. If they do not cut their expenditure but decide to raise the prices, they contribute to the high inflation.

In my opinion, these companies are not of benefit to Malawi but are its economic drain into wastage.

The government will need to make sure they separate their donations so that, they cover expense requirements that will require importation of goods and services.

If they use this Forex for local expenditure, it should be first after covering all the importation costs requirements, it should do this transactions with the reserve bank not the local ordinary banks otherwise, this Forex will get in the hands of individuals and companies and make an appearance of Forex shortage.

For all its development contracts, the government should make sure it is using Kwachas for for transactions not external currency.

This is necessarily what will help the Kwacha to regain its value because of its usefulness in local transactions.

For all its Forex transactions, banks should not hold the Forex in their own reserves but should exchange it with our local currency to the central bank at the official rate.

If the banks decide to still hold their Forex within them and not exchange it, the government will keep on failing to make imports of public goods and services like fuel, medicines, machinery, etc.

I would then also consider that banks should stop keeping money in foreign currency but convert the foreign currency at the official exchange rate.

The expectation of maintaining value of the amount at point of deposit should motivate the desire to stabilize the exchange rate. So then, those who put foreign money in banks will not have to worry about their foreign money losing value but get it bank as they put it in.

This will also help our currency regain its value for its usefulness.

Other, things the government can consider and prioritize with the gained Forex is to buy machinery and vehicles to rebuild back PVHO.

It is most often difficult and expensive to maintain the condition of public infrastructure if the government does not have the required machinery. Furthermore, it is cheaper for consulting companies working on building or construction of public infrastructure to hire the equipment from PVHO, than to individually acquire some.

The amount paid to hire this equipment should be enough to cover costs of maintainance, to cover the salaries of the employees, to allow for acquisition of new equipment and also to contribute some to the central treasury.

The idea of a self-sustaining government should not be bad if we understand that government has employees, the civil servants who have to be paid at the end of the month. They have administrative costs which have to be covered on daily basis in order for it to accomplish the duties it has. For without these, a nation is ungoverned. It is then useless to have a government in place if it cannot settle disputes among its citizens, if it cannot protect its citizens, if it cannot feed, educate, cloth and provide good health to its citizens.

After all, these are the same things that donors wish to achieve at the end of the day. Yet, what then motivates their wish to govern us? For look, they do end up leaving us without our necessities when then they desire to.

It is better then to let our elect government govern us than have donors govern us leaving us hungry when they want to.

Only malawians can better take care of malawians. A European will someday remember his Europeaness and cease to care about Malawi. They will destroy our land at wish. But look, we malawians have no where else to go in the world but right here in Malawi. Allow us therefore to take care of our own home as we wish to. Allow us to protect our own home from those that destroy it. Allow us from our own homeland grow our own food. For if we do not grow our own food, no other land will grow food for us. For land should feed those who dwell on it. And each of those that dwell in that land will always have enough. But if some land is left uncultivated, then the world will have a food deficit.

Let priority for land ownership be to the natives. If possible a foreigner should only have temporary use of land and also of limited size maybe just enough to sustain him and his family in their time of stay in that land as a global citizen. Then we might never again have conflict like of Zimbabwe.

Let the owners of the land retain their right to regain it when they need for their own use.

For if there is such a right granted to the natives, the foreigners dwell with this expectation and when the owners require it back, a good amicable settlement is possible without inviting sanctions like Zimbabwe because the foreigners have to forcefully give up the land.

It is not good to get citizenship fraudulently for you necessarily infringe on the natives right to their land. If you do, get kicked out, forcefully, take it humbly.

This reminds me on the citizens of Burundi recently vandalised. Why hurting another human being is a crime, government should work on repatriating the Burundi people as there is now peace in their land. I believe international laws of repatriation of refugees should resolve every problem they may encounter as they get repatriated.

In the end, it is good when foreigners decide to settle down to start businesses, consider where they come from. After all, you require work permits or other permits to operate in America or Europe. It should not be different in Malawi for the same reasons.

Devaluation Reloaded

In a discussion with two economists on facebook yesterday, I established the following: 

In a liberalised economy, there is little regulation on forex reservation. The forex ends up in circulation among the citizens this leaves the governments unable to do any international transanction without the forex reserves. 

The decision that follows is to devalue the currency so that the population would find it attractive to sell their forex. But what this decision neglects is the fact that for businesses that depend on imports, the cost of their imported goods gets higher. As a result of this, the prices of things gets high. and the rest of other things also gets high. Now of these changes, those dependent on salaries, suffer a lot as the salaries are the least considered in all these changes, for a rise in salary also raises the labour cost also requiring a rise in the price of the products.

The cost of living gets high. After devaluing, the exchange rate is left as is. That means that every year the currency has to be devalued to recover the forex earnings.

This is devaluing is necessarily a fix to the problem arisen due to liberalization of forex management. But it creates many other problems in the the money flow ecosystem.

What devaluation does is economically depress a region that uses the devalued currency. In the end the region's benefits from exports gets smaller and smaller and the loss from the imports gets bigger and bigger since the currency can only be devalued with relative to other currencies for the the government to get required benefit from the devaluation which is in fact: getting back the forex from circulation into the forex reserves.

The benefit from devaluation is smaller than the loss from it. Hence there is need to find other ways of regulating forex with the benefits of liberal economy but also to allow regulation of some economic activities.

On devaluation

I asked hotel rates in blantyre. After devaluation, the rate in dollars currently exchanged at K167. Will increase by the devaluated percentage.

For instance, the room selling at $35 dollars, and K4000 will increase in cost on the malawian kwacha side, but will remain the same on the dollar side.

The rate at which our earnings are exchanged to foreign currency to buy imports like fuel, will require that we pay much more than we are currently paying, fuel cost, will have to go high.

And due to this increase the cost of everything else, will have to go high.

If all businesses including government increase the salaries of employees, the effect on the citizens might be negligible but if some employing organisations decide not to increase the salaries of the employees, these will suffer the worse effects of devaluation.

While, these so called, economists are speaking, the decision makes are two. The president and the reserve bank governor.

Let these act wise amidst all the noise. For they shall cause indeed a lot of suffering for malawians.

I must not speak this again. It's not worth troubling my mind over if it achieves nothing.

As for me, while I am using a provisional rate of $25 per hour, rounding it up to K3,500 I will necessarily do the same just change the K3,500 to the new devalued rate.

My earning is not limited by a companies decision.

I will have to increase my rate to $75/hour and so for malawian clients, it will be on the hire side. But if I increase my customer base, my earnings are greater than my employed colleagues.

It's high time I found a living for my own I believe.

Wish you the best.

Of Apologies and the Lack thereof.

Chewa Heritage Foundation seeks an apology from Henry Phoya for the remarks he made against the Chewa custom gule wa nkulu.

While seeking apology seems easy to demand, sometimes without proper basis, it is useless to apology without discussion of the real matter at hand.

I must speak, for a similar demand for an apology derailed much important work in the year 2011 including a whole generation of students missing their classes and have to be made to repeat their classes.

This wasted the government a lot of millions, I should say, of tax payers money, though in fact it is donor donated since Malawi has never fully funded its budget until the same year 2011. This wasted the parents, pocket money and transport apart from their tax. And is wasting even more money this year because more lectures have to be recruited (of course, I also applied, I had to deliver the letter by hand).

This money is hard earned and the government does not have the luxury of wasting money for it has no source of funds than donations and tax revenues. A mere useless apology should not cost this much.

So, Henry Phoya speaks his experience with mcp and his dislike of cultural ritual he was required to do.

It wasn't right for MCP to do that. If anything, MCP is necessarily the one to apologies, for using the cultural ritual in this way.

Whether the Chewa themselves find this ritual useful, they should always expect that someone who does not understand the culture will always look at it in this negative perspective. And might publicly express his dislike as Henry Phoya has. If they do so value it, then what good it has should be demystified for there might religious conflict in the practice which if the whole heritage of the Chewa hinges itself on this value which does introduce religious conflict among its own descence.

Most of these that are today cultural values have undergone refining according to various new problems the culture introduces. And there is no reason these cultural heritages should not refine to incorporate the challenges of this age. Including religious values.

For it might be found the cultural heritage is highly lacking than what the bible offers, and what the bible is not easy to translate to the masses in a single day, that is why it is difficult to resolve issues like marriage for a generation that has understood that sex before marriage is sin. And this with the expected high costs of having a wedding.

So, unless we fix the current bad in our cultures, unless, we make known the good values of our culture to generations that do not know these good values, a public expression of a bad cultural practice does not seem to require an apology in my opinion.

So, I have spoken. My speech costs me less than K80. How much will the apology or the lack of it cost?

The previous refusal to apologies is still costing Malawi government of millions if not billions of tax payers and donors money. To make record straight on those who keep claiming tax payers money. Malawi is still dependent on donors. Though it did once manage a self funded operational budget last financial year.

Wish you a good day.

Ps: I must say, Henry Phoya managed to apologies even before I made this post.

Wisdom: The Beginnings

Solomon says in the proverbs: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The book of proverbs seems dedicated to putting boundaries of what wisdom is and what is not. And to put the boundaries what foolishness is and what it is not. It has also put the advantages of wisdom and disadvantages of foolishness.

It is too teach the foolish mind what wisdom is so that they can leave their foolishness and leave wisely.

When I was young, knowing I cannot comprehend in detail every proverb, I read through the proverbs like a novel and finished it in one day, I resolved to keep what I had read in this way without worry and try to follow any proverb I could remember when faced with a situation. If I need to understand in detail, I had always a small Gideon bible in my pocket to refer to.

I similarly read through the book of psalms to learn how David prayed for it is always difficult to pray. From I all that I could remember, from it, I made known my requests to God and went on in my life.

The stories of the bible characters is interesting, I read them all like s novel from the beginning to the end. When faced with a familiar problem, I could always go back and refer to the particular character that faced the same problem.

So in that way, I have lived this far. The principles of the word of God have greatly guided my path.

I chose a motto inspired by the Phwezi motto which says, accept the challenge, God will guide. My motto was, Fear God, Shun Evil. It's a proverb.

It takes faith always, to step out on nothing and believe that something is there.

The motto, Accept the challenge, God will guide inspires faith to the students.

My motto was Fear God and Shun evil.

And it is said, the fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom.

The little that a man who fears God can do, is many times better than that done by a man who doesn't. History is there to give testimony.

Yours truly,

Kondwani C. Hara.

It's not alright!

Single, 28 years old. And looking for marriage. Previously, disappointed by fiancee, and family is not making things easier. The place I live in Mzimba, I am surrounded by MSCE school leavers whom parents wish to push forward to get their degrees. At the end of the first degree, the parents of my fiancee pushed her to get a graduate degree. I had just finished my graduate degree then. So, we did not end up married up to this day. And I am surrounded by temptation.

Does not Paul advise Corinthians that it is better to get married than burn with passions? I am a Christian. Getting married in church has better safety for me than anything else. Marriage is what have been asked to wait for abstaining from sex in avoidance of HIV, marriage is what I have been advised as my gateway to sexual fulfillment.

Hebrews 13:4 does say, marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled. But how shall I get married if parents cling to their children? How shall I get married if churches don't open doors for me to get married?

Considering teenage pregnancies, it used to custom then if a boy has made pregnant a girl, the boy will have to marry the girl. These days, this does not get you a wife. The girl will be allowed by their parents to abort and you still don't have a wife, but you can eventually get hiv for you don't know how many babies your girl has aborted trying to get married and parents resisting.

Oh, yeah condoms. How many sexual partners? How many sexual partners for my sexual fulfillment? How many sexual partners for my sexual fulfillment?

Condoms is an easier idea, governments can think of? What about marriage?

Being C.E.O. of my own company at such an age, is more than enough gate pass for me to getting laid. But suppose, I just get laid without a permanent basis of marriage, shall I expect to use condoms the rest of my life? For yeah! one accidental day I might get tired, and throw it away.

Somebody said, sweet ya m'pepala siyimakoma. I know shall at one time say the same condomizing the rest of my life. Even hiv I shall cease to fear. For if life does not get you the happiness of marriage its better off lived even on a count down of hiv living it down happily. The world ending anyway but that will definitely get me a closed door into heaven.

Maybe its time I considered celibacy but by the time I reach forty, I shall be anyone's sugar daddy even if my intentions are legitimate. Better, I still try to get married. For I do not know how long I can stand temptation. There are many possibilities of accidental afternoons.

I shall consider going to some city place were graduated ladies like residing. And especially to my marriage tolerant sister. I am sure there is a lady waiting there. I shall ask her for marriage.

I remember, my cousin had to get herself a patched up wedding: officiated by an Seventh Day Adventist Church Pastor, during a CCAP Church Service and Reception in a Roman Catholic Hall. It was a classic.

Considering the difficulty of getting married, sometimes its like when you have a chance to get married, don't miss it. Things are not ok at all!

You live this long expecting the praying community who have been advising you well and you have faithfully pursued their advise and now comes the time it feels like great betrayal if you have to go against these principles again by trying to secure a marriage with a pregnancy.

I left my android playing some music and I woke up to a song by my brother William (X-K)

It's Ok, if its not alright, wipe your tears babe don't cry. It's Ok, if its not alright, don't give up if you know you can try.

It's Ok, because its not alright. There is no reason to cry. Things are not ok its not our fault. It's a broken society.

I must go to my marriage tolerant sister in Mzuzu. I might get some help.

Mile's Back: Costing

So, you use Information Technology to cut down costs and increase productivity. Of course, in theory costs are expected to get cut but in reality, service providers see the little that gets paid and are unsatisfied. They would rather charge more for this important technology that makes working cheap and makes big profits.

Most costs are dependent on acquisition of equipment, maintainance of equipment and labour costs in terms of salaries for the isp's employees. Of these, their are costs that directly apply to the service itself and other which apply indirectly.

In terms of labour, you look at engineers as direct labour costs and administrative positions come under indirect labour eg, accountants, secretaries, drivers, managers. The costs of indirect labour and direct labour apply separately.

Other than labour, there are also material costs, some of which apply directly and some indirectly. For example, cost of maintaining a transmitter is a direct maintainance cost and cost of maintaining a vehicle is an indirect maintainance cost. The cost of buying a fuse to fix a transformer is a direct cost for a company like escom, and cost of buying a fuse to fix a car is an indirect cost.

So then when you separate these costs, you are able to make priorities with the budget you have. Under strenuous circumstances you might consider to priorities the direct costs as they are the ones that get you more moneys.

The indirect costs though less priorities but greatly affect the loss and profit. If neglected, its a loss you have trace where it comes from if recognized you can save a lot of costs and put yourself on the profitable side.

So, then in an Information Technology company, the Engineers, are more critical than the rest of the employees, the production equipment more critical than operational equipment. Setting priorities in this way, creates a better base for your IT start up.

I might have to put in the maths later as we proceed.

Kondwani C. Hara is C.E.O. and Chief Consultant at Oispr IT.

Mile's Back:A Start Up

I have noticed that most IT professionals fail to start their own businesses and/or companies for lack of business skills, non-standard pricing which in the end leads to their loss and customer loss of trust.

From my attempt to start up a consultancy I have learned, and achieved with difficulty trying to price my services.

I will try within my possible means to share my experience and information as well as what I have learned through the Labour Sponsored Start Your Business Course. I do not know the copyright issues involved yet if I am to share it on my blog, but I do would like to be contacted immediately if my action will violate any copyrights.

I previously wanted to make software out of but I was advised against it for copyrights involved. I would encouraged the ILO people who prepared this course to contact me if they wish to support the creation of the software for use by those that get trained the course. I might decide to just go ahead and create it for personal use and later add components to it for sale. I hope that will no longer be violation.

Where shall I start? Basic business principles? I will have to sit down at home and compile that.

Right now I am waiting for my bus to get started and get me home to Mzimba.

Interesting from Malasha Bus Today

So, I am on my way to Mzimba from Mzuzu. I am looking for a bus. I find one Malasha bus going to Lilongwe via Mzimba. I ask:
- How much is it to Mzimba? K700
- What time is the bus leaving? When it is full.
- Do you carry seated passengers only or you wait for standing passengers? Seated only.

At this moment I am abit pleased but I have to think it over.

Usually, a conductor can say a lot of things to a passenger just to have them pay. Minibus operators have disappointed many by even dropping passengers enroute before reaching the destination. The same Malasha Bus at one time failed my trip by diverting their normal route even without the local Malasha office knowing.

So, I have to confirm one more thing. Suppose of these that you have said, I find them good conditions. But you can say this just to make me pay and then disappoint me later. Will you give me my money back if you do not satisfy these conditions? The best thing we can do is, get in find a seat, you will pay when the bus is going. Ok, I get in. Now waiting for the bus to be full.

Friends or Foes among Foes of Friends.

Every nation, like a human being, needs friends for mutual support on needs and protection from foes.

Looking back in time, Kamuzu seem to have cleverly chosen his friends with politically neutral allies in world politics for trade, for development partnerships and knowledge sharing.

Instead of China, Kamuzu chose to partner with Taiwan. I do believe, UK remained a friend due to the common wealth "partnership" which at world level it was enough protection.

At world level, Malawi was very much unknown, economically it was possible to prosper so much without much of the external interference.  Our citizens have been known world over for their wisdom and knowledge which they acquired in peace and prosperity of our land some of whom are the likes of Prof. Bingu Wa Mutharika who has been very active in World Wide Organizations like the United Nations, OAU etc, and recently AU due to his successfully arresting the deteriorating economy of Malawi and making big strides in getting back to the lost glory of what Malawi was in the 30 years of independence.

I remember sitting in a training workshop organized for Mzuzu network of youth led ngos learning about the role of donors. We are supposed to have been Friend Raising as opposed to Fund Raising.

Friend Raising looks at chosing to partner with friends whose goals are similar to ours. Some of these friends exist to support smaller organizations and so it becomes better if we chose to receive support from friends with similar goals as ours.

At national level it seems wiser as well to chose trade partnerships, economic partnerships, etc among countries with which we have similar goals and especially on trade, where there is natural mutual benefit.

We have been forced into various partnerships with the United States of America, in the recent years do to the chance to multi-partite democracy which USA so strongly advocates.

While we may have needed financial support, we may not have required cutting ties with the rest of our previous partnerships, and be forced to partner only with the USA in everything.

China has a vibrant cloth manufacturing industry unequaled world over. We produce cotton as one of our major commercial export. And we have been in trade partnership with China for many other products it produces which we also need.

It is not necessary, because we are now a democratic country that we should cut trade partnership with China just because the USA is unhappy with China. Realistically speaking there is not much benefit we get from USA save for donations. We cannot depend on donations forever, we work hard, and we need to sell at profit. This is only possible if we are selling products to who need and value them.

Putting so much restrictions on such partnerships to countries like Malawi will indeed force us to develop even political partnerships for mutual protection whose end is indeed similar to the world war eras.

The western nations/United Nations is so keen at pressing sanctions to countries it deems bad. I think sanctions have necessarily become siege laid on countries these western nations seek to loot.

Is the middle east the most evil region in the world that it should be so punished by western nations under the United Nations? The Moslem Law is so much like Old Testament Bible law which also forms the basis of the English Common Law and [Western Democratic Law] which are the two laws common in world wide government systems.

In other words, the Law of the Koran(sharia law), the Law of the Bible, the Statutory Laws are not very different on definitions of right and wrong but they might have a big difference on the punishment given.

Of the three laws, The Statutory is the most lenient maybe due to the influence of the new testament of the Bible in old to the best of ability, to try and incooperate the principles of the new testament of the Bible.

Needless to say, Since, the Moslems are able to live in obedience to this law without much finding themselves on the penal side of the law, shall it be a crime that they follow such a law?

It is indeed difficult for foreigners to find themselves among such a crowd living in obedience to a law they fail to adhere to. So indeed they will find themselves on the penal side.

But then here is a problem: the definition of right and wrong in the laws are the same. A foreigner so severely punished in the land of the Moslems is as wrong as he is in his own land. The fact that his home country is very lenient does not in any way, he should continue doing wrong in a land that is not as lenient.

Let's face the fact, the wages of sin is death even to God. And the world is ending fast. Learn when you can.

Moslems therefore are not wrong to live by the Sharia Law that we Christians should war them. For our own Bible has equally severe punishment prescribed for the same wrongs.

Christians therefore have no right to war Moslems on the basis of the sharia law.

Christians living in obedience to the word of God should not be able to find themselves in conflict with Moslems on the basis of breaking the law even the sharia law. Except for the belief itself which is not in any way on conflict with Moslems. For Moslems recognize Jesus in their religion. Even though, they may not recognize him in the same way we Christians do.

So it remains, the middle east should not be at war fought by Christians on the basis of the Moslem law.

Why then is their war in the middle east? Or why should there be sanctions so much that countries like Malawi should fail to buy petroleum?

The enemies of the United States should not necessarily be our enemies too. For even the United States makes enemies for all the wrong reasons.

The United States should not have been at war in Afghanistan had it been that it accepted to move out of the land when the nationals decided the should. In my opinion, after the cold war, they got greedy of all the oil there and can't want let go. Swallow the pride, leave the land that doesn't belong to you. Leave their riches to themselves.

If it so happens, the middle east is our main supply of oil to Africa and most middle east countries are under siege by western forces who seem to be after looting the oil itself than anything else, we should not be found in problems if we disobey the sanctions so placed on these middle east countries.

Our lack is not america's lack.