Motor vehicles were first into this country before World War I. Those registered in Blantyre bore letters BT, those of Lilongwe LL and those of Mzimba MZ. With Blantyre and Lilongwe, the numbers remain the same or with slight modification.
The other day I read in one of our popular papers that certain people were doing a walk to raise funds for relief of flood victims at MZ; I thought they meant Mzimba but instead they were referring to Mzuzu. If the letters MZ these days stand for Mzuzu, what letters stand for Mzimba?
No patriotic Mzimba would be pleased to learn that this expensive district has lost its distinctive symbols. Since in the name Mzuzu there are two Z’s, officials should use Mzz to mean Mzuzu and MZ to mean Mzimba. It is confusing to use MZ for both Mzimba and Mzuzu.
Several radio stations telephoned me after news broke out that the dreaded Brexit had come to pass. They wanted to know what this would mean as regards economic relations between Britain and Malawi.
Before Britain joined the European Union (EU) Economic Community (EEC) in the 1970’s, Malawi’s exports to Britain were enjoying preferential treatment under the Commonwealth protocol. Thereafter, Malawi’s access to the British market was on the same terms as its access to other members of the EEC.
The arrangement was now under the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) protocol.
Britain is a tea-drinking nation as opposed to the European continent which prefers coffee. If the British economy remains buoyant, there will be opportunities for our exports. Many economists, however, even those attached to the Bretton Woods Institutions, IMF and World Bank, warned Britain that if it exited from the EU its economy would suffer. The warning has not been heeded. Now only time will tell who was right between those who said Britain would be more prosperous outside the EU and those who said it would be worse off.
What perhaps should also be commented upon is whether the United Kingdom (UK) will last much longer after the British exit. Last year, by a narrow margin, the Scottish secessionists lost the vote for Scotland’s independence. Despite the defeat, the Scottish National party gained popularity.
I have with me a handbook on Scottish education. In the introduction, we read that Scotland is part of Europe, but not part of England. This is a surprising statement. Many of us non-Britons knew Scotland as part of the UK not of England.
The statement that Scotland is part of Europe not of England could imply that Scotland will prefer to get out of the UK in order to remain part of the EU. Those English people who voted for Brexit will bear responsibility for Britain breaking up. There will be rebirth of the so-called Little England.
Another speculative question can be asked. Once Scotland has seceded, will it still recognise Queen Elizabeth as its Queen? I remember in 1953 when the then Princess Elizabeth’s coronation was about to take place, The Tanganyika Standard newspaper, which I used to read, reported that a group of extreme Scottish nationalists had made demonstration against calling her Queen Elizabeth II because Queen Elizabeth One had not been a Queen of Scotland as well.
There is the possibility that an independent Scotland will opt for its own queen, perhaps Mary Queen of Scots the second or a Republic. This thing Brexit is a pandora-box. Those who have brought it about will certainly rue their hasty decision.
Britain will be resented by both Germany and France who might deliberately take hard line in negotiating the terms of the exit.
Whatever hurdles Britain faced as part of the EU possibly they were not more unsurmountable than which founders of the United States of America encountered. Henceforth, Britain will be to the EU just like Sri-Lanka to India, a small nation on the outskirts of a super power. Days when Britain was an axis power are gone. The giants of the world are in the West, the USA and the EU; in the east, India, China and Japan.
I read somewhere that the new owners of Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) are demanding a refund from the government of more than a billion kwacha which they allege was excess payment for the bank. I have not followed on the response given. If the Minister of Finance has not yet made the refund, he should use the Roman Law response “Caveat emptor” Buyer beware, it is the buyer’s responsibility.
One radio announcer phoned me to seek my views on the suggestion that the government should reduce its shares in the Sunbird Hotels to 25 percent or so. He himself expressed the view that Malawians would be deprived of ownership. By that time I had not read the news item and did not know the argument for drastically privatising the Sunbird Hotels.
More than 20 years have passed since the government, under pressure from donors, set about selling its companies. We have the experience on which to continue or discontinue the exercise. Of the private buyers, how many of those will be local and how many foreign?
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