A few days ago, I was passing Ndirande and went by several piles of trees strategically placed to attract customers. One of the people I was with lamented ‘I wonder if there are any trees left where these were cut’ and I realised those where my exact thoughts at the time.
Not long after that, I found myself in a taxi passing some escarpments between Limbe and Manja in Blantyre and the driver sadly bemoaned the bareness of the area and wished the people that cut trees around the area could replant them. I responded by saying, indeed, we need to be more responsible as a country but added that we need to realise that it is the responsibility of every one of us.
The problem we have in this country is that we are good at cutting trees but we are very poor at planting them. There are people whose main business is to ‘harvest’ trees but they hardly make the effort to plant them. I would think the most logical thing to do is to plant two trees for every single tree you cut.
It is a bad habit for Malawians to expect someone else to clean up after them. People reckon they can cut trees all they want and someone else should come in to replant them on their behalf. It takes longer to cut a tree than to plant it. If we could just take a second to plant a tree, it would make a very big difference to the country.
Conservation of the environment remains crucial for the country, especially at a time when the whole world is joining hands in the fight against climate change. In Malawi, the signs of climate change are already evident from the floods to the erratic rains that the country has been experiencing during recent growing seasons. The adverse and sporadic changes in temperatures are also an obvious sign of climate change.
Also, among common things that Malawians complain about are constant blackouts and water shortages. Blackouts are negatively affecting the economy as they affect production and various businesses. We point fingers at the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and at the various water boards in our regions; however, what we fail to appreciate is that these organisations do not operate in a vacuum.
As much as there are so many ways in which these organisations can function better and provide better services for the citizenry, it is important for the citizenry to also acknowledge the role it has to play in assisting these organisations to function at optimum efficiency.
Escom has for a long time cited several factors that affect production at its power stations like Nkula; reckless tree cutting mainly associated with charcoal-burning and brick-making has left the land bare, hence exposing the soil to erosion. The eroded soil in turn makes its way to hydro power intake dams resulting in reduction of the water storage capacity.
This erosion also extends to soil that is eroded from gardens that leach out fertiliser, thereby providing rich nutrients for aquatic weeds which subsequently affect the hydro power intake dams and hinder production.
And consequently, erosion leads to siltation which is one of the factors that are negatively affecting both hydro electric power generation in the country but also the provision of safe water to the country’s citizenry.
But what are we doing about changing our agricultural habits and about sustaining the environment as responsible Malawians? How long are we going to constantly point fingers of blame at the authorities? How long are we going to wait for government to take care of the ‘oxygen’ we breathe? How long are we going to sit and wait for Malawi to magically transform itself?
These are not matters of magic but matters of simple action by individuals who acknowledge the role they have to play in the development of the country. Patriotism is not about critiquing government all day on social media; patriotism is about loving your country enough to be fully committed to its betterment.
The country will be much better if people took a second to do something like plant a tree instead of perpetually dancing to the tune of the blame game.
I rest my case.
Leave a Reply