We are having a talk on energy in our country, the one we all claim to love. We take turns, suggesting how we, men, can add something to the country\u2019s national electricity grid using brains, as opposed to whatever shallow minds may insinuate.<\/p>\n
The place is called Big Brains: Off Chemusa. It is a hub of activity, tucked somewhere adjacent to [or is it behind] the market. The intoxicating stuff is plentiful, but so are garnishing talk and images that make one appreciate as eyes pan around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe electricity gensets, the much talked ones, have long been installed but the blackouts show no signs of waning. Powerless than a quarter day, in all townships! What exactly is wrong with this country?\u201d It is \u2018Atsogoleri\u2019 Rob M speaking.<\/p>\n
He gets an immediate response from Lackson. \u201cNanga si mumangosiyila, ndi kunyoza, boma basi! <\/em>[It\u2019s because we blame the government for everything; you mean, for once, we can\u2019t think about how each one of us can contribute solutions to problems affecting our country?]\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike what? The government must take its fair share of blame, which is the large part of the blame of course. After all, politicians campaign that they will give us the best of life when voted into power; hence, they deserve to be blamed for their cosmetic policies,\u201d says \u2018Atsogoleri\u2019.<\/p>\n But Lackson is far from buying that line of reasoning. He maintains that he is one of the many, in our population, who wonder why the government continues to be blamed when the country\u2019s engineers are not blamed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou blame the government yet it invested heavily in establishing The Polytechnic, some over 50 years ago. Where are the engineers that have graduated from that institution? Are they adding value to the country\u2019s electricity needs or they are busy signing cheques in the confines of air-conditioned banking offices, clad in their neckties and suits? We have to ask ourselves what we have done in our respective portfolios and professions to assist bail Malawi from numerous problems we are facing; we should realise that everyone has a role to play somewhere. Enanu mumangodziwa kuba magetsi, madzi, ndi mafuta basi!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Someone tries to interrupt him by suggesting that The Polytechnic is a gift from the people of the United States.<\/p>\n Not taken aback, he continues: \u201cWe have faced some of these problems since the Bakili Muluzi era, Mutharika of the Bingu fame, Joyce Banda of the \u2018Amayi\u2019 fame and, indeed, Mutharika of APM fame. What have we, professionals, advised these regimes? Are we also not busy trying to pocket allowances for workshops that are held back-to-back in our exclusive resorts and hotels? Shame on us, Malawians; we love our pockets and can\u2019t invest in research!\u201d<\/p>\n But others in the Crew question Lackson\u2019s insistence on professionals adding value to the country\u2019s development when the very government we have had has paid little, or no attention at all, to scientific research, let alone adding a permanent solution pack to the economic and development landscape of the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy can\u2019t we, for once, seriously develop our Renewable Energy base and heavily invest in it as opposed to relying on temporary gensets? We, after all, have plenty of wind, water, sun, among other energy sources. Why can\u2019t the government and our engineers brainstorm on this and save our country from sinking economically because we don\u2019t have reliable power to generate growth?\u201d Interrupts Joe, as he earns the bulk of all the heads in nods!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are having a talk on energy in our country, the one we all claim to love. We take turns, suggesting how we, men, can add something to the country\u2019s national electricity grid using brains, as opposed to whatever shallow minds may insinuate. The place is called Big Brains: Off Chemusa. It is a hub […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65382,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381\/revisions\/65382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}