On Chaponda, Mutharika and faeces

Highlights of Malawi this week (so far).

• George Chaponda gets arrested and suddenly everyone starts singing praises of the ACB and the government. It shows, they say, the ACB’s independence and the government’s commitment to fighting corruption. But let me be the party pooper here: pigs will have to learn to fly before anything of substance comes out of it. The same institutions receiving high praise cannot get around to disposing of, let alone start earnest work on, the famous 13 Cashgate files.
• President Peter Mutharika tells donors off on the Salima-Lilongwe Water Project. On another day, the opposition, the CSOs and the media would have been up in arms to censure APM. Strangely, the government, the opposition, the CSOs (and we, the media) seem to have collectively sworn to a caustic pact to see this project through, come rain or high water. I trust this project ends well and not in tears because there won’t be enough humble pie to pass around should it tank.
• Water in Area 18, Lilongwe, gets contaminated with faeces. Did the pipes for the two separate systems combust spontaneously such that both Lilongwe Water Board and Lilongwe City Council were taken unawares? Highly unlikely. One of the two was negligent. One of the two systems’ pipes burst and it was left unattended to for a long time. Such things happen all the time. I would have expected citizens to demand answers on this negligence that exposes people to harm. Instead, we are engaged in a race about who produces the best memes or jokes about the situation. Gallows humour will solve none of our problems. Sewer pipes burst all the time in our cities and it takes ages before they are attended to. Area 18A might be the butt of jokes (pun intended) today, but tomorrow might be your turn to eat a cake of poop. Never underestimate the power of the councils and the waters: they can surprise and disappoint in equal measure.