ROADBLOCKS NO LONGER ROADBLOCKS

-


 A lot of  us have been affected by road accidents which have claimed the  lives  of our relatives, close friends, friends of our friends and other people   we have never heard of ,sadly ,the number increases by the day. I was very shocked when I read a report commissioned by the Malawi’s National Road Safety Council which says out of 18000 registered vehicles in Malawi at least 1200 of them get involved in road accidents which are mainly caused by over speeding, overloading and drunken or unlicensed drivers, of course the number may seem less but come to think of those who have lost their lives or get physically hurt. There are a lot of roadblocks along a lot of roads here in Malawi to help control traffic but, each time I went through roadblock I always got disappointed at how different cases were being handled.


 My thoughts reel back to one of the days I was traveling from town to school, I don’t like traveling but how can it be avoided? As usual I boarded a minibus at the depot and had to spend hours waiting for the bus to be full since it was a Wednesday. It was one of those journeys i vehemently couldn’t wait to be over, we were loaded beyond the capacity yet the driver could still stop along the way to pick up more passengers. There is a road block along the way and for the first time in my life I wished the vehicle was charged for overloading unfortunately or should I say fortunately the driver had to just get out and produce a few kwachas to the officers and off we went, it had me puzzled what were these traffic officers doing apart from correct money from overloaded vehicles or those not fit to be in the road? I mean these people do things which don’t suit their credentials, collect money from people who are endangering our lives? Come on! Life is far too precious to be bought with just few kwachas; possibly they do this because of the meagre salaries these people miserably get so should we sympathize with them? Definitely no!! The ends of an action do not justify the means here what is wrong can never be right even if the reasons for the wrong doing were right.
 Road Accidents claim a lot of lives and leave people suffering from the losses, honestly, some of these accidents are avoidable, talk of drunken drivers, over speeding and unlicensed drivers, these people confidently pass through roadblocks and somewhere along the way an accident happens and you hear from the report that the vehicle was loaded beyond capacity and it was over speeding and then you think to yourself but there is a roadblock just after the accidents spot.

Let us be serious for once as a nation, as parents and as human beings, we are talking about lives at stake here, we all know money cannot buy life then why are these officers deliberately putting our lives in grave danger. These are the people who are supposed to protect us from selfish vehicle owners and drivers who want to make a lot of quick easy money by overloading and over speeding .But what strikes me is that almost everyone in the country is aware that everywhere we go we are loaded beyond capacity but no action is really taken to curb this behavior. We are overloaded in vehicles each time we are traveling whether we go through the roadblocks or not.

As a country to curb this problem once and for all we have to really know the root cause of the problem, is it really the meagre salaries, a lot of licensing money or driving lessons or sheer greedy human nature. Let us all be responsible the vehicle owners, passengers (who readily allow to be overloaded), the traffic officers and everyone else.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHY NOT COMMERCIALISE SISAL PRODUCTION IN MALAWI?

-
Did you know that around 1920s there was actually a sisal estate in the Lower Shire?  Ever since, there has not been any record on commercial sisal production anywhere else in the country. Sisal production is only reported at local farm level and it has continued to dwindle over the past centuries even at that level. Sisal is a fibre of Agave species; it is a widely cultivated and naturalised fibre in many countries like South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Madagascar, Venezuala and Brazil. Sisal yields a stiff fibre that is used in making products which are highly used around the globe. In the past, several species of Agave were used for fibre production, but presently it is a commercially grown species in different countries.Sisal is locally known as Khonje in many parts of the country. It is mostly used for ornamental practices especially in urban areas, it is also preferably used for fencing dimba gardens in the rural areas to keep away livestock from crops and on a small
Read more

MOM DIED.

-
Image
My father, who was a Head teacher at one of the rural secondary schools liked travelling long distances at night or very early in the morning to attend Teachers meetings in different education zones which were very far from where we lived. Those were some of the most dreadful moments of my life, when he travelled at night or very early in the morning. We all hated it, loathed every second of what we had to go through as we waited for him to get back home safely.   I and my siblings would crump up together on the sofa or on someone’s bed waiting for his knock the knock which would assure as of that he was alive and well.  No one said it out loud, but all knew what each of us was thinking at that particular moment, the silence among us was loud enough to be heard by our souls, the fear of losing the only parent we had. I lost my mother when I was young, 7/8 years old I don’t  really remember when, and it’s unfortunate that I  can’t  also tell if the reason is because I was  too young to
Read more

ARE WE REALLY HELPING OUR LOCAL FARMERS ?

-
Image
In Malawi agriculture is regarded as an integral part of the nation’s economic growth, almost every family in the country is involved in the agriculture sector whether as a farmer, a labourer, or a vendor and what have you. Fortunately the country is favoured with productive natural resources, including soil, water, and moderate climate conditions which all necessitate agriculture production, be it animal or crop husbandry. We say Malawi is an Agriculture country ,some jokingly say it’s like a very big farm because almost everywhere people are practicing agriculture urban settings are no exception. But how many are really prospering because of it? Only a few are considered big farmers, a few can only produce enough for their families but you look at these people, they have been farming all their lives! road side marketing of farm produce Our farmers are encouraged to work extra hard, which from my experience they do but where are the readily available markets where t
Read more