WHEN I lived in Zambia in the 1970s we used to go to Malawi to stock up on essentials that were regularly unobtainable on the Zambian Copperbelt, where we lived.
It was, in those days, regarded as a land of plenty in a region dogged by inefficiency, corruption and greed.
How sad it is that the country has now joined the ranks of the rest of Africa and become a basket case. But why?
One doesn't have to look far for the reason.
In the 1970s, Malawi traded openly with then Rhodesia, a country that not only fed itself, but much of Central/Southern Africa also.
Today, of course, Zimbabwe, which the British Government couldn't wait to hand over to Mugabe and his merry men, is starving, with the knock-on effect that severely effects surrounding countries such as Malawi.
M C RANDALL, Kempsey.
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