* After he saw an expenditure line of the Reserve Bank of Malawi called ‘bereavement cost’
* Which actually increased by MK63 million from financial year 2022 to reaching MK113 million
* LESSON: As new manager or chief executive officer in a different area or country, get to know the society values or norms and working culture, before taking drastic decisions
* For Malawi, maybe there are some corporate lessons to adjust our norms
By Duncan Mlanjira
In Malawian culture, funerals are regarded with high esteem such that analysing their complications is deemed as taboo. However, Chief Economist Chifipa Mhango, a Malawian working for South Africa-based Don Consultancy as its Group Director of Economic Research and Strategy has shared the concept of working culture and society norms in relation to funeral ceremonies.
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On Wednesday, Mhango, who keeps offering solutions on Malawi’s economic trends, issued a statement in which he observed that the reported consolidated annual loss by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) of MK543.3 billion (US$319.5 million) in financial year ending December 2023, “reflects a mismatch between fiscal policy, monetary policy and trade & industry policy environment in the Malawi economy”.
He indicated that on June 15, 2023, he warned of the dire consequences of ignoring losses incurred by the RBM which have now almost tripled from the previous MK187.5 billion loss reported in 2022 financial year.
“This cannot continue if the country is to rescue itself from the current economic challenges,” he said on Wednesday and today, Chifipa said he saw an expenditure line of the RBM called ‘bereavement cost’ — which “actually increased by MK63 million from financial year 2022 to reaching MK113 million”.
“I wanted to ask what that entails? However, my conscious said let it pass” he said but he has decided to let his conscious pass, saying this ‘bereavement cost’ is a “cost line that you can never find in any accounting lines in South Africa or advanced countries corporate entities”.
“However, for RBM, I made an assumption of what that cost would entail based on Malawian society norms.
Chifipa Mhango
“Why am I bring this topic? Working culture is different. In some countries even South Africa, I have observed that most funerals take place during weekends, and at times you will find a bereaved family member or members still going to work or school during the week, as the funeral is only taking place during weekends.
“At one organisation I worked with, a colleague from West Africa, Cameroon to be specific. I was in a meeting with him — like a normal working day. Later on during lunch, he then told me that his father passed on the day before.
“What came to my mind was, why is he at work then? What I did not realise is that I was thinking in my culture and society norms, and not his. I then asked when was he flying to Cameroon for the funeral, his response was: ‘We are arranging a family meeting which will take place in two weeks to discuss the funeral arrangement’.”
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When Mhango asked the Cameroonian what that meant “again thinking in my society and cultural norms, he then explained how funerals are conducted in their culture — the family meeting takes place, and they discuss the funeral plans”.
“They choose a day based on availability of all that are required to attend. So a person can die today and the funeral takes place 3 to 4 months later. During that time, the body is preserved. However, it provides all family members to plan ahead to attend the funeral from the different locations they are based from.
“What I have also observed in some countries such as in South African corporates, if you want to attend funeral during the week, if it’s not your immediate family member, then you fill in annual leave request. I did that recently for one of my close friend’s funeral.
In 1998, while working for a certain organisation in South Africa, my Dad lost his elder brother in Malawi. I had to accompany him but I was asked to take annual leave days to attend the funeral in Malawi because my Dad’s brother (Uncle) is not my immediate family member.
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“The corporate is not responsible for funerals unless in certain unique situation. There is no company cost line of ‘bereavement’. You cannot claim an allowance for attending a funeral of a work colleague — such is the working culture differences.
“Here, I am not judging — hence I avoided that RBM expense line because I realised that this is a working culture and society thing.
“In one of my recent radio interviews on South Africa Broadcasting Station (SABC) Channel Africa on the death of my beloved friend and Vice-President, Dr Saulos Chilima, the radio host Thami Ngubeni asked: ‘With the 21-days of mourning been declared, how do you mourn in Malawi?’ That was not just a question but rather someone wanting to understand the culture and society norms of Malawi during funerals.
“LESSON: As new manager or chief executive officer in a different area or country, get to know the society values or norms and working culture, before taking drastic decisions. For Malawi, maybe there are some corporate lessons to adjust our norms.”
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Last month, there was hot debate on social media of Facebook and WhatsApp platforms on how far the Department of Road Traffic & Safety Services (DRTSS) can enforce safety on the public roads lorries commonly seen overloaded with people traveling to attend funerals.
This followed a video clip posted on Facebook by renowned social media influencer, Julius Zimwanda Mithi seemingly taken by DRTSS officers themselves in pursuit of an overloaded lorry carrying people to what is being explained as going attend a funeral.
Mithi explained that the incident happened in Zomba and while majority of the followers of the post applauded the DRTSS officers for their decision to stop the vehicle, some indicated that they should have applied what Gift Mlotha described as “necessity knows no law”.
Trending on Facebook as ‘Lord Blacklion’, the commentator hinted that this was nothing strange as accidents do happen even if a motorist was on his own, saying: “Mukuona ngati anthu onsewo apangira kukondwa? Anthu weweewe bravo this bravo ngati inuyo mkoyamba kuona galimoto yamaliro itadzadza? (those people aren’t packed like that out of pleasure, haven’t you seen before such an overloaded lorry of people going to a funeral?”
But Ivan Yohane chided Lord Blacklion while lecturing him that it is challenging and dangerous driving a lorry carrying too many people as it wasn’t meant to carry human passengers.
“Any mistake, too many people could lose their lives,” he said while emphasising that a lorry is for dry cargo and if those people didn’t have a suitable vehicle to transport them, they shouldn’t have forced it.
Ricky Thindwa agreed to Yohane’s comment stressing that “safety is important” and that the DRTSS officers weren’t wrong to enforce what they are mandated to do as a department of road traffic and safety service.
Mphatso Zintambila faulted Gift Mlotha’s description of ‘necessity knows no law’, saying the people in the overloaded lorry were “the living risking it all for the dead” with Nixford Bennie hinting that the ‘necessity knows no law’ can apply if a reasonable number of people were in the lorry.
Patrick Mwizawaka Nuka joined the debate, saying the country has recorded “so many cases of people going to a funeral and being involved in accidents and more people dying due to roadworthy of the car, careless driving [and] overloading. “It’s high time we worked on this — bravo our men in uniform.”
Nyaneba Favor Fay also attested that there are many cases recorded of lorries transporting people to attend funerals that have been involved in fatal accidents and that the number of deaths per one incident is usually very high.
She indicated that in Salima, just last week alone, more than 3 people lost their lives traveling to a funeral with some seriously injured and referred Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe: “Kuyika miyoyi ya anthu pachiswe.”
Trending on Facebook as Tachiona Icho, commented that the “rule of law should apply all the time” because if the said lorry in Zomba had been involved in a serious accident, it is the road traffic officers who would have taken the flak “for looking the other way”.
The commentator hinted that we Malawians tend “to twist rules — that’s why we have law breakers not lawmakers in Parliament”.
On his part, Martin Chithambo said: “It’s very sad that at times we don’t value our lives. Loading ourselves in that truck for the sake of attending a burial, eeeish, then suddenly an accident happens and we lose other lives. Total madness.”
The comments took a twist when Twende Musopole joined it to also fault other overloaded lorries that ferry political party regalia-dressed supporters, who are let go scot free by road traffic police as well as the DRTSS officers but they act according to the law on drivers carrying people to a funeral.
Reacting to Reignford Khunga’s opinion that the law is not sympathetic to funeral procession, Mwana wa Mary hinted that it does sympathise only for vehicles driven by politicians, government officials and the police themselves.
Several other people observed that as the 2025 general elections campaigns draw near, the public roads shall be awash with party supporters being ferried to political rallies — and acting on them as according to the law, is tantamount to disciplinary measures on the part of the enforcing officers.
Chimsy Ngwira came in to blame the law enforcement officers, giving an example that the police overload their Land Cruisers with suspects, indicating that he once witnessed an incident when Somalians, who had been intercepted for illegal entry into the country, were packed in one Cruiser up to 27 of them.
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