Lilongwe, May 21, 2015: University of Cape Town (UCT) based Malawian Law Scholar, Professor Danwood Chirwa has urged the Government and Civil Society Organizations to utilize the skills of Malawians in diaspora in order to take the country forward.
Chirwa was responding to a questionnaire form Malawi News Agency (Mana) on how brain drain can be limited in developing countries focusing on him as an example.
He cited most successful countries as examples of how beneficial the diaspora is to the development of individual countries as most people in diaspora benefit from international exposure.
Said Chirwa, “The links between locals and the diaspora can be an important asset for a poor country like Malawi. The diaspora can be a link for educational and employment opportunities for people back home. It also provides a source of state revenue through remittances.
“International exposure also bolsters the skills and personal development of people which can be beneficial to the country when they return.”
As a specialist in Public Law, Chirwa said he has contributed to the development of Malawian legal system more than any other person from a scholarship point of view.
“You may be aware of the Malawi Law Journal which I started in 2007, the only proper scholarly book in the history of Malawian constitutional law on the Malawian constitution focusing on the bill of rights I published in 2011.
“ An edited book on Accountable government in Africa I published in 2012 which contains several chapters on Malawi, many articles on Malawian constitutional law in leading international law journals, leading debates on Malawi’s public law,” he said.
He however, bemoaned the lack of interest from Malawi to utilize the skills of her people in diaspora.
Chirwa said he has not received any request from the Malawi Government or Civil Society for any kind of assistance on matters of national interest like the lake dispute or law reforms, which he says he does for free as it is part of his job description.
“Incidentally, because some of us are at institutions that pay us adequately, we often work with government and civil society for free. In fact, it is in our job description to participate in socially responsive activities.
“It may well be that some folks demand payment for being asked to work on matters of public interest. But this is not the culture where I am situated. It may also well be the case that people think that we would demand employment back home. This is a misplaced assumption,” he said.
He said the Bingu administration made an attempt to utilize the skills of Malawians in Diaspora though the exercise did not go far.
“We are not a serious people with serious national goals. We are a fundamentally self-interested and corrupt people, unwilling to assess our abilities and weaknesses.
“We are threatened by those that appear to be better than ourselves. Our institutions and cultures do not provide the conditions for people to realize their full potential and thus for the best among us to be allowed to work to their best potential. We are a dysfunctional society. Can this be reversed? I do not know,” wondered Chirwa.
