NYASALAND wrote:

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  Search within yourself .....and you think the British economists are stupid to have made it look so? What is the difference between £1 and MK225?

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Nyasaland,

Unfortunately for you I cant see any "holes to mend"in my earlier posting but I do see a lot in yours.

The mistake you are making is looking at the £1 and its malawian conversion,MK225 without considering how far each one will take you,how far you can stretch the £1 in the UK and likewise in Malawi.Just because MK225 is the same as £1 in both countries does not necessarily mean that you will be able to buy similar/identical goods with that money.You will be able to spend it on differing goods whose value if we are to compare in both countries will again differ.Therefore the difference between £1 and MK225 lies in what that can get for you in Malawi as well as the UK.

Again you are being myopic at just looking at the nominal £1,you have to remember that I was comparing what people earn in Malawi especially people with earned academic titles(not honorary ones!)and what an MSCE  holder earns in the UK/US.It is about the disposable income.One thing for sure is that MK28000=MK125(Gross pay!) is not enough,its not sufficient reward for a lecturer at the University.If we are to deduct tax from this pay,he will be left with net pay of around MK19000 and thats before he has paid his electricity bills,bought his goceries,sent money to his relatives in Mulanje,cleared the overdraft from last month with his bank and oh!he still has to pay his daughters school fees as well as giveher transport money and pocket money too,remember all this is happening within two days of him receiving his pay and he stll has a month to go before the next pay.

Now compare such a life with someone getting £700=MK148000after tax!!!and then you will understand what I am talking about.I want you to understand as well that I am not saying that my Malawi is a bad country not worthy living in,no,but people do have proper reasons that compel them to stay put wherever they are and its very wrong for those folks back home to start accusing those of us outta here of unpatriotism,if you are happy with getting MK28000 then thats fine but that is what  I  send to my old mother in Mulanje every month and I know for sure I wouldn't be able to give her such money if I come back home,it will be even hard to give at least MK1000 from the MK19000 before all the outgoings.

What I can say is that be happy with where you are and what you have got coz we are also very happy with what we have got and where we are.Funny enough its only you people back home that complain and talk about those of us outta here accusing us of being unpatriotic.What if we in return accuse those of you back in Malawi of lacking ambition and the guts to venture outside your own borders to prove yourself,remember if you point one accusing finger at others,three fingers will point at you.

So the difference between £1 and MK225 is how far each one will take you in buying power terms in each country,on paper indeed you would think there is no difference but in reality and when it comes to purchasing goods,thre is a big difference.

sibweni wrote:

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Big up Ngwazi and its thats no rocket science, mpampunga.

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I agree Ngwazi..zomwe mwanena apa ndagwirizana nazo. Additionally, someone earning £700 a month will be considered to be in the low income bracket and may be entitled to state benefits and if it is someone with a family they can get working family tax credits, child benefit and help with child care. These can add up to another £200 on top.

Nyasa also needs to know that lecturers in the UK would be earning around MK337500 a month on the lower end.

Kumudziku zinthu sizili bwino and it does not take someone to be living in the village to know that life is hard. Some countries are doing well economically through the money remitted back home by those in the diaspora. So Nyasaland, instead of castigating those that are lucky to be abroad you could try encourage them to send some money back home.

NYASALAND wrote:

Well, my assumption rather is : Do you really believe that Malawi and UK should be on equal in terms of salaries and wages? My implication is sameness is their difference in the case of monetary conversion. Loook at my point of view with innocencia and dont think in any academic way rather look at it from a stronger angle.

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Nyasaland,

You have now come full circle,your question and your assumption are both misplaced because the original topic was about how good life is in these parts of the world as compared to that side and especially that you have been a very strong  advocate of"Malawi is better by among other things calling those of us outside Malawi especially in the UK/US as "Willing Slaves" The reason that most of us say we are not returning to Malawi very soon or in the foreseable future is our acceptance that life in ther UK or US is superior to life in Malawi,it is our acceptance that the things we take for granted in these lands are considered luxuries back home but that was your argument.Others before me had told you about this but you still argued that being in Malawi is better than being here,that was the whole argument.

You asked whether we believed Malawi and the UK should be equal in terms of wages and salaries and I can say to you that thats a no no.But then we only talked about the salaries and wages to reaffirm our position that life is better here regardless of your qualifications whilst in Malawi you have to be a graduate and either be working at the Reserve Bank or Limbe Leaf Tobacco for you just to "break-even" otherwise ask the lecturers at UNIMA,life is very hard indeed for them.

You seem to forget that what we are talking about is not academic,it is real,it is happening,you cant start accusing us of looking at things in an academic way,no man,this is reality.What we have given you are the facts,nothing but the bare facts.From whatever angle you want to look at it and no matter how patriotic you want to be,the fact and the truth unfortunately for you is that life is far much better and superior in the US/UK than it is in Malawi.

Accept that those of us living outside of Malawi have genuine and compelling reasons that are making it harder by the day to even think about going back to live in Malawi like better wages,better prospects of obtaining basic things in life and self-dependance and probably you guys still in Malawi have compelling and genuine reasons too that are making it harder by the day too to even think about leaving Malawi like lack of money to purchase an air ticket as you know to raise enough money for such a thing on your own without parental/relative help in Malawi might mean  real real real hard work and forgoing a lot of things,it might also be that people have the fear of the unknown other wise lets all be happy and content with the lives we are leading.