What is it?

It's neither a funeral, a car park nor a traffic jam, It's a queue for fuel.
For well over a year this has been the case, people wasting untold hours in queues.
Even though the official line has been a variation of lame excuses, the truth is that Malawi does not generate enough forex to pay for it's imports.
The declining market for tobacco has been worsened by poor marketing strategies which are worsened by the fear of a serious devaluation of the Malawi kwacha
This it appears has slowed the repatriation of the dollars for the tobacco.
The second reason is the previous regime's treatment of donors. The most serious of these was the expulsion of the British High Commissioner.
Donor money has slowed to a trickle and hence the problems.
The former President died on Thursday last and was replaced on Saturday by the vice president Joyce Banda.
There is great belief that she can turn things around, but she has alot to do in a country so shattered by the economic tailspin left for her to turn around.
We are all praying that the donors will return and shore up the disaster of Titanic proportions.
Malawi needs help now with prices spiraling by up to 50% in this year alone, no fuel, no sugar, maybe a smaller maize crop because of seriously decreased fertilizer subsidies last year.
Economists should never be allowed to run anything as all their ideas come through the rear view mirror of someone else's car!!