Simon Martha Mkina Every house has a minister of finance. Wives happen to be very good in that department, and this is simply so because almost every smart man knows this and it has been like that since time immemorial. Women are such trustworthy creatures. They are good in keeping monies and using them in an agreeable manner in the house and family development. In any serious financial institution, ministry, bank and the like, you find women leading. They generally don’t have that character to swindle money for their own needs. During those good times in Africa, although whites happened to call them dark days, our ancestors put their trust in their wives. Women were the ones who used to keep any cent that the family generates. Given that men were the breadwinners, they had no green light to use the money as they wished until they had the express permission of the wife who would in most cases approve such spending on condition it was for developmental benefits. But things are now changing very fast, as quickly as a blink of the eye. Men are now struggling to take the ministerial posts from their wives. They now want to take control of anything the family earns. Keeping monies is not a joke…one needs to be mean and stingy. I know women are like that not because they are bad hearted. No. It is just that they want tangible development in the house. The problem with Male Home Finance Ministers (MHFM) is that they are extravagant in using monies they get for the family. They can’t stand seeing a shebeen in front of their eyes without not stopping over just to gulp some yellowish-golden colour water stored in bottles. Apart from that, more and more MHFM are sex-appetite onlookers. Should they have family monies in their moving banks (say wallets) they dare say lying words to pretty ladies. Their sex desires never end until they jump on others’ bodies. There, they pay family monies. Men…ahhh…ahhh are just something else. Sometimes you can’t differentiate them from wild animals nowadays. Men are just like that, they like spending in front of their colleagues showing them they don’t have problems, although in reality they have a lot back in their families. No…no…no…wait I don’t want to forget this, that MHFM are pompous when their mother-in-law arrives in their family homes. They can use up the last cent they have to service a visitor of that rank. During the stay by such a visitor, the entire family benefits a lot because the menu will change for the better. Beers will fully pack the fridge, soup and meat will be pretty. Thanks to the visitor. And kids are happy praying a visitor should stay longer without knowing that their monies for school fees, shoes and other needs are being burnt. Other thing, that I won’t dare forget some emergencies such as unexpected travel attending funeral ceremonies up country or sickness, bound to contract family finances, or any other incurable diseases. You guyz…life is tough in that situation. Keep it up Female Home Finance Ministers. Don’t let men holds the keys of family coffers even if they call themselves breadwinners. I haven’t seen a breadwinning competition in my life, I hope there were a lot of biassness there to give men a winning ticket. Eeewa. * (Simon Martha Mkina is a Tanzanian journalist based in the capital, Dar es Salaam. He is in Namibia on an exchange programme at the Namibia Press Agency – Nampa