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Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was once Malawi's State House Press Officer.
A position he abused.
Or, put more bluntly, (a position) he did not understand.
In that capacity, he introduced the Malawi Mail- a government publication published by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education.
But, like his State House Press officership, that (publication), too, did not last. It disappeared from the market.
At first (before it existed on the market), the Malawi Mail was a dream in Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's head. Then, it became reality. Palpable reality. After some time on the newspaper market, where it was not faring well despite having government backing, the dream (Malawi Mail) died with the sunset of September 24, 2011. Needless to say there was no funeral ceremony.
High-tempered dreams die young, really. It is me saying this. It is my impression.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi may now be somewhere in the civil service, working for the Malawian citizen. But Joyce Banda's broom will get him out of whichever hole he is hiding in.
After all, his was a political position. Especially that of State House Press Officer.
People privy to the issue of how he ascended to that high office have it that his (Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's) mother was friends with the former First Lady, the late Ethel Zvauya Mutharika.
And, on that basis (the basis of familiarity), Chikumbutso Mtumodzi got his job.
As State House Press Officer, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi will be remembered for his reckless comments.
At one time, when former Speaker of the National Assembly, the late Sam Mpasu, was spokesperson for the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Chikumbutso Mtumodzi touched the ex-parliamentarian's raw nerve when he said:
"Sam Mpasu should not comment on government issues because his son is in prison". That was Chikumbutso Mtumodzi at his best.
What had happened for Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, who once belonged to the duplicate New Dawn for Africa, along with the likes of Thom Chiumia and Ken Ndanga (a party that was formed to foil the agenda of National Democratic Alliance, which was formed by former UDF strongman and Information Minister Brown Mpinganjira. Mpinganjira, the favourite of the British Broadcasting Corporation, is now a member of President Joyce Banda's People's Party politburo), to become this outrageous?
Here is what happened. Mpasu was the spokesperson for the opposition UDF. It was a tough time. Mutharika had just dumped the UDF, the party that campaigned for him during the 2004 Presidential elections, for political waters that were then unknown.
This (resignation) happened on February 5, 2005 during an Anti-Corruption Bureau's Anti-Corruption Day in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital.
This development led to the flaring of tempers.
Surely, the UDF was bitter. The way Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) zealots are bitter right now. That is why they (DPP members) wanted to foil the ascendancy of Joyce Banda to the highest office in the land. They forgot that, as Vice-President, Banda was within stiffing distance of the throne. Poor thinking!
To UDF's pill of bitterness was added political gamesmanship by the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD).
Because State-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation was giving all the airtime to UDF and, later, DPP, CMD's Kizito Tenthani and his colleagues came up with a trap for the ruling party in the name of training for senior members of opposition political parties including those of the ruling party.
At the training, opposition political parties were drilled in how to set the agenda (that is, how to be pro-active), instead of waiting for ruling parties (the government side) to set the agenda. This agenda, the parties learned, could be well-set by having party spokespersons.
These spokespersons, that's what the training was all about, could do well by speaking on issues before the government (which, in Malawi, has come to wrongly mean the ruling party) did so.
The opposition parties could do this by attacking government policies. This way, the government (and, therefore, ruling party) would spend much time defending itself instead of campaigning or 'stealing' all the lime in the light!
Now, if there is someone who put this to good use, it is Sam Mpasu.
Mpasu could, on a clear morning, 'create' dark clouds for the government (and, therefore, ruling party) by introducing an imaginary issue, link it to the national agenda, make all the people believe in it, and steal all the lime in the light!
It was as simple as that.
And that (this;Mpasu's machinations) irked Mtumodzi so much that he run short of counter-arguments.
It is in this light that, one day, Mpasu spoke about the loss of direction on the part of the ruling party, and suggested solutions. He even had the audacity to draw resolutions on behalf of what he thought was a tactless ruling party.
But, instead of coming up with an equally-sound response, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi took it upon himself (and, therefore, upon the narrow shoulders of the 'whole' State House) to shrug off Mpasu's sentiments with a statement that sounded unprofessional at best and childish at worst. It was not a statement worth the effort of an individual with a clean-shaven head like that of Mtumodzi. But from inside that clean-shaven head of his came that statement. Now, it is not up to me to say whether Mtumodzi's head is big or small. This blog is too honourable to focus on that!
Needless to say, under normal circumstances, it was the DPP that was supposed to respond to Mpasu's political jabs. And not the government, let alone New State House. But Chikumbutso Mtumodzi responded. It was a strange world, then.
"Mpasu should not comment because his son is in prison".
Not that Mpasu's son was not in prison. He was. For his own sins.
But does that stop a father from speaking on national issues? No.
At the State House, it is true, people lose their heads.
But not all the people lose their heads at the State House.
Alaudin Osman, one of the directors for private-run Capital 102.5 FM radio, was once the State House's Press Officer. He executed his duties professionally. He did not pluck people's feathers unnecessarily. He did not take his position (as State House Press Officer) as a license to political madness.
Osman's experience in Botswana could, perhaps, have helped him execute his State House Press Officer duties with impartiality and professionalism. To him, we can just guess, the party was the party, and the State House was the State House. Two different things.
Not with Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
To cut a long story short, let me explain one experience I had with Chikumbutso Mtumodzi. This is when he was still State House Press Officer.
I met with him in town. Blantyre Central Business District (CBD) to be precise.
Those who have been to Blantyre CBD may know Escom House, the headquarters of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was talking to two city car parking-fee collectors. I knew one of these parking fee collectors. He was a DPP zealot. A DPP Youth Cadet (as the late Mutharika later christened them).
I gave him a "Good Afternoon!".
Not because he was State House Press Officer. Because I knew him. I knew him the time he was running his own media agency.
No, I knew him through and from an encounter at Njamba Freedom Park. As way back as 2003.
I had gone to Njamba Freedom Park (the place Pope John Paul 11 stepped upon during his State Visit to Malawi in 1989) to cover a New Dawn for Africa rally. This, as alluded to earlier, is the party Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, Chiumia and Ndanga formed to counter the agenda of the National Democratic Alliance of Mpinganjira. This New Dawn for Africa was a fruit of Muluzi's head; yes, it was the 'child' of Muluzi's confusion-marred line of thinking. Muluzi 'forced' these rational 'boys' into forming the duplicate party to achieve his own political agenda: That of making sure nobody challenged his ill-intentioned Third Term Bid.
I was the first to arrive at Njamba. No, perhaps the fifth. Chikumbutso Mtumodzi and some four rough-necks were already at the venue of the rally. They were guarding the tent against imaginary National Democratic Alliance attackers!
I arrived quietly and sat under a Mango tree. One of the 13 mango trees that surround the venue of political meetings at Njamba Freedom Park, a place that will, forever, remain in the hearts and minds of Malawian Catholics because Pope John Paul 11 stepped on this very place; yes, the very same Pope who was being beautified by Pope Benedict the Sixteenth on Sunday.
Then, from nowhere, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi came. No, he came from behind one mango tree. I did not see him as he came towards me.
He grabbed my hand, rather violently.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I have come to cover the rally," I said.
"What rally? I say which rally?" he queried, holding me by the arm. Tightly.
"To cover this meeting," I said, as I squeezed his ankle.
Let me say that that tussle ended in a "draw'. After I told him the media house I went there to represent.
It was a media house owned by the one who forced them to form the New Dawn for Africa.
So, from this point, I thought I knew Chikumbutso Mtumodzi. Let me say we, somehow, clicked after that.
I could see him drive the Nissan Twin-cab that was New Dawn for Africa's only 'tangible' property.
I could see him walking, on foot of course, in Blantyre CBD while the sun's rays beat his clean-shaven head without mercy. At least he had some money to pay for shoe-polishing services close to Chayamba Building because, every time one of the shoe-polishers from Chisomo Children's Club polished his pair of shoes, the shoes would be as shiny as Mtumodzi's clean-shaven head.
I met him so many times. Before he became State House Press Officer.
Then, from nowhere, Mutharika appointed him State House Press Officer.
And things changed.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was always (at every opportunity he saw me) accusing me of "reporting bad things" about Mutharika.
The climax came that day in late 2008, at Escom House.
I gave him a "Good afternoon, Sir?" He did not respond.
"Good Afternoon, Sir?" I repeated.
He did not respond. He just looked at me.
I greeted him for the third time: 'Good afternoon (for it was 'Afternoon'), Sir?"
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi did not respond.
I continued on my journey, wondering: 'Does this boy think that he will be State House Press Officer for ever? Isn't this a political office? This boy was walking on foot just three years ago and now he thinks he is up there with the stars. Now he thinks that journalists should not point out the wrongs in government. He wants journalists to praise the government and practice blind loyalty. No, this is not journalism. Journalists should be vigilant all the time. Journalists should, of course, be fair. Journalists should be the watchdogs in society, the watchdogs of society. When powerful people like Chikumbutso Mtumodzi dislike you for what you are doing, professionally; then, you are doing a good job. If public officers praise you, as a journalist, just know that you are doing a bad job. It could be sunshine journalism. It could be bias. Oh, it is good; when people like Chikumbutso Mtumodzi shun you because of the way you report, because of your dedication to the truth...'
This is what I was thinking when, suddenly, someone touched my arm. It was the (Blantyre City Assembly) parking-fees' collector I knew.
"Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was just telling us that 'I don't want to come anywhere near that boy. He is a bad boy, who hates the government. That's why I did not respond to his greeting'," said the parking fees' collector.
I was dismayed.
I was surprised.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi is a journalist, I thought.
He should have understood the role of journalists in national development.
The journalist is not a praise-singer.
Unfortunately, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi continued with his habit of 'shunning' me, ostensibly because I was an enemy of the State; someone out to destroy Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's pay-masters' names.
That is why I am wondering today: What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do, now that his 'journey' is over. What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do, now that the DPP is no longer in power?
What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do...now that so many things have changed?
Surely, as we read in Julius Ceasar , the evil that men do lives after them.
Let's hope Chikumbutso Mtumodzi did no 'evil'.
But Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's ordeal must serve as a lesson to People's Party officials.
President Banda will, surely, appoint some of the confused people to influential positions. Those officials should not look down upon other people. Those officials should not dislike others on the basis of those (others') work.
When all this is over, we, like chickens, all go back home to roost.
A position he abused.
Or, put more bluntly, (a position) he did not understand.
Then, probably after realising what sheer folly it was to put Chikumbutso Mtumodzi there, former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, shifted him to another position. Even without having the necessary qualifications, he was 'made' Director of Information.The problem with Chikumbutso Mtumodzi is that he made hatred his communication strategy. In other words, hatred was his communication strategy.
In that capacity, he introduced the Malawi Mail- a government publication published by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education.
But, like his State House Press officership, that (publication), too, did not last. It disappeared from the market.
At first (before it existed on the market), the Malawi Mail was a dream in Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's head. Then, it became reality. Palpable reality. After some time on the newspaper market, where it was not faring well despite having government backing, the dream (Malawi Mail) died with the sunset of September 24, 2011. Needless to say there was no funeral ceremony.
High-tempered dreams die young, really. It is me saying this. It is my impression.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi may now be somewhere in the civil service, working for the Malawian citizen. But Joyce Banda's broom will get him out of whichever hole he is hiding in.
After all, his was a political position. Especially that of State House Press Officer.
People privy to the issue of how he ascended to that high office have it that his (Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's) mother was friends with the former First Lady, the late Ethel Zvauya Mutharika.
And, on that basis (the basis of familiarity), Chikumbutso Mtumodzi got his job.
As State House Press Officer, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi will be remembered for his reckless comments.
At one time, when former Speaker of the National Assembly, the late Sam Mpasu, was spokesperson for the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Chikumbutso Mtumodzi touched the ex-parliamentarian's raw nerve when he said:
"Sam Mpasu should not comment on government issues because his son is in prison". That was Chikumbutso Mtumodzi at his best.
What had happened for Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, who once belonged to the duplicate New Dawn for Africa, along with the likes of Thom Chiumia and Ken Ndanga (a party that was formed to foil the agenda of National Democratic Alliance, which was formed by former UDF strongman and Information Minister Brown Mpinganjira. Mpinganjira, the favourite of the British Broadcasting Corporation, is now a member of President Joyce Banda's People's Party politburo), to become this outrageous?
Here is what happened. Mpasu was the spokesperson for the opposition UDF. It was a tough time. Mutharika had just dumped the UDF, the party that campaigned for him during the 2004 Presidential elections, for political waters that were then unknown.
This (resignation) happened on February 5, 2005 during an Anti-Corruption Bureau's Anti-Corruption Day in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital.
This development led to the flaring of tempers.
Surely, the UDF was bitter. The way Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) zealots are bitter right now. That is why they (DPP members) wanted to foil the ascendancy of Joyce Banda to the highest office in the land. They forgot that, as Vice-President, Banda was within stiffing distance of the throne. Poor thinking!
To UDF's pill of bitterness was added political gamesmanship by the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD).
Because State-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation was giving all the airtime to UDF and, later, DPP, CMD's Kizito Tenthani and his colleagues came up with a trap for the ruling party in the name of training for senior members of opposition political parties including those of the ruling party.
At the training, opposition political parties were drilled in how to set the agenda (that is, how to be pro-active), instead of waiting for ruling parties (the government side) to set the agenda. This agenda, the parties learned, could be well-set by having party spokespersons.
These spokespersons, that's what the training was all about, could do well by speaking on issues before the government (which, in Malawi, has come to wrongly mean the ruling party) did so.
The opposition parties could do this by attacking government policies. This way, the government (and, therefore, ruling party) would spend much time defending itself instead of campaigning or 'stealing' all the lime in the light!
Now, if there is someone who put this to good use, it is Sam Mpasu.
Mpasu could, on a clear morning, 'create' dark clouds for the government (and, therefore, ruling party) by introducing an imaginary issue, link it to the national agenda, make all the people believe in it, and steal all the lime in the light!
It was as simple as that.
And that (this;Mpasu's machinations) irked Mtumodzi so much that he run short of counter-arguments.
It is in this light that, one day, Mpasu spoke about the loss of direction on the part of the ruling party, and suggested solutions. He even had the audacity to draw resolutions on behalf of what he thought was a tactless ruling party.
But, instead of coming up with an equally-sound response, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi took it upon himself (and, therefore, upon the narrow shoulders of the 'whole' State House) to shrug off Mpasu's sentiments with a statement that sounded unprofessional at best and childish at worst. It was not a statement worth the effort of an individual with a clean-shaven head like that of Mtumodzi. But from inside that clean-shaven head of his came that statement. Now, it is not up to me to say whether Mtumodzi's head is big or small. This blog is too honourable to focus on that!
Needless to say, under normal circumstances, it was the DPP that was supposed to respond to Mpasu's political jabs. And not the government, let alone New State House. But Chikumbutso Mtumodzi responded. It was a strange world, then.
"Mpasu should not comment because his son is in prison".
Not that Mpasu's son was not in prison. He was. For his own sins.
But does that stop a father from speaking on national issues? No.
At the State House, it is true, people lose their heads.
But not all the people lose their heads at the State House.
Alaudin Osman, one of the directors for private-run Capital 102.5 FM radio, was once the State House's Press Officer. He executed his duties professionally. He did not pluck people's feathers unnecessarily. He did not take his position (as State House Press Officer) as a license to political madness.
Osman's experience in Botswana could, perhaps, have helped him execute his State House Press Officer duties with impartiality and professionalism. To him, we can just guess, the party was the party, and the State House was the State House. Two different things.
Not with Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
To cut a long story short, let me explain one experience I had with Chikumbutso Mtumodzi. This is when he was still State House Press Officer.
I met with him in town. Blantyre Central Business District (CBD) to be precise.
Those who have been to Blantyre CBD may know Escom House, the headquarters of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was talking to two city car parking-fee collectors. I knew one of these parking fee collectors. He was a DPP zealot. A DPP Youth Cadet (as the late Mutharika later christened them).
I gave him a "Good Afternoon!".
Not because he was State House Press Officer. Because I knew him. I knew him the time he was running his own media agency.
No, I knew him through and from an encounter at Njamba Freedom Park. As way back as 2003.
I had gone to Njamba Freedom Park (the place Pope John Paul 11 stepped upon during his State Visit to Malawi in 1989) to cover a New Dawn for Africa rally. This, as alluded to earlier, is the party Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, Chiumia and Ndanga formed to counter the agenda of the National Democratic Alliance of Mpinganjira. This New Dawn for Africa was a fruit of Muluzi's head; yes, it was the 'child' of Muluzi's confusion-marred line of thinking. Muluzi 'forced' these rational 'boys' into forming the duplicate party to achieve his own political agenda: That of making sure nobody challenged his ill-intentioned Third Term Bid.
I was the first to arrive at Njamba. No, perhaps the fifth. Chikumbutso Mtumodzi and some four rough-necks were already at the venue of the rally. They were guarding the tent against imaginary National Democratic Alliance attackers!
I arrived quietly and sat under a Mango tree. One of the 13 mango trees that surround the venue of political meetings at Njamba Freedom Park, a place that will, forever, remain in the hearts and minds of Malawian Catholics because Pope John Paul 11 stepped on this very place; yes, the very same Pope who was being beautified by Pope Benedict the Sixteenth on Sunday.
Then, from nowhere, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi came. No, he came from behind one mango tree. I did not see him as he came towards me.
He grabbed my hand, rather violently.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I have come to cover the rally," I said.
"What rally? I say which rally?" he queried, holding me by the arm. Tightly.
"To cover this meeting," I said, as I squeezed his ankle.
Let me say that that tussle ended in a "draw'. After I told him the media house I went there to represent.
It was a media house owned by the one who forced them to form the New Dawn for Africa.
So, from this point, I thought I knew Chikumbutso Mtumodzi. Let me say we, somehow, clicked after that.
I could see him drive the Nissan Twin-cab that was New Dawn for Africa's only 'tangible' property.
I could see him walking, on foot of course, in Blantyre CBD while the sun's rays beat his clean-shaven head without mercy. At least he had some money to pay for shoe-polishing services close to Chayamba Building because, every time one of the shoe-polishers from Chisomo Children's Club polished his pair of shoes, the shoes would be as shiny as Mtumodzi's clean-shaven head.
I met him so many times. Before he became State House Press Officer.
Then, from nowhere, Mutharika appointed him State House Press Officer.
And things changed.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was always (at every opportunity he saw me) accusing me of "reporting bad things" about Mutharika.
The climax came that day in late 2008, at Escom House.
I gave him a "Good afternoon, Sir?" He did not respond.
"Good Afternoon, Sir?" I repeated.
He did not respond. He just looked at me.
I greeted him for the third time: 'Good afternoon (for it was 'Afternoon'), Sir?"
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi did not respond.
I continued on my journey, wondering: 'Does this boy think that he will be State House Press Officer for ever? Isn't this a political office? This boy was walking on foot just three years ago and now he thinks he is up there with the stars. Now he thinks that journalists should not point out the wrongs in government. He wants journalists to praise the government and practice blind loyalty. No, this is not journalism. Journalists should be vigilant all the time. Journalists should, of course, be fair. Journalists should be the watchdogs in society, the watchdogs of society. When powerful people like Chikumbutso Mtumodzi dislike you for what you are doing, professionally; then, you are doing a good job. If public officers praise you, as a journalist, just know that you are doing a bad job. It could be sunshine journalism. It could be bias. Oh, it is good; when people like Chikumbutso Mtumodzi shun you because of the way you report, because of your dedication to the truth...'
This is what I was thinking when, suddenly, someone touched my arm. It was the (Blantyre City Assembly) parking-fees' collector I knew.
"Chikumbutso Mtumodzi was just telling us that 'I don't want to come anywhere near that boy. He is a bad boy, who hates the government. That's why I did not respond to his greeting'," said the parking fees' collector.
I was dismayed.
I was surprised.
Chikumbutso Mtumodzi is a journalist, I thought.
He should have understood the role of journalists in national development.
The journalist is not a praise-singer.
Unfortunately, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi continued with his habit of 'shunning' me, ostensibly because I was an enemy of the State; someone out to destroy Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's pay-masters' names.
That is why I am wondering today: What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do, now that his 'journey' is over. What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do, now that the DPP is no longer in power?
What will Chikumbutso Mtumodzi do...now that so many things have changed?
Surely, as we read in Julius Ceasar , the evil that men do lives after them.
Let's hope Chikumbutso Mtumodzi did no 'evil'.
But Chikumbutso Mtumodzi's ordeal must serve as a lesson to People's Party officials.
President Banda will, surely, appoint some of the confused people to influential positions. Those officials should not look down upon other people. Those officials should not dislike others on the basis of those (others') work.
When all this is over, we, like chickens, all go back home to roost.
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