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...Top leadership attacks on Madonna sign of confusion
It is now official.
The Joyce Banda administration is made up of confused confusionists.
The President herself could, also, be a confused confusionist.
Need evidence?
Look at the way the Joyce Banda administration has treated Madonna.
Have a look at this, a Press Release from the confused State House on Madonna:
STATE HOUSE—MALAWI
PRESS RELEASE—APRIL 10, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MADONNA'S CLAIMS, DEBATE AND STATE HOUSE RESPONSE
Claims and misgivings have been expressed by Pop Star, Madonna and her agents, against the Malawi Government and its leadership for not giving her the attention and courtesy that she thinks she merits and deserves during her recent trip to Malawi.
According to the claims, Madonna feels that the Malawi Government and its leadership should have abandoned everything and attended to her because she believes she is a music star turned benefactor who is doing Malawi good.
Besides, in the feeling of Madonna, the Malawi Government and its leadership should have rolled out a red carpet and blast the 21-gun salute in her honour because she believes that as a musician, the whiff of whose repute flies across international boundaries, she automatically is candidate for VVIP treatment.
For not receiving the attention and the graces that she believes she deserved, Madonna believes someone, not lesser in disposition than the President's sister, Mrs. Anjimile Mtila-Oponyo, has been pulling the strings against her following their earlier fallout bordering on a labour dispute.
State House has noted these claims and misgivings. State House has followed the debate incidental to these claims with keen interest, and would wish to respond as follows to put the record straight:
1. Neither the President nor any official in her government denied Madonna any attention or courtesy during her recent visit to Malawi because as far as the administration is concerned there is no defined attention and courtesy that must be followed in respect of her.
2. In any case, even if the defined parameters of attention and courtesy existed in respect of Madonna, the liberties of discretion to give or not to give that attention or courtesy would ordinarily and naturally remain the preserve of the host. Attention or courtesy is never demanded.
3. Granted, Madonna has adopted two children from Malawi. According to the record, this gesture was humanitarian and of her accord. It, therefore, comes across as strange and depressing that for a humanitarian act, prompted only by her, Madonna wants Malawi to be forever chained to the obligation of gratitude. Kindness, as far as its ordinary meaning is concerned, is free and anonymous. If it can't be free and silent, it is not kindness; it is something else. Blackmail is the closest it becomes.
4. Granted, Madonna is a famed international musician. But that does not impose an injunction of obligation on any government under whose territory Madonna finds herself, including Malawi, to give her state treatment. As stated earlier in this statement, such treatment, even if she deserved it, is discretionary not obligatory.
5. It should be put on record that Madonna did not come to Malawi at the invitation of the President nor her government. In other words, she was neither the guest of the President nor of her government.
6. For all that is known, she came to Malawi like any other visitor that feels like coming to Malawi. Such visitors don't have to meet with the President and are never amenable to state attention or graces.
7. If the argument is that because she is an internationally renowned star, and, therefore, Madonna believes she deserved to be treated differently from other visiting foreigners, it is worth making her aware that Malawi has hosted many international stars, including Chuck Norris, Bono, David James, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville who have never demanded state attention or decorum despite their equally dazzling stature.
8. Among the many things that Madonna needs to learn as a matter of urgency is the decency of telling the truth. For her to tell the whole world that she is building schools in Malawi when she has actually only contributed to the construction of classrooms is not compatible with manners of someone who thinks she deserves to be revered with state grandeur. The difference between a school and a class room should be the most obvious thing for a person demanding state courtesy to decipher.
9. For her to accuse Mrs. Oponyo for indiscretions that have clearly arisen from her personal frustrations that her ego has not been massaged by the state is uncouth, and speaks volumes of a musician who desperately thinks she must generate recognition by bullying state officials instead of playing decent music on the stage.
10. For all that is known, Mrs. Oponyo has never been responsible for arranging state meetings with foreigners who are looking for those meetings. If Madonna was indeed a VVIP and a regular guest of State Governments as she wants to be seen and treated, she would have been familiar with procedures that have to be followed to get such meetings. They don't happen by simply sneaking into a country whose President and Government you scarcely desire to meet.
11. Even if Madonna followed the procedures to have her meetings with the President or government officials, the administration reserved all its rights to grant the meetings or not.
CONCLUSION
It must be noted that the President, Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda and her Government are ready to welcome any philanthropist seeking to assist in improving the welfare of the people of Malawi knowing that Her Excellency, herself, is a known philanthropist. However, acts of kindness must always remain as such; they must not smack of blackmail. In addition, let philanthropists not hold to ransom the President and any official of her Government because they showed some kindness to any Malawian.
CONTACT
Tusekele Mwanyongo
STATE HOUSE PRESS OFFICER
This is what the confused confusionists can do! It's the height of their madness.
Power, may be, has, as it does more so often, inebriated them.
They care about themselves. They don't care about the Malawi people. The children especially.
That is why they have ganged up against Madonna.
Personal issue
To begin with, the issue between Madonna and the State House is not about Madonna and the State House. It is about Joyce Banda's sister, Anjimile Mtila-Oponyo.
Aponyo- what a strange name- once worked for Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, but, somehow, Madonna was not satisfied with the way things were being run. Inevitably, they parted ways with Aponyo, who is demanding lots of money from Madonna.
Unfortunately for Madonna, President Joyce Banda practices the cheap politics of nepotism- and makes sure that some members of her family are put close to the national purse. So, Joyce Banda,riding on the horse of nepotism, appointed Aponyo to be Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education.
It is Aponyo- who, to say the truth,is more powerful than Joyce Banda- who is making all the decisions against Madonna.
It is her who has spearheaded a campaign against the Good Madonna, trying to cast her in negative light to some unproductive extent.
Resolute Madonna
From the look of things, however, Madonna is not about to be frustrated.
She has come to Malawi several times. She knows the experiences of Malawian children, and how they toil in the sun to get a decent living.
She has, during the times she has been to Malawi, met the children- bare-footed, bare-backs, 'bare-everything'- smiling at her in their miseries. And that is why she will not give up.
Of course, the shameless administration of Joyce Banda will stop at nothing to frustrate Madonna and let Malawian children suffer.
Attempts to frustrate Madonna
Already, the shameless administration has engaged another gear; this time, accusing Madonna of running Raising Malawi illegally.
That's what the confused 'boys' and 'girls' at State House and the NGO Board are saying.
What they are forgetting- these confused 'villagers'- is that you do not need to re-register a charity organisation that is registered outside Malawi. That's what the laws say.
That's how the administration of Joyce Banda has become confused.
It is so confused it will leave no stone unturned to let the children of Malawi suffer.
That's why the President is blowing millions of Kwacha in trips (foreign and local) when hunger is on the door in Malawi, when public hospitals still do not have 95 percent of essential drugs. Yes, when 2 million people face starvation (according to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report released on September 5, 2012. Among other things, the report observed that the 2 million people will brush shoulders with hunger between November 2012 and April 2013.
In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed this week that Malawi's silos are now empty.
But, sadly, this could just be the beginning. The State President is confused. She doesn't know what to do. She is running this country through experiments.
The experiments may not always go right.
Madonna's response
However, thanks to common sense, Madonna's love for Malawi's children is just starting to manifest.
She will not bow down to her two detractors- Joyce Banda and Aponyo- just yet. She will continue her good works.
That's why she said, in response to the confused heads at State House and the Ministry of Education:
"I am saddened that President Banda has chosen to release lies about what we've accomplished, my intentions, how I personally conducted myself while visiting Malawi and other untruths. I have no intentions of being distracted by these ridiculous allegations.
"I came to Malawi seven years ago with honorable intentions I returned earlier this month to view the new schools we built. I did not ever ask or demand special treatment at the airport or elsewhere during my visit. I will not be distracted or discouraged by other people's political agendas. I made a promise to the children of Malawi and I am keeping that promise." - Madonna, Los Angels 11/04/2013
Shame on all confused Malawians in leadership positions!
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