Zomba: Crumbling into the ruins of memory

Zomba City
Malawi's former Capital City, Zomba, remains as desolate and forgotten as ever. Just look at the picture above, taken by Jarson Malowa Saturday morning.
It is a perfect depiction of a dream of colour gone terribly wrong.
When the one party regime established Zomba as, first, a city and, then, Capital City, the idea was to turn it into a launch-pad for development. A former of physical map for development.
But Zomba, established as a preffered city for the white settlers, has lost track.
In those days, when the white settlers discovered that Zomba had a, somewhat, European climate that made life easy under the rays of the sun that hit, but hit with consideration, the hairless skin of a four-month-old baby.
The idea was to develop Zomba, infracture-wise, by changing the shape of the infrastructure.
So, they made the city, Zomba City, the abode of Parliament. Zomba Central Hospital was there to provide quick-fire medical attention, with the army (that is before Malawi Army changed to Malawi Defence Forces) base there to offer protection from outside threats.
Zomba was meant to be great. That is why the Malawi National Examinations Board headquarters are in Zomba. That is why Government Print, where all government publications are printed, is in Zomba.
But whatever dream disturbed the minds of those forward-looking people has been disturbed. Zomba's fall from the dream of colour started when, in the nick of time, someone decided to move Parliament from Zomba to Lilongwe. Yes, to move the Capital from Zomba to Lilongwe-- oh, dusty Lilongwe!
After that someone made, by word of mouth, that decision, someone, also by word of mouth, declared that Zomba be stripped of its city status. Zomba was a municipality-- stripped bare by lack of a Parliamentary building, reduced to ashes by the merciless deprivation of its Capital City status, trimmed to size by the further beating following Zomba's humiliation to the status of a municipality.
And, yet, someone else re-declared Zomba a city but fell short of re-declaring it a Capital City. It is because Lilongwe has moved on after Zomba's fall.
And it seems Zomba is unlikely to rise again. Already,former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika's colour-dream to turn Zomba State Residence into a state-of-the-art hospital. Like Bingu, the dream lies in black-and-white at the back of policy-makers' minds.
And Zomba business premises look sorrier than a street kid, as seen above.
Zomba's dreams crumble into the pieces of non-existence. Zomba buildings crumble while standing.

Yoneco: The Number One Enemy to Studies!

Are you deep in studies and, as one way of attaining your academic goals, you have been assigned by your class lecturer to visit Youthnet and Counselling (YONECO)Fm or any of their affiliated institutions just to find out how the institutions operate, in terms of decision-making, and how that affects, positively or negatively, operations?
Have you agreed to carry out the exercise by booking an appointment with the aim of carrying out your task?
Sorry but, truthfully, you may end up wasting your time because YONECO owners (meaning, the decision makers, the directors) are always afraid.
Yes, they are always afraid of the unknown and will, ultimately, not grant you your request.
They pretend, at first, to be helpful, before they start throwing one excuse after another at you.
In the end, they will simply do their best to make sure that you do not visit them; to make sure that they do not give you the information you require.
For a long time, YONECO had been known for its outreach programmes, mainly targeting the youth. Many a youth have been pulled out of the jaws of early marriages, early pregnancies and, for some time, Malawian realised that the youth could really change things for the better in Malawi.
Then, as one way of making outreach tasks easy, YONECO big wigs decided to establish a radio station in early 2015.
It came with a bang, with salaries that were better than at some established radio stations.
What's more, YONECO FM has a fleet of cars others can just dream of. That is good for media progress in Malawi.
Since its establishment, a number of media, communication and journalism students have knocked on YONECO's doors, asking for information on, say, how long does it take for a news event to be given the green light to go on air by the bosses? What is the chain of command? And other simple issues.
And, in all cases, YONECO big wigs, who have to make every decision, pretend to be helpful, but always chicken out at the last minute.
What they are afraid of, nobody knows.
No one wants to know how they manage the institution? No. Nobody wants to know how they manage the finances, let alone where they get them? No.
If anything, people just want to know how decisions are made and that helps the organisation achieve its goals and YONECO management is always afraid of such innocent questions.
Well, in running away from being helpful, in running away from these innocent issues, you are attracting unnecessary curiosity into your affairs. You serve the listener, not so? A listen who is not private, not so?
What is it that you hide at YONECO? What are you unwilling to help out on academic issues?
Look, of all the radio stations and media houses involved in the business of selling news, only YONECO FM refuses to give out information for academic purposes.
It is like they are always suspecting that you want to steal their business ideas, otherwise whatever ideas they have hatched. It turns out, they are anti-progress, anti-education and anti-youth.
From the look of things, and in YONECO's case, the youth cannot always be helpful!

The challenge of enforcing TNM Super League Rights

In Blantyre, the home of Malawi's soccer mecca Kamuzu Stadium, it is difficult to capture moving images, or videos, of TNM Super League games.
And it is understandable.
For the first time, Malawians have embraced the concept of buying rights to beam Super League games. Which is a step in, eeeh, the right direction because ours is a semi-professional league. It is a league where a Nyasa Big Bullets player would be playing in a heated match against Mighty Be Forward Wanderers during the day, and, then, report for duties as a guard somewhere in the evening.
Sure enough, a semi-professional league where a Mighty Be Forward Wanderers player would feature in a tough game against Capital City giants, Silver Strickers, and, then, report for duties as a barman in the evening.
Yes. A semi-professional league where a Silver Strickers' player would feature in a game as Lilongwe City rivals, Civo, and then resume his duty as foreman at a tobacco estate in Lilongwe Rural.
Yes, a semi-professional league where a Civil Service United player would participate in a match against Moyale Barracks and report for duties as a messenger the next day.
Or, a semi-professional league where unemployed youth join Malawi Defence Force sides, namely Mafco, Moyale Barracks, Red Lions, among others, just to secure a job as a private soldier in the military.
The same applies to Malawi Police Service side, Blue Eagles. The side provides an escape route into employment to some young men who impress with their legs and not brains.
So, when Beta TV signed a multi-million Super League right buy-out contract, it was like someone had breathed a bucketful of flesh air in the, otherwise, semi-professional TNM Super League.
And, all of a sudden, Zodiak Broadcasting Station Television could no longer broadcast the matches live. A new landlord was clearly in charge.
Suddenly, Times Television could not capture footage for its sports programmes. If anything, their only hope of bringing a sense of life to life in the Super League are still photos. Nothing else. A montage of still photos and nothing else.
Even Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, long used to getting things tickled over its back know, has found itself in new territory.
No need to talk of Joy Television, or AFJ Television, or of the other televisions station so in the country.
At least radio stations are at an advantage. They can still broadcast live. So long as they get a sponsor. Another sponsor other than TNM. Or, if they are lucky, TNM itself.
It must be said that Malawi has 73 radio stations, according to the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority.
From the look of things, therefore, the practice of buying rights has come to stay. For sure, it will be difficult for Beta Television to recover K300 million-plus it has invested in Malawi soccer. But it is clear that the Super League of Malawi has made a killing out of this experiment carried out in a semi-professional league that is the TNM Super League.
However,while televisions stations are finding it tough to capture moving images without buying rights from Beta Television, I was disappointed when I went to watch a match between Mighty Be Forward Wanderers and Red Lions at the bumpy-as-a-crocodile-tail Zomba Community Centre Ground mid-week.
Reporters and cameramen captured video footage unperturbed. It was as if they owned the ground, and the rights.
Here were personnel from different television stations capturing video footage for 10 to 30 minutes non-stop. And there was nobody to stop them.
Will the TNM Super League rights issues be enforced only at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, Silver and Civo stadia in Lilongwe and Mzuz Stadium in the Northern Region?
Surely, someone, somewhere, rolled out an initiative when the preparations were only half done.
Really, do we expect Beta Television to enforce the rights? Should Beta employ police officers to carry out the job or it is the responsibility of the Super League of Malawi?
To say the truth, rules should be enforced in full measure, and not half measures; in all football grounds, and not some and not others!

Freedom at its best!

It would have been unheard of in the past.
Primary school learners were then expected to be disciplined; to obey every word from a teacher.
As university students demonstrated, learners just watched--as if they were eagles perched in trees.
But things changed during former president Joyce Banda's regime. When teachers took industrial action, learners in Blantyre took to the streets.
They did not only storm onto the streets; they sang!
What we're the songs? Ng'ombe yaikazi sikoka ngolo (a female cow cannot pull a cart)!
Well, nobody knows who taught the learners, aged between 6 and 13 years that song.
But everyone knows they were referring to Joyce Banda rule, in the context of gender. They were implying that a woman cannot lead a nation. Such prejudiced thinking!
Today, pupils from Chilinde, Area 23 marched. Why? They are angry because they are not learning.
Why? Teachers are on a sit-in.
Why? They want salary increments.
Why? The government has been playing a fast one.
The Teachers Union of Malawi held meetings with government representatives several times this year. But the outcome was not even less satisfactory. It was outright unsatisfactory.
The Ministry of Education is, at best, myopic in its handling of serious issues.
Teachers are simply taken for granted.
Just imagine, the Ministry of Education promoted primary school teachers on March 14, 2012.
The promotions, replete with improved working conditions, would be effected immediately.
Up to now, the teachers are still receiving salaries they were getting in 2012, if we exclude the peanut increments they have been getting since then.
Some of the primary school teachers are in Zomba Rural, some are in Blantyre, some are in Chitipa. In short, they are scattered throughout the country.
I asked Ministry of Education spokesperson, Manfred Ndovi, the other day,and his response was: "Some of the teachers have not met the conditions they were supposed to meet".
Okay. But what for those who fulfilled the conditions?
Are teachers children of one biological mother and father to receive to be subjected to one-wrong-fits-all action?
Somehow, somewhere, we do things wrongly.
I will not be surprised to hear primary school learners sing one day: A male ox cannot pull a big cart!

Reverend John Chilembwe is Over-rated for Nothing

It is funny how people think of Reverend John Chilembwe as the best thing that ever happened to Malawi-- when Malawi was not even an idea; when the communal spirit of nationality was far from being born.
The truth is that Chilembwe was a flop!
Come to think of it. After Chilembwe came back from the United States of America, he set up a church (in his Chiradzulu District) that is a classic example of stunted growth!
The church he established, Providence Industrial Mission, is like Malawi's political parties: home-based! You will never find a branch of his church in Chitipa, or Salima or Blantyre.
He could not think beyond his home district, even in his religious thinking. He was a selfish man.
Then, there is the bit about going around and cutting white settlers' heads. What Chilembwe needed was guns, ammunition, and the power that came with them.
He wanted to protect his church men and women from the white settlers menace, establish himself as the lord of that area. Nothing more. Nothing national.
And, for your information,Chilembwe--the Reverend-- had two slaves he had bought from Mozambique: Paton Miguel and Amigo Ricco. They worked for him day and night, and he did not even convert them to join his church. Chilembwe was a calculating man. He knew that converting him would mean he would start looking at them with a brother's eye-- and Chilembwe was no brotherly figure. Like modern-day prophets-- the so-called prophets-- he was a businessman who never had thoughts about people from other areas.
Why, then, is he over-rated?
Simple: He went to America, learned their religious doctrine through education at that sell-out theological college. Oh, he could even speak their language too: English!
Worst of all, he was following their god. Their idea of God.
So, as a puppet, they hyped his name.
But there is someone who did far greater work for this country-- someone who was greater than John Chilembwe-- but whose only 'sin' in their eyes-- you know who?-- was not to speak their language, not to follow their god.
It is Mataka, the no-nonsense Mataka I am talking about. His story has to be retold. His story is so nationalistic it is touching!

Land! Land! Land!

Land is a word that will, for a long time to come, embody the deep fractures of colonialism.
More so because commonality of experience on land issues matters and differs.
Come to think of it, People's Land Organisation, led by Vincent Wandale, has been busy issuing threats that they would occupy private land used as tea plantations in Thyolo and Mulanje.
Nobody took them seriously.
For some time, the temptation was to see the threats as the sidekicks of a desperate human being-- or, rather, human beings.
They said, I mean those in the government, freedom of exxpression is there for all to take.
Well, until Wandale allegedly decided to mobilise people in the village and, according to his bidding, they occupies estate land, damaging some property here and there.
Wandale's position is that Malawi's colonial ruler should pay compensation to the people of Thyolo-- or else the people would repossess the land.
Wandale has been saying what happened is a great injustice to the people of Mulanje and Thyolo, who have been put in a corner in their own country while tea grows healthily, even shaking in the wind, in a land that was supposed to be their own.
It is like, in Wandale's view, cultural domination continues even after Malawi crossed the Independence, and the multiparty politics, line.
Now, forgetting that the right of speech is, on paper, potentially open to all including rural women and men who escorted to the estates and, or took part in, re-occupying the land, Wandale threatened one last time, and, again, nobody listens.
What followed was lawlessness at its best and Wandale is remanded at Chichiri Prison and faces four charges including that of illegally occupying land, malicious damage to property, conduct likely to cause breach of peace.
Finally, despite y he promise of sunny days, Wandale has spent y he past three days in the dark cells at Chichiri Prison.
Before two years ago, I would have condemned Wandale.
But I am a Communication and Cultural Studies scholar, and I understand things better now.
And, so, I will not condemn Wandale's ideas. They are revolutionary.
His action was not.
And, there, lies the problem.
Now, change.org has started a campaign, and written a petition to be delivered to President Peter Mutharika.
There lies another problem. The president does not arrest people. People 'arrest' themselves!

I just do not know who has arrested himself this time around.
And I do not know who may be about to release him.
I do not know.

Crocodiles on Bird Island

Birds Island lies silent, as a crocodile, in Lake Malawi.
It is a mountain, somewhere in Monkey Bay, Mangochi, District.
It is as if a hippopotamus, its oxygen reserves depleted, has come out for an air-load of life.
That's Birds Island for you.
Are you looking for crocodiles in Lake Malawi? You can see them on Birds Island.
What happens is that fishermen pull their fish-filled nets there, and crocodiles want the fish.
And, so, they have found a haven there.
I will post a picture in two hours' time.

An experience at Makokola Retreat in Mangochi

I am on foot. I am walking into the up-market Makokola Retreat in Monkey Bay, Mangochi.
The guards, two of them, let you in. Of course, after throwing four, five questions.
You get in-- feeling confident and energesised for the day.
The reception is some 200 metres away from the main gate. My entry point.
About 20 metres from the gate is Mangochi's airstrip. If you want to land in Mangochi, this is the airstrip for you.
Fifty metres, or so, later, a Toyota Hilux comes from the opposite direction. I mean, from the reception area.
Suddenly, it drives past you and stops.
Inside are a husband and wife. They have Malawian names but are of European ancestry.
Their faces are as serious as those of an incensed dog.
They think they are serious, not knowing that their attempt at seriousness is a favourable condition for the growth of pimples. Pimple marks are written all over the face.
"What are you doing here?" It is the man speaking.
He runs the place. Makokola Retreat!
I do not answer. I find the approach un-tourism-like.
"Hey, I say what are you doing here?" The man, visibly irritated, asks again.
Again, I do not answer.
These quacks are delaying me.
"Hey, can't you here me?" The man fires a rhetorical question at me.
"What are you doing on these grounds?"
"What am I doing? Can't you see that I am walking on these grounds?" I ask. These guys are irritating.
"Oh, for the workshop!?"
I do not answer. I do not know whether this is a question or what.
They finally smile.
"Okay,"says the man as the woman, presumably his wife, nods.
They speed off.
These guys have an attitude!
Are people not free to walk on Makokola Retreat premises. Does it matter how one travels to attend a meeting or something at Makokola Retreat?
Anyway, people talk a lot about the attitude of these ill-mannered people there.
It's like only those from Malawi are welcome.
Let me walk on, anyway. Into the premises.

An experience at Makokola Retreat in Mangochi

I am on foot. I am walking into the up-market Makokola Retreat in Monkey Bay, Mangochi.
The guards, two of them, let you in. Of course, after throwing four, five questions.
You get in-- feeling confident and energesised for the day.
The reception is some 200 metres away from the main gate. My entry point.
About 20 metres from the gate is Mangochi's airstrip. If you want to land in Mangochi, this is the airstrip for you.
Fifty metres, or so, later, a Toyota Hilux comes from the opposite direction. I mean, from the reception area.
Suddenly, it drives past you and stops.
Inside are a husband and wife. They have Malawian names but are of European ancestry.
Their faces are as serious as those of an incensed dog.
They think they are serious, not knowing that their attempt at seriousness is a favourable condition for the growth of pimples. Pimple marks are written all over the face.
"What are you doing here?" It is the man speaking.
He runs the place. Makokola Retreat!
I do not answer. I find the approach un-tourism-like.
"Hey, I say what are you doing here?" The man, visibly irritated, asks again.
Again, I do not answer.
These quacks are delaying me.
"Hey, can't you here me?" The man fires a rhetorical question at me.
"What are you doing on these grounds?"
"What am I doing? Can't you see that I am walking on these grounds?" I ask. These guys are irritating.
"Oh, for the workshop!?"
I do not answer. I do not know whether this is a question or what.
They finally smile.
"Okay,"says the man as the woman, presumably his wife, nods.
They speed off.
These guys have an attitude!
Are people not free to walk on Makokola Retreat premises. Does it matter how one travels to attend a meeting or something at Makokola Retreat?
Anyway, people talk a lot about the attitude of these ill-mannered people there.
It's like only those from Malawi are welcome.
Let me walk on, anyway. Into the premises.

Zimbabwe's moment of madness

The hope, when dipped in the soup of desperation and anger, has the effect of giving people a false sense of accomplishment.
What else, if not hope for a 'better'life, could be fuelling the fury of Zimbabweans who have turned against themselves by destroying property and looting in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
This wave of demonstration is a self-defeating recipe for disaster.
If not because it will take months, and millions of dollars to redo what these demonstrations are undoing, it is because it is the regret that will surely come that will defeat Zimbabweans' sense of purpose.
Come to think of it, where on earth do people turn on a legitimately government to force it's leader out? The worst part is that the world, which has often called for respect for letimately-elected government, has decided to watch as a hot-blooded child turns on them self, burning their finger and stuff.
Let me put it this way. When Malawian visit Harare, they often regret that they 'chased' the colonial masters quicker than necessary. Harare is a city, real city, while Malawi's capital of Lilongwe has a tinge of a village.
And Malawian can't help but feel sad that,today, Zimbabweans are destroying what they did not construct: Harare!
The only thing, or, rather, being they constructed, namely Robert Mugabe, is not there to be destroyed.
Illegitimate lyrics that is.
My apologies but, today, I did not want to come out clear.
Deliberately.
The kind of deliberation the Zimbabweans have put into the act of destroying themselves.

Chichiri Shopping Mall: More Guarded Than Malawi's Airports, State Residences

They roam around in the background, sometimes in the open, but are always on call.
Whoever you want: plain-clothed police officers, intelligence officers, military personnel, ruling party sympathisers, Malawi Revenue Authority agents, and what have you.
Malawi's shopping complex at Chichiri in Blantyre is safer than the country's airports and, perhaps, state residences.
Try it. Drive a vehicle [heavy goods vehicles are not allowed entry, by the way] with a foreign number plate into the open parking yard and, soon, you will be swarmed by officers and agents from Malawi's tax collecting body resking for this or that document. I have seen unsuspecting drivers being forced into vehicles with tinted glasses where, some of those who have been approached claim, they are made to pay something.
If the truth be told, Tips Anonymous initiatives, run by auditing who make a financial killing, have become the in-thing in Malawi. In fact, we have seen some of the biggest customers for the auditing firms, most notably parastatals such the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, Blantyre Water Board, Lilongwe Water Board, pay out millions of Malawi Kwacha through Tips Anonymous.
Surprise! Surprise! One of the hunting grounds for those wishing to make quick bucks is the shopping complex at Chichiri Shopping Centre in Blantyre. Here is a hub, innocent as it appears, oiling the engine of tax collection, law enforcement, intelligence and counter-intelligence in Malawi's commercial city of Blantyre.
The unemployed, especially those who are clever, have found a way of making money at the expense of others.
So, it turns out, the Chichiri Shopping Centre [they prefer calling it a Complex] is probably one of the safest places in Malawi.
No wonder, it is not often, if ever, that you will hear of car robberies, car-jacking at the Complex. Criminal elements know how safe the place it, because, at any point in time, except from 9 pm to 08:00 am, the place is I filtrated by state agents of all kind, each of them doing their job unobserved. They watch over the 'world', for the world gathers at Chichiri Shopping Mall everyday. Maybe except on Sunday from 2 pm, as the place takes the shape of a museum during the school holidays, or a graveyard of a wife cleanser: deserted, isolated and forgotten.
Just that this condition does not last long.
Over the past three years, state agents have arrested 62 people, all of these suspected of doing one thing or another. Suspected car-jackers, unaware that the place is safer than Malawi's ramshackle airports, have been nabbed.
Those who have stolen vehicles elsewhere have been nabbed there.
But corruption is also commonplace. Those with fake foreign number plates get away with a slap after paying K20, 000. Those who are caught with vehicles that got into the country without following procedures are made to 'cough' K20, 000 and they take the vehicle back home, more free to do whatever they want to do with it than ever before.
No wonder, out-going British Ambassador to Malawi, Michael Nevin, said it loudly last week: "Corruption is getting worse in Malawi". By worse, he means the cases are on the arise.
They are.
But equally escalating are security measures being put in place. Go to Chichiri Shopping Centre.
So, the next time you go shopping and bump into some familiar, and often unfamiliar faces, do not be quick to smile: They are there for a purpose.
Often, only them know what the purpose is.
Please note that figures on thwarted criminal activities at Chichiri Shopping Centre have been obtained from Southern Region Police headquarters.

As Justice Maxon Mbendera Turns Ancestor

It has been a hard, tearful 12 years to the point when Malawi, an orphan of virtue, has lost Justice Maxon Mbendera.
The Surpreme Court of Appeal Justice becomes the third high-profile official to die suddenly while on duty.
And, coincidentally, the high-profile officials who have left Malawi in that sad-like manner belong to the three branches of the government: The Legislature, The Executive and The Judiciary.
This trend, this sad trend, started during for president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika' first term in office.
When Bingu unceremoniously, but unsurprisingly, dished the United Democratic Front, his sponsoring political party, on February 5 2005, the former ruling UDF ganged up with the Malawi Congress Party to make his life politically difficult and unbearable.
And, there, rose Rodwell Munyenyembe, a man more national than regional, to bring sanity in the politically-poisoned atmosphere.
Munyenyembe, who went to Parliament as an opposition member of Parliament, put national interests before everything else and, for years, was Malawi's only sober member of Parliament.
One day, he bathed, had breakfast and was driven to the House of Chaos, Parliament, not knowing that that would be the last time he would be having breakfast at home. The last time he would be Malawian.
He ceased to be Malawian because death is a global moment.
He collapsed in the act of trying to bring peace between jostling parties in Parliament and never attempted to bring peace again. The shame and sadness that engulfed Parliamentary chambers became the reference point to what chaos to do.
A Speaker of Parliament had died in the Parliamentary chamber.
Malawian have never recovered from that loss. For Munyenyembe was a rare breed of politician. The shame of being Malawian is that people forget fast.
That time, there was talk to equip our health facilities well. At least so that they can help us resuscitate those who suffer from heart attacks.
Nobody cares.
And Munyenyembe went. Sadly.
And was quickly forgotten. By those who quickened his death and those who did not.
The Judiciary had lost a dedicated officer. Malawi was one wise man down.
Up next would be Bingu wa Mutharika.
That fateful April 5 2012, Bingu the hard worker set out to work.
His day was well mapped out by those responsible for drawing up the president's daily routine. And death was not on that map. And death was not part of that routine that day.
But came it did, death. And took Bingu with it.
Bingu had been busy talking to one of his members of the Cabinet.
And, then, he collapsed. Or so we were told. And we are still told.
His heart had failed and it could not be resuscitated there and then because the equipment was far aware.
When they took Bingu to the hospital, he was no longer the president. Have was a corpse.
Talk bordering on the necessity of buying the necessary equipment resurfaced.
Malawi had lost the head of state and government.
Today, under similar circumstances, Malawi lost Justice Mbendera on Thursday.
In the course of duty, as he prepared to go home that evening, he just collapsed and his home is the grave.
It is sad. The Judiciary has lost its own.
Malawi has lost a silent giant.
It can be said that, between May 30 and June 1, 2014-- when Malawian went to the polls, and the results because a ball tossed left and right in court-- Justice Maxon Mbendera, as Electoral Commission chairperson, and Justice Kenya that Nyirenda were about the only men who were sober in Malawi.
The rest were intoxicated with feelings of either loss or victory.
It was either this type of extreme anger or happiness.
Today, it is sadness that dominates.
Justice Maxon Mbendera, the former SCOM chairperson at Chancellor College, calm and ensuring a man, waits for us on the other side of veil.
Reminding us that we need to take this talk about heart resuscitation machines seriously.
As he lies peacefully, but dead anyway.
A man who died before the nation could have enough of him. A man who measured his words against his values before speaking them out to be measured but other men, and women.
Justice Maxon Mbendera is our ancestor now.

As Justice Maxon Mbendera Turns Ancestor

It has been a hard, tearful 12 years to the point when Malawi, an orphan of virtue, has lost Justice Maxon Mbendera.
The Surpreme Court of Appeal Justice becomes the third high-profile official to die suddenly while on duty.
And, coincidentally, the high-profile officials who have left Malawi in that sad-like manner belong to the three branches of the government: The Legislature, The Executive and The Judiciary.
This trend, this sad trend, started during for president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika' first term in office.
When Bingu unceremoniously, but unsurprisingly, dished the United Democratic Front, his sponsoring political party, on February 5 2005, the former ruling UDF ganged up with the Malawi Congress Party to make his life politically difficult and unbearable.
And, there, rose Rodwell Munyenyembe, a man more national than regional, to bring sanity in the politically-poisoned atmosphere.
Munyenyembe, who went to Parliament as an opposition member of Parliament, put national interests before everything else and, for years, was Malawi's only sober member of Parliament.
One day, he bathed, had breakfast and was driven to the House of Chaos, Parliament, not knowing that that would be the last time he would be having breakfast at home. The last time he would be Malawian.
He ceased to be Malawian because death is a global moment.
He collapsed in the act of trying to bring peace between jostling parties in Parliament and never attempted to bring peace again. The shame and sadness that engulfed Parliamentary chambers became the reference point to what chaos to do.
A Speaker of Parliament had died in the Parliamentary chamber.
Malawian have never recovered from that loss. For Munyenyembe was a rare breed of politician. The shame of being Malawian is that people forget fast.
That time, there was talk to equip our health facilities well. At least so that they can help us resuscitate those who suffer from heart attacks.
Nobody cares.
And Munyenyembe went. Sadly.
And was quickly forgotten. By those who quickened his death and those who did not.
The Judiciary had lost a dedicated officer. Malawi was one wise man down.
Up next would be Bingu wa Mutharika.
That fateful April 5 2012, Bingu the hard worker set out to work.
His day was well mapped out by those responsible for drawing up the president's daily routine. And death was not on that map. And death was not part of that routine that day.
But came it did, death. And took Bingu with it.
Bingu had been busy talking to one of his members of the Cabinet.
And, then, he collapsed. Or so we were told. And we are still told.
His heart had failed and it could not be resuscitated there and then because the equipment was far aware.
When they took Bingu to the hospital, he was no longer the president. Have was a corpse.
Talk bordering on the necessity of buying the necessary equipment resurfaced.
Malawi had lost the head of state and government.
Today, under similar circumstances, Malawi lost Justice Mbendera on Thursday.
In the course of duty, as he prepared to go home that evening, he just collapsed and his home is the grave.
It is sad. The Judiciary has lost its own.
Malawi has lost a silent giant.
It can be said that, between May 30 and June 1, 2014-- when Malawian went to the polls, and the results because a ball tossed left and right in court-- Justice Maxon Mbendera, as Electoral Commission chairperson, and Justice Kenya that Nyirenda were about the only men who were sober in Malawi.
The rest were intoxicated with feelings of either loss or victory.
It was either this type of extreme anger or happiness.
Today, it is sadness that dominates.
Justice Maxon Mbendera, the former SCOM chairperson at Chancellor College, calm and ensuring a man, waits for us on the other side of veil.
Reminding us that we need to take this talk about heart resuscitation machines seriously.
As he lies peacefully, but dead anyway.
A man who died before the nation could have enough of him. A man who measured his words against his values before speaking them out to be measured but other men, and women.
Justice Maxon Mbendera is our ancestor now.

As Justice Maxon Mbendera Turns Ancestor

It has been a hard, tearful 12 years to the point when Malawi, an orphan of virtue, has lost Justice Maxon Mbendera.
The Surpreme Court of Appleal Justice becomes the third high-profile official to die suddenly while on duty.
And, coincidentally, the high-profile officials who have left Malawi in that sad-like manner belong to the three branches of the government: The Legislature, The Executive and The Judiciary.
This trend, this sad trend, started during for president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika' first term in office.
When Bingu unceremoniously, but unsurprisingly, dished the United Democratic Front, his sponsoring political party, on February 5 2005, the former ruling UDF ganged up with the Malawi Congress Party to make his life politically difficult and unbearable.
And, there, rose Rodwell Munyenyembe, a man more national than regional, to bring sanity in the politically-poisoned atmosphere.
Munyenyembe, who went to Parliament as an opposition member of Parliament, put national interests before everything else and, for years, was Malawi's only sober member of Parliament.
One day, he bathed, had breakfast and was driven to the House of Chaos, Parliament, not knowing that that would be the last time he would be having breakfast at home. The last time he would be Malawian.
He ceased to be Malawian because death is a global moment.
He collapsed in the act of trying to bring peace between jostling parties in Parliament and never attempted to bring peace again. The shame and sadness that engulfed Parliamentary chambers became the reference point to what chaos to do.
A Speaker of Parliament had died in the Parliamentary chamber.
Malawian have never recovered from that loss. For Munyenyembe was a rare breed of politician. The shame of being Malawian is that people forget fast.
That time, there was talk to equip our health facilities well. At least so that they can help us resuscitate those who suffer from heart attacks.
Nobody cares.
And Munyenyembe went. Sadly.
And was quickly forgotten. By those who quickened his death and those who did not.
The Judiciary had lost a dedicated officer. Malawi was one wise man down.
Up next would be Bingu wa Mutharika.
That fateful April 5 2012, Bingu the hard worker set out to work.
His day was well mapped out by those responsible for drawing up the president's daily routine. And death was not on that map. And death was not part of that routine that day.
But came it did, death. And took Bingu with it.
Bingu had been busy talking to one of his members of the Cabinet.
And, then, he collapsed. Or so we were told. And we are still told.
His heart had failed and it could not be resuscitated there and then because the equipment was far aware.
When they took Bingu to the hospital, he was no longer the president. Have was a corpse.
Talk bordering on the necessity of buying the necessary equipment resurfaced.
Malawi had lost the head of state and government.
Today, under similar circumstances, Malawi lost Justice Mbendera on Thursday.
In the course of duty, as he prepared to go home that evening, he just collapsed and his home is the grave.
It is sad. The Judiciary has lost its own.
Malawi has lost a silent giant.
It can be said that, between May 30 and June 1, 2014-- when Malawian went to the polls, and the results because a ball tossed left and right in court-- Justice Maxon Mbendera, as Electoral Commission chairperson, and Justice Kenya that Nyirenda were about the only men who were sober in Malawi.
The rest were intoxicated with feelings of either loss or victory.
It was either this type of extreme anger or happiness.
Today, it is sadness that dominates.
Justice Maxon Mbendera, the former SCOM chairperson at Chancellor College, calm and ensuring a man, waits for us on the other side of veil.
Reminding us that we need to take this talk about heart resuscitation machines seriously.
As he lies peacefully, but dead anyway.
A man who died before the nation could have enough of him. A man who measured his words against his values before speaking them out to be measured but other men, and women.
Justice Maxon Mbendera is our ancestor now.

Telecommunications' sector cheating Malawians on 'Spy machine'

For sometime, Malawians have been hoodwinked into believing that the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) is up to something bad.
And the victim of the Macra's act, we have been made to believe, is the individual citizen.
That individual citizens have come to believe this version is testimony of how powerful telecommunications companies are in Malawi.
Nobody knows where the issue of Macra planning to spy on Malawians using the 'spy machines', as opponents call Macra's revenue analysis machine, came from, but it must be from some public relations people.
The truth, though, is that Malawi needs the so-called spy machine because, as things stand, nobody, not even Macra, knows how much telecommunications companies generate a year.
Malawi relies onion formation from these companies, actually, and that is a bad way of operating because you cannot ask a cow you are about to milk whether it is ready for milking.
It will surely tell you it has malaria!
But, then, the fact that Malawians quickly believed the telecommunications sector players means they -- Malawians-- do not trust Macra.
It is up to Macra to work on this!
Otherwise, the revenue arising out of taxes milked out of telecommunications companies may go a long way in lifting Malawi out of the pit of poverty.
At least if the money is used for the intended purpose!

Has The President Lost His Influence?

President Peter Mutharika must be a man who does not follow up on his own words.
What happened to the meaning of "immediate" or, by extension, 'effectively'?
The President, the other day other than this day [and that must be two weeks ago], ordered that Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi, be opened "immediately". This was after representatives of the students, met with Mutharika as one way of ironing out differences arising out of the University Council's decision to hike fees by over 100 percent for generic students, and 200 percent for mature entry students, depending on college.
Days down the line, the generic students are not back on campus at Chancellor College. So, instead of being on campus effective the presidential order, they are effectively sliding down the academic calendar.
Time without number, it has been opined that the University of Malawi is one of the most unpredictable universities in Africa.
Come to think of it. Two years after Malawi attained democracy in 1994, University of Malawi lecturers went on strike. They wanted a pay hike.
That disagreement stretched for months, leaving students academically stranded.
From then, it has been one disruption after another, until things went haywire under former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika's administration. The year was 2011.
One innocent lecturer gave the example of the Arab Uprising as an example of people power and all hell broke loose because one Malawi Police Officer student in that class informed his boss, then Inspector General of Police, Peter Mukhito.
As they say, the rest is history. University of Malawi constituent colleges went eleven months without students, lecturers doing what they know best; and without hope!
The incumbent president was Minister of Education then. Instead of attending to the issues at hand, he flew to the United States of America for holidaying, hoping that the problems would sort themselves out.
This time, he has given an order for Chancellor College to be opened. Students at the College of Medicine are on holiday. And, so, are those from The Polytechnic.
But Chancellor College students are supposed to be on campus.
And are not.
'Immediacy' delayed and nobody understands why.
Back to Square One, perhaps.

Wait and Wait: Justice the Malawi Way

There is something disturbing about the court system in Malawi. This is delays to come to the logical end of court cases.

And the cost, emotional and otherwise, is high on those subjected to this unfair treatment.

Come to think of it, Mark Peterson Kapwepwe, from Namanolo in Liwonde, Machinga District, has been in and out of the courtroom in Ntcheu for the past 27 years. His crime?

Causing malicious damage to property belonging to a neighbour.

And here is what happened.

On February 3, 1989, Kapwepwe, now 54, discovered that his first-born daughter was pregnant.The daughter [name withheld] was 18 years old when this incident happened.

Kapwepwe, who learned about the pregnancy-incident from his wife, referred the issue to village elders. The elders advised him to ask the daughter about the identity of the man who did the 'damage'.

Well, it turned out that it was Kapwepwe's neighbour.

However, the neighbour was not home. In fact, he had left Malawi to work in the mines in South Africa four weeks before Kapwepwe discovered that his daughter was pregnant. The man, said to be in his 30s at the time, had no wife and children. So, he travelled to the village, negotiated with his relatives on the need to allow him take one of the relatives in the village to watch over the house while he was away.

That is how a relative came to live in the house while the man was in South Africa.

Kapwepwe was infuriated when he learned that the man's return date was unknown.

Thus, infuriated, he broke into the house of the man responsible for Kapwepwe's pregnancy and smashed everything he could lay his hands on. The relative was there, overpowered and helpless.

It is the relative who reported to police and was nabbed. He started going to court in his district, before his wife died a year later. He found another wife from Ntcheu, and relocated to Ntcheu.

It's now clear what happened, but the case was transferred to Ntcheu. Two months later, he was back in court. Then, according to him, the files went missing.

He was ordered to be reporting to Ntcheu Police every fortnight until last year when he was told by one of the officers at Ntcheu Police that he should consider the case dropped. This, according to Kapwepwe, is because the man related to the man who impregnated Kapwepwe's daughter died in January last year.

Kapwepwe is having none of it.

"I want justice to be done. As far as I am concerned, I am still on trial. I want documented evidence showing that the case has been discontinued and I will sue the state," he said yesterday.

Zachimalawi would like to say: work on the system. Make it quick, I mean, justice. And less painful, if need be.

Malawi Government Shaming Itself on Hapless Eric Aniva

The Government of Malawi has been behaving like an African elephant that falls on a hapless grasshopper.

Look, the way it has treated Nsanje man Eric Aniva is, to say the least, heartless.

Even the Nsanje Magistrate Court should be ashamed of itself. How could it deny Aniva his right to bail? People have committed serious offences in this country and received court bail.

Why should Innocent Aniva be incarcerated for days on end, as if he went about raping and defiling women? The truth is that the man was paid to do whatever he did.

President Peter Mutharika acted out of emotions when he ordered that Aniva be arrested. He is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, yes; but he should not abuse his powers.

Just imagine, what would stop him from ordering the arrest of political opponents? The truth is that the President has set a very bad precedent and Malawians should not condone that.

I am, therefore, glad that, sensing danger, and that some people want to gain political mileage out of the hapless Aniva, the Malawi Law Society has come forward to represent him.

Yes, Malawi Law Society President, John Suzi Banda, has confirmed on Friday that the society has stepped in because, like any other citizen, Aniva has a right to a fair trail. Bravo the Malawi Law Society.

To say the truth, the Malawi Law Society has come in to challenge Mutharika's decision to order the arrest of innocent people, or those deemed to have 'wronged' the law.

The President may one day order the arrest of people who have done nothing wrong, save for differing with him on some issues, and we will have no moral justification to condemn the president.

Come to think of it, Aniva is HIV+. And, come to think of it, he is being peddled like a chicken for sale. And that is bad.

Who infected Aniva? It's definitely the women because, when you are a hyena, you do it without putting the rubber on.

And Hyena practice involves adults.

Is Aniva taking his ARVs now? The prison conditions in Malawi are horrible and it is a shame that the United Nations commended the continued incarceration of Aniva of these flimsy grounds.

Shame to human rights!

BRAVO, MR PRESIDENT!

For immediate release

August 5, 2016



Ministry of Information, Communication

Technology and Civic Education

Private Bag 310

Capital City

Lilongwe 3

Malawi

Tel: +265111770311

Fax: +265111774568



BRAVO, MR PRESIDENT!



Government wishes to thank the State President His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika for being a listening leader and arriving at a compromise with the University of Malawi students over fees.

We are proud that Malawi has a true democrat under whose leadership citizens are free to express themselves, including through demonstrations.

Government also wishes to commend the members of the Malawi Police Service who were in action yesterday for demonstrating yet again that we have a professional police service that has undertaken to respect the right of the people to demonstrate.

This is the kind of police service that His Excellency the President would like to see.

We also wish to thank Malawians for showing organisers of the demonstrations that they missed the point. The numbers were miserable because Malawians understand that any concerns need to be resolved by dialogue, and not politicising everything by going to the streets.

Government is aware that the organisers of the miserable demonstrations wanted to use University fees as an excuse to pursue a desperate agenda of mobilising a national political revolt. This has not worked. The movement has collapsed because Malawians are reasonable.

Listening to the sentiments of the organisers, their issues are scattered and they do not make sense. These are political machinations that wanted to chance a ride on the back of innocent University students. They have failed. Thank you the people of Malawi for rejecting blackmail.

As Government, we would like to ask any Malawian with concerns to present a credible agenda and we will attend to it.





PATRICIA A. KALIATI MP

GOVERNMENT SPOKERPERSON &

MINISTER OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY AND CIVIC EDUCATION



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