The words fell from his mouth like crumbs of a huge cake, smoothly and assuredly. But the message was bad nes to Malawian gays and lesbians.
Malawi's president, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, on Saturday made it clear that the country will not tolerate homosexuals.
Mutharika, speaking for the first time after donor pressue, described gays and lesbains as good-for-nothing fellows bent at crrupting "national morals".
"It does not make sense for a man to fall for another man, or woman to do likewise. The behavior stinks like cow dung," Mutharika said in Bantyre.
The president was speaking on the sidelines of the ordiantion of Fr. Montfort Sitima as the Auxiliary Bishop for Blantyre Arch-Diocese.
Malawi has recently been reeling from donor pressure to loosen the grip on homosexual rights, and let the people lead free lives.
But Mutharika has defied all that and stood for what he termed as "The moral high ground we all must strive to climb".
Currently, the country is trying Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza for organising the first ever gay wedding.
The case is being heard at the Blantyre Magistrates Court, where Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwausiwa is expected to make a ruling after submissions from the defense.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga have opted to keep quiet instead of entering their own defense. This is provided for under the Constitution of Malawi, where suspects are free to remain silent.
Norway, Germany, Britain and USA are leading the onslaught for Malawi to respect gay rights.
Other donors have gone to the extent of threatening to freeze aid.
But Mutharika said on Saturday he will stand firm, striking the cliche chord that Malawi is a sovereign state.
Information and Civic Education Minister, Reckford Thotho, has recently made it clear that the country will not waver on gay rights.
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Malawian Women in Trade Forgotten
……as gender activists put too much focus on politics
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Too much focus on politics by Malawian gender activists is reversing process elsewhere, topping the list for the forgotten being women in economics and trade.
The trend has over the past decade led into a notable decrease in women participation in trade and business policy formulation as well as capacity building, forcing observers to warn that such an over-look could prove too costly in future- as women in politics will one day have ambitions fulfilled while their counterparts in business start from square one.
Malawi is a signatory to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on gender, in which Heads of State and Government indicated their commitment to increasing women participation in politics and decision making through out the region by 30 per cent..
This came as a recognition of the fact that women in Africa face a myriad of challenges; ranging from deep-rooted cultural stereotypes to policy misplacement, mainly due to the absence of women during the crucial stages of policy formulation.
There, at Kwacha Conference Centre in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, Malawian gender activists were joined by their regional counterparts in singing a vernacular song:
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo,
Ine toto,
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo!
Meaning: No more turning back!!
Perhaps to women disenfranchisement and oppression. A strong message, also, against cultural stereotypes that force communities to look the other side when women are demanding what is due to them- their rights.
The song reverberated across Malawi, like a young bird that has just found its wings, bringing in a new hope hitherto unanticipated. Women were being emancipated from the yolks of folk-role, where they are largely depicted as kitchen-mongers and unpaid house guards, whose only pay is break fast, lunch and dinner. Not anymore.
Now, however, there is little to show for that 1997 meeting, as Malawi, host for the meeting, remains far off the mark towards achieving 30 per cent women representation, according to NGO Gender Coordination Chairperson Emma Kaliya.
The absence of women has been notable in trade policy fora and discussion task forces, where their participation, let alone presence, has albeit been pathetic.
The most recent one being the one organised by the Malawi Export Promotion Council (Mepc) in collaboration with the National Working Group on Trade Policy (NWGTC) held in Blantyre. Out of the 50-plus men present, there were only six women.
The development did not go unnoticed by economics and trade experts and policy makers.
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Too much focus on politics by Malawian gender activists is reversing process elsewhere, topping the list for the forgotten being women in economics and trade.
The trend has over the past decade led into a notable decrease in women participation in trade and business policy formulation as well as capacity building, forcing observers to warn that such an over-look could prove too costly in future- as women in politics will one day have ambitions fulfilled while their counterparts in business start from square one.
Malawi is a signatory to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on gender, in which Heads of State and Government indicated their commitment to increasing women participation in politics and decision making through out the region by 30 per cent..
This came as a recognition of the fact that women in Africa face a myriad of challenges; ranging from deep-rooted cultural stereotypes to policy misplacement, mainly due to the absence of women during the crucial stages of policy formulation.
There, at Kwacha Conference Centre in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, Malawian gender activists were joined by their regional counterparts in singing a vernacular song:
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo,
Ine toto,
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo!
Meaning: No more turning back!!
Perhaps to women disenfranchisement and oppression. A strong message, also, against cultural stereotypes that force communities to look the other side when women are demanding what is due to them- their rights.
The song reverberated across Malawi, like a young bird that has just found its wings, bringing in a new hope hitherto unanticipated. Women were being emancipated from the yolks of folk-role, where they are largely depicted as kitchen-mongers and unpaid house guards, whose only pay is break fast, lunch and dinner. Not anymore.
Now, however, there is little to show for that 1997 meeting, as Malawi, host for the meeting, remains far off the mark towards achieving 30 per cent women representation, according to NGO Gender Coordination Chairperson Emma Kaliya.
The absence of women has been notable in trade policy fora and discussion task forces, where their participation, let alone presence, has albeit been pathetic.
The most recent one being the one organised by the Malawi Export Promotion Council (Mepc) in collaboration with the National Working Group on Trade Policy (NWGTC) held in Blantyre. Out of the 50-plus men present, there were only six women.
The development did not go unnoticed by economics and trade experts and policy makers.
Women in trade forgotten
……as gender activists put too much focus on politics
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Too much focus on politics by Malawian gender activists is reversing process elsewhere, topping the list for the forgotten being women in economics and trade.
The trend has over the past decade led into a notable decrease in women participation in trade and business policy formulation as well as capacity building, forcing observers to warn that such an over-look could prove too costly in future- as women in politics will one day have ambitions fulfilled while their counterparts in business start from square one.
Malawi is a signatory to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on gender, in which Heads of State and Government indicated their commitment to increasing women participation in politics and decision making through out the region by 30 per cent..
This came as a recognition of the fact that women in Africa face a myriad of challenges; ranging from deep-rooted cultural stereotypes to policy misplacement, mainly due to the absence of women during the crucial stages of policy formulation.
There, at Kwacha Conference Centre in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, Malawian gender activists were joined by their regional counterparts in singing a vernacular song:
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo,
Ine toto,
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo!
Meaning: No more turning back!!
Perhaps to women disenfranchisement and oppression. A strong message, also, against cultural stereotypes that force communities to look the other side when women are demanding what is due to them- their rights.
The song reverberated across Malawi, like a young bird that has just found its wings, bringing in a new hope hitherto unanticipated. Women were being emancipated from the yolks of folk-role, where they are largely depicted as kitchen-mongers and unpaid house guards, whose only pay is break fast, lunch and dinner. Not anymore.
Now, however, there is little to show for that 1997 meeting, as Malawi, host for the meeting, remains far off the mark towards achieving 30 per cent women representation, according to NGO Gender Coordination Chairperson Emma Kaliya.
The absence of women has been notable in trade policy fora and discussion task forces, where their participation, let alone presence, has albeit been pathetic.
The most recent one being the one organised by the Malawi Export Promotion Council (Mepc) in collaboration with the National Working Group on Trade Policy (NWGTC) held in Blantyre. Out of the 50-plus men present, there were only six women.
The development did not go unnoticed by economics and trade experts and policy makers.
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Too much focus on politics by Malawian gender activists is reversing process elsewhere, topping the list for the forgotten being women in economics and trade.
The trend has over the past decade led into a notable decrease in women participation in trade and business policy formulation as well as capacity building, forcing observers to warn that such an over-look could prove too costly in future- as women in politics will one day have ambitions fulfilled while their counterparts in business start from square one.
Malawi is a signatory to the 1997 Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on gender, in which Heads of State and Government indicated their commitment to increasing women participation in politics and decision making through out the region by 30 per cent..
This came as a recognition of the fact that women in Africa face a myriad of challenges; ranging from deep-rooted cultural stereotypes to policy misplacement, mainly due to the absence of women during the crucial stages of policy formulation.
There, at Kwacha Conference Centre in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, Malawian gender activists were joined by their regional counterparts in singing a vernacular song:
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo,
Ine toto,
Ine toto,
Kubwerera m’mbuyo!
Meaning: No more turning back!!
Perhaps to women disenfranchisement and oppression. A strong message, also, against cultural stereotypes that force communities to look the other side when women are demanding what is due to them- their rights.
The song reverberated across Malawi, like a young bird that has just found its wings, bringing in a new hope hitherto unanticipated. Women were being emancipated from the yolks of folk-role, where they are largely depicted as kitchen-mongers and unpaid house guards, whose only pay is break fast, lunch and dinner. Not anymore.
Now, however, there is little to show for that 1997 meeting, as Malawi, host for the meeting, remains far off the mark towards achieving 30 per cent women representation, according to NGO Gender Coordination Chairperson Emma Kaliya.
The absence of women has been notable in trade policy fora and discussion task forces, where their participation, let alone presence, has albeit been pathetic.
The most recent one being the one organised by the Malawi Export Promotion Council (Mepc) in collaboration with the National Working Group on Trade Policy (NWGTC) held in Blantyre. Out of the 50-plus men present, there were only six women.
The development did not go unnoticed by economics and trade experts and policy makers.
ECAMA speaks on milk prices, economics, demand, supply
By Richard Chirombo
The Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) has spoken out on raw milk prices, saying prevailing trends, where processors bought the commodity from dairy farmers at much lower prices against the background of low production output, defied the economic principle of demand and supply.
The economics think tank, which carries out development policy research on economic issues to the public apart from analyzing, appraising and reviewing economic conditions in the country, said looking at the situation in Malawi milk producers deserved an improved take home package than is the case.
Ecama President, Thomas Munthali, said in an interview the principle of demand and supply dictated that, when there is high demand for a commodity- which happens when demand exceeds supply- commodity prices rose.
“It is an automatic issue that when supply is low and demand high, commodity prices go up. But what is happening in the milk industry is difficult to understand because prices are low against a commodity whose production is said to be relatively low as compared to demand and consumption,” said Munthali.
The country’s milk yield is currently pegged at eight litres, a development that has had some negative impacts on milk consumption. On average, the Malawian drinks five litres of milk per year.
However, Director of Animal Health and Livestock Development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Wilfred Lipita, has expressed high hopes the precarious situation could be overcome. He said the dairy industry had registered a 15 per cent growth rate since 2001
Lipita attributed such growth to the resuscitation of the once run down extension services system, and livestock multiplication centres.
“But production and consumption remain very low. It is government’s plan to double the milk production levels for each cow from eight litres to 15 in the next five years, as well as increasing the number of cross breeds we are producing from 150 per year to 5, 000 per year to meet the high demand for dairy cattle,” said Lipita.
Munthali said, against such a background, it would only be fair to say current raw milk prices were below par and defied the economic principle of demand and supply.
Raw milk used to fetch K68 before June 1. Now milk processors say they will be buying it at K50 per litre.
This development has not gone down well with Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) President, Phillimon Kapinji. He said the recent development could set the dairy farming industry on a downward spiral, and may lead into the collapse of the industry.
“This is a very sad development and, if government- through the Ministry of Industry and Trade- does not come to our rescue, it may spell the collapse of dairy farming in Malawi . The poor farmer will get nothing for his toil with the reduction in raw milk buying prices.
MMPA has a membership of 6, 000 dairy farmers- 2000 (more dairy farmers) above the estimated Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security figure of 4,000 farmers.
While the Ministry also says the industry has grown at a rate of 15 per cent, Kapinji says was growing (among the MMPA membership) at 30 per cent.
According to the producers, Malawi was now producing 40, 000 litres a day, and had claimed, in 2008 alone, 26 per cent of market share against a back ground of increased, cheap imports. But Kapinji said this was still lower if Malawi was to improve its per capita milk consumption levels and thus the need for better prices from processors.
The Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) has spoken out on raw milk prices, saying prevailing trends, where processors bought the commodity from dairy farmers at much lower prices against the background of low production output, defied the economic principle of demand and supply.
The economics think tank, which carries out development policy research on economic issues to the public apart from analyzing, appraising and reviewing economic conditions in the country, said looking at the situation in Malawi milk producers deserved an improved take home package than is the case.
Ecama President, Thomas Munthali, said in an interview the principle of demand and supply dictated that, when there is high demand for a commodity- which happens when demand exceeds supply- commodity prices rose.
“It is an automatic issue that when supply is low and demand high, commodity prices go up. But what is happening in the milk industry is difficult to understand because prices are low against a commodity whose production is said to be relatively low as compared to demand and consumption,” said Munthali.
The country’s milk yield is currently pegged at eight litres, a development that has had some negative impacts on milk consumption. On average, the Malawian drinks five litres of milk per year.
However, Director of Animal Health and Livestock Development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Wilfred Lipita, has expressed high hopes the precarious situation could be overcome. He said the dairy industry had registered a 15 per cent growth rate since 2001
Lipita attributed such growth to the resuscitation of the once run down extension services system, and livestock multiplication centres.
“But production and consumption remain very low. It is government’s plan to double the milk production levels for each cow from eight litres to 15 in the next five years, as well as increasing the number of cross breeds we are producing from 150 per year to 5, 000 per year to meet the high demand for dairy cattle,” said Lipita.
Munthali said, against such a background, it would only be fair to say current raw milk prices were below par and defied the economic principle of demand and supply.
Raw milk used to fetch K68 before June 1. Now milk processors say they will be buying it at K50 per litre.
This development has not gone down well with Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) President, Phillimon Kapinji. He said the recent development could set the dairy farming industry on a downward spiral, and may lead into the collapse of the industry.
“This is a very sad development and, if government- through the Ministry of Industry and Trade- does not come to our rescue, it may spell the collapse of dairy farming in Malawi . The poor farmer will get nothing for his toil with the reduction in raw milk buying prices.
MMPA has a membership of 6, 000 dairy farmers- 2000 (more dairy farmers) above the estimated Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security figure of 4,000 farmers.
While the Ministry also says the industry has grown at a rate of 15 per cent, Kapinji says was growing (among the MMPA membership) at 30 per cent.
According to the producers, Malawi was now producing 40, 000 litres a day, and had claimed, in 2008 alone, 26 per cent of market share against a back ground of increased, cheap imports. But Kapinji said this was still lower if Malawi was to improve its per capita milk consumption levels and thus the need for better prices from processors.
Dairy farming: The toils and sweat of raising ‘living banks’
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Less than 15 people- apparently, unelected officials of the people- sat down in some tiny Blantyre board room a couple of months ago. Their duty: to decide, without public mandate, whatsoever, the future and income-destiny of 4, 000 Malawians who eke their living by feeding dairy animals so the animals may in turn churn out the ‘waters of cash’- milk- and contribute towards the growth of the country’s dairy industry.
Coffee and milk exchanged hands in that board room, rife with smiling faces and hand shakes. Then, the smiling faces came out, wearing the mask of sad news, to declare some irrevocable decision to 4000 people who feed the nation through that nutritious drink milk.
“From June 1, 2009, the buying price for raw milk from local farmers will change from K68 per litre to………..” there was some chuckling noise- apparently in anticipation of good news, by milk producer groups- including Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association of Malawi (Shimpa) and Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) whose Chairperson and President, respectively, is Phillimon Kapinji.
Willard Aaron Khungwa, and Phillimon Madukani Phiri, Chairperson and Financial Manager for Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group, respectively, would have jumped in a parachute of excitement over the, apparently, imminent ‘good’ news- like all other people at Chandamale Milk Bulking Group, also in Bvumbwe, Thyolo, and other parts of Malawi. Adjustments in buying prices, though very welcome, rarely come handy for milk producers.
“K50.” Silence.
It was a reduction and not adjustment as anticipated by milk producers, a decision that has shocked farmers.
That (silence), too, was the mood when milk producers met in Blantyre Friday, under the armpit of Shimpa, to discuss about the new development.
“It will affect dairy farmers. A lot goes into feeding the animals, milking, and medication that even the K68 per litre buying price for raw milk was hardly enough to meet the needs of the poor farmer,” said Kapinji a day later at his base in Thyolo (Bvumbwe).
He adds: “Otherwise, there is no future for dairy farming in Malawi .”
Kapinji said increased imports of milk products, especially from European countries, where dairy farmers have their running and production costs “massively” subsidized, were chocking local industry because such products often attracted cheap prices on the local market. This has meant increased production costs for local milk products’ processors and influenced their recent decision to reduce raw milk buying prices from farmers.
His statement sounds very much like what Dairiboard Managing Director, Theodora Nyamandi, said about production costs. She bemoaned the high production costs in the country saying they were impinging on local companies’ capacity. Last week she was reported to be outside the country to give a refreshed view.
Kapinji has his suggestions on reducing the impact of foreign milk products on local production: The current taxation regime for products from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa region be increased from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent; special permits should be required for foreign manufacturers to export their products to Malawi; a 10 per cent (foreign) quota be imposed on European products so that the remaining 90 per cent market share is restricted for domestic milk processors.
But, according to Malawi Economic Justice Network Executive Director, Andrew Kumbatira, that would be against international trade protocols that advocate for free and fair trade. To Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director, John Kapito, it would be tantamount to gagging consumer choices.
When there are so many products to choose from, products’ prices tend to be cheap; when there are few options available, the consumer is pushed from left to right by powerful manufacturers, he says.
However, Kapinji banks on the Ministry of Industry and Trade. He urges the ministry to come to the rescue of local dairy farmers and the processing industry, which rests on continued milk supply from farmers.
He blames the reduction in raw milk buying prices (by processors) not on the processors; the system. He wants the once tight control measures to be back, replete with strategies and mechanisms that shelter the local dairy farmer from market shocks- a form of social security measure for their toil and sweat.
Processors of milk products- led by Suncrest Crimaries and Dairibord, among others- announced recently they would reduce buying prices for raw milk from K68 to K50 effective June 1. The processors say the influx of foreign milk products, both for fresh and powdered milk, had resulted into lack stocks of locally processed milk returning from the market.
This is said to have affected he performance of local industry players.
Back ground of dairy industry in Malawi
The country’s economy depends on agriculture, in which 90 per cent of the population is said to be involved in agriculture at some stage, in some way. With an average land holding size of 1.5 ha. Agriculture experts have tended to put much emphasis on increased production per hector while policies on livestock are directed towards self-sufficiency in all livestock products, and the export of any surpluses that may arise.
The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS; 2006-2011) goal on agriculture, for instance, is to increase the share of smallholder farmers from 23.6per cent to 34.9 per cent, as well as increasing the trade volumes for agricultural products.
According to Wilfred Lipita, Director for the Department of Animal Heath and Livestock Development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, this goal was being met. He said the country had witnessed an increased number of dairy farmers because it had revamped the once-down-and-out extension systems infrastructure.
The country, however, suffers from insufficiency in milk production, a development that has attracted target specific interventions from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and that of Economic Development.
Efforts aimed at developing the dairy industry in Malawi date back to as early as 1970 when Food and Agriculture Organisation (Fao), through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), initiated a programme that focused on improving productivity of dairy cows under smallholder farms. It focused on the use of agro-products as a concentrate source in a bid to provide fresh milk for the increasing population; reduce importation of milk by-products; and provide an alternative means of income for farmers hither to used to cultivating maize.
The majority of farms established then used liberal amounts of a mixture of maize bran, and dried leucaena leaves were being fed to cows, while the majority of farms used maize bran. All cows were confined to stalls as a means of conserving energy, for easy detection of heat and to avoid contact with local Malawi Zebu bulls, according to a report from the then Department of Animal Health and Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The system of confining dairy animals to stalls continues to date as a means of preventing diseases and contact with the Malawi Zebu.
The Fao and UNDP dairy farming initiative saw 1200 farmers from Blantyre , Lilongwe and Mzuzu being given ½ Friesian crosses. Records were then kept from 1973 to 1984, and data sent to the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) which analyzed it to compare the important reproductive and productive traits; measured the influence of environment, including years and season; assessed the suitability of various crosses to the different agricultural areas in the country and; determined the trends in dairy production.
The development helped agricultural researchers in coming up with the right breeds and crosses for Malawi . It covered Blantyre South, Blantyre North, Chiradzulu, Thyolo North, Mulanje West and Zomba, and used ½ Friesian or ¾ Friesian breeds.
Agricultural area, breed group, year of calving and area by breed interaction had a significant effect on total lactation milk yield, with high total milk yields in Zomba and Thyolo North (where most of the farmers who make up Shimpa are located and continue to practice dairy farming). The Ministry of Agriculture report attributes this to the general availability of animal feed throughout the year and because most farmers were new to dairy farming and were prepared to accept new innovations from extension workers more readily than their counterparts who had long time experience with the Malawi Zebu.
“These people resisted the idea that crossbred cows should be managed differently. In addition, smallholder operations were first started in Thyolo North and farmers in that area had gained more experience in handling crossbred cows than farmers elsewhere,” reads the ‘Productivity of Dairy Cows under Smallholder Farms Using Agro-by-products as a Concentrate Source’ report in part.
It adds that common feeds included Urea, cottonseed cake, Molasses, Maize bran, Monocalcium phosphate, salt, maize, groundnuts cake, wheat middlings and Dicalcium minerals, products Kapinji said had become too expensive for the local farmer, now faced with reduced raw milk supply prices.
Ministry of Agriculture analyses current situation
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security says it has been trying hard to improve the dairy farming environment in the country, with much emphasis on increasing production and good management systems.
Wilfred Lipita, Director for the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development- an arm of the ministry- said in an exclusive interview Friday dairy farming was growing at an average rate of 15 per cent since 2001, resulting into increased dairy animals and milk production per cow.
The country had 17, 000 dairy animals in 2001. Now the figure has gone up to 38, 000, and Lipita says the development comes in the wake of increased efforts towards revamping the industry and improved security that farmers no longer look behind their backs.
“Currently, the average milk yield per cow each day is 8 litres. This means we are now producing over 34, 000 metric tonnes of milk annually. If you multiply the 34, 000 times 1, 000, you will discover that Malawi is producing millions of litres of milk each year.
“Government has put in place facilities, strategies and the necessary infrastructure to develop the industry: We now have Livestock Multiplication Centres, which are producing dairy crosses for sale to farmers that, in 2008, we managed to produce 150 dairy cows which have already been sold to farmers owing to the huge demand for dairy cattle; we have put in place measures aimed at improving the number of breeds produced every year to 500; and are providing extension services to dairy farmers to increase production and improve on their animal husbandry practices,” said Lipita.
He added: “You may wish to remember that the Animal Multiplication Centres nearly collapsed some years ago. We have revamped them and are now working. We are also working on the low milk consumption problem; we think it emanates from poor husbandry practices, resulting into inadequate production. Let our farmers realize that there is money in dairy farming because dairy animals are ‘moving banks’; they are ATMs (Auto teller Machines) one merely needs to feed and take good care of.”
Lipita said milk products also had the “healing power” to change the social-economic and nutritious status of Malawians, saying that was the reason government initiated the Dairy Development Project. This is a self-funded (Malawi Government) initiative aimed at improving fortunes in the dairy sector.
During the 2007/08 fiscal year, government provided K120 million for implementation of the project, a working figure that increased to K150 million during implementation of the 2008/09 national budget. Lipita said the ministry also expected K150 million in this year’s to 2010 budget. The budget is yet to be passed, as the country’s new fiscal year takes effect from July1.
He said they expected to increase efforts towards encouraging good housing, feeding mechanisms, disease control and pasture production among the country’s 4000 dairy farmers. Lipita advised farmers against dipping their dairy flock in any other tank, as that would compromise milk quality.
He said farmers should only dip dairy animals in special tanks, as dipping at any other place would increase the chances of milk contamination. Normally, he said, animals are not supposed to be milked for one to two days once dipped in undesignated dips to reduce the hazardous risk of poisoning consumers.
Asked to comment on the issue of pricing, Lipita said pricing remained a contentious issue, one that could be tackled by increasing production because farmers would not feel the hard pinch of low buying prices if they produced more. They would still live above the poverty line, he maintained.
“The issue of marketing is a complicated one. I understand that milk processors, who were buying raw milk at around K68, now want to reduce the buying price. There is need to come up with an amicable system where the needs of the consumer, processor and producer have to be reconciled. There are many people, already, who don’t drink milk; so, if we increase final product prices, it may affect the consumer, If we increase the (raw milk) buying price, the processor will push over that cost to the consumer as they would still want to get something out of the business that, in the end, this remains a complicated issue,” said Lipita.
He said, meanwhile, dairy farmers needed to increase production to curtail some of the effects because that would translate into negligible implications on their living standards.
“In fact, they will move out of poverty because, if one sells eight litres a day, that would be K400 and well above the poverty line. Let’s work together to bring a solution to this, that is to say farmers, consumers and processors,” he added.
Producers speak out: Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group
Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group (BMBG) is a grouping of dairy farmers formed in 1973, a living effort of the Fao/UNDP initiative of long. It has, in the words of the group’s Finance Manager, Phillimon Madukani Phiri, a group of farmers who depend entirely on milk.
There are 575 members for the group, with 350 of them supplying milk on daily basis.
“Milk is the life of many people here. Any problems in prices and wastage of raw milk affect them greatly, to the extent that some of them fail to pay school fees for their dependants,” says Madukani Phiri.
Yet, this group- of small, rural farmers who can hardly afford the demands of life without milk- has lost K1.3 million from May 15 to May29.
“Our buyer (one of the big milk processing companies in the country; name withheld) reduced the amount of milk we supply to them, saying we were supplying too much milk. Yet this is the same country where they say milk consumption and production is low: where is the logic? Our storage facilities (two) keep 3.200 litres of raw milk daily, ready to supply to our buyer,’ he said.
May19, 2009 came as any other day. The two cooling facilities (sorry; one- Madukani Phiri claims the other one got damaged after one of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi’s (Escom) power black outs. K200, 000 is needed to get it repaired by the poor farmers as Escom has refused to shoulder the blame) were filled to the brim when, from nowhere, the processor came and said he would take only 2200 litres.
“1, 000 litres of milk went bad that day. Sadly, the trend has continued to date (May29, day of the interview at Bvumbwe. This means we have lost a whooping K1.3 million, small as we are and made up of farmers who entirely depend on milk for a living,” said Madukani Phiri, visibly a perturbed man.
He was a bit confused because, to shape up to the new development of a quota, he has to decide as to whose milk should be sold (as part of the 2200 litres the processor says will be buying, leaving 1, 000 litres for the flies) and whose (milk) should not.
“That is difficult. This is a group, and groups don’t work like that. We are losing a lot of milk and dairy farmers are complaining because that is money to them, It is school fees and fertilizer. To see their efforts wasted like that could have dire consequences for the dairy industry and, the time these processors would wish us to improve production, the industry will have been destroyed. How do we tell farmers we will only use milk from 150 of you and not all of you?”
Coming at a time processors and policymakers were saying milk production and consumption remained low per capita, the development is a jig saw puzzle to many farmers in Bvumbwe. You can see milk flowing, around the Police roadblock, as women resort to selling raw milk at K250 per 5 litre bottle.
Madukani Phiri challenges everybody that farmers in Bvumbwe have the capacity to deliver on any demand for milk, disputing sentiments milk production was low. He said milk production was now so overwhelming that processors had introduced quotas on milk producers, a development blamed on imported, cheap milk products.
That Friday afternoon, May29, a group of people were seen flocking to Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group. During the day, there were not many customers who flocked to the group’s sales’ office to buy own-processed milk- why now?
“They know that some of the milk has gone bad and can not be sold to processors, and want to lay their hands on it for home consumption.”
As it turned out, some brought tins, others 5 litre bottles. Only that the watchman also said he wanted alittle bit, so he warned people against taking from his basin.
That is a sad end that has become part of the story since May19, as 1000 litres of milk produced by largely-impoverished farmers goes bad daily, and others see lack in that misfortune. A new breed of milk drinkers has been created at Bvumbwe!
“We really need help; the introduction of quotas by milk processors will affect many people and affect dairy farming,” says Madukani Phiri, now in the milk cooling room where one equipment no longer works, pointing at the five melting ice blocks. They have taken the task of electricity.
Quotas threaten milk production
The Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) has bemoaned the introduction of quotas by milk processors, saying the new trend would stifle growth in the industry.
Phillimon Kapinji, MMPA President, said in an exclusive interview the development went against well-researched findings that have revealed glaring disparities in milk production and consumption in the country.
Kapinji said the development would affect the 4000 farmers who earn their living through milk production.
“There is no basis for that, really. When have we started producing so much milk as to introduce quotas? Bulking groups have been heavily affected by this,” said Kapinji.
He said there was need for government’s intervention, adding MMPA had already started negotiations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and that of Agriculture.
“Much as we understand that local suppliers are being outdone by cheap milk imports from the European Union and other Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa countries, introducing quotas will only disenfranchise and kill the industry,” he said.
He urged government to introduce mechanisms aimed at controlling the “overwhelming influx” of powdered milk imports, and make sure the percentage of imports made up for only 10 per cent of local market share so that the remaining 90 per cent (market share) is reserved for local milk producers and processors,” said Kapinji.
Kapinji, however, contradicted with Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security statistics over the number of dairy farmers in Malawi . He said his organisation had 6, 000 registered farmers- a development he said signified growth of the industry.
He said dairy farmers stood a better chance of resolving their problems and challenges if they formed associations related to their cause. He said working in groups had so many benefits, including bulk buying of animal feed, supply bonuses and continued flow of income as other members came to the rescue of each other in times of financial inadequacy.
History of dairy farmers groups
The establishment of milk bulking groups came after the early efforts to develop dairy farming in Malawi , carried out in the early 1970s.
Kapinji, who is Chairperson for the Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (Shimpa) and President for the Malawi Milk Producers Association, said bulking groups arose when the number of farmers started to increase, and the need for a more common, authoritative voice emerged.
“These groups have since grown tremendously. There are several advantages: people work together; have a steady market as processors also want to be assured of continued supply and opt for groups other than individuals; they receive volume bonus, when they keep steady milk supply; and buy animal feed at wholesale prices, and reduce the costs incurred in rearing animals,” said Kapinji.
He said solving problems, such as the recent introduction of quotas, was also easy when farmers used one voice to air out their concerns.
Other groups include Dwale, Chandamale, Thunga, and Bvucco Community Based Organisation for Dairy Goats in Thyolo and Kalikwe Milk Buking Group in Dedza. Bvumbwe groups have benefited from the Agricultural Research and Development Programme’s initiative- the Dairy Entrepreneurship Project (Kukweza bizinezi yamkaka) meant to improve prospects in the sector. The One Village One Product initiative also works with people in groups, dairy farmers being some of the beneficiaries in Thyolo.
Through the Bvumbwe Milk Processing Unit, farmers have learnt improved farming practices that could as well compliment Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s projections to improve daily milk production per cow by double in five years’ time.
Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group is the biggest in Malawi , with 575 members.
“That is why we are currently discussing with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as that of Agriculture on various issues pertaining to the industry and how we can help improve things,” he said.
That was the reason, he added, Shimpa had many members. The association has 23 bulking groups in Blantyre , Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Zomba and Neno, while MMPA has members in all milk producing districts of the country.
We want better conditions, farmers say
Bvumbwe farmers have asked for improved conditions in the dairy industry, saying they were getting almost nothing out of their sweat and were leaving on the fringe of life’s basics.
Rhoda Solomon, 56, a dairy farmer with two cows, said she had a dream during her tender years: she wanted be able to take care of her children, meet her daily needs without too much dependency on her husband and to lead a comfortable life.
She thought dairy farming would be the route towards her destiny-dreams.
“I have managed to achieve some of these but am still struggling to break through the hard barrier to comfortable life. There is money in dairy business but things are not going on well, especially on prices,” said Solomon, as she joined other women farmers gathered at Bvumbwe football ground in preparation for World Milk Day on June1.
She wanted milk processors to increase buying prices for raw milk; a wish likely to end in disappointment as processors have reduced buying prices effective June1.
Only one of her three cows is being milked at the moment, giving her 10 litres of milk every day. That was K680 Kwacha daily before the price reductions-she will now make do with K500. This is against the K7, 200 she uses to buy the four 50KG maize husks bags she uses per month, among other inputs.
“We need improvements in prices so that we may be able meet other daily needs. Money from milk is not meant to be channeled into milk production only,” said the woman farmer from Tayale Village in the area of Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo.
Her sentiments were echoed by John Damiano, 55, from Gunde Village , T/A Bvumbwe, Thyolo and Jason Binali, 54, from the same village. The fathers of 10 and 3 children, respectively, said they spend more on production inputs that what they got in return did not meet their daily requirements.
The two have two and seven dairy cows respectively, which they said made the “burden” of animal feed cumbersome.
“I need three bags of maize bran every month at K1800, 3 bags for Cowpeas husks at K1, 800 and medication costs. I can’t meet all these requirements with the money I get; the processors would have increased the price to K70 or K80,” said Damiano, surprised at the news they would, in fact, reduce the buying prices.
On the other hand. Binali said he only engaged in dairy farming to meet his dairy needs, but could not invest in anything because the proceeds he got from rearing milk yielding animals were not sufficient to meet other needs.
“In fact I have always wanted to channel some of the proceeds I make from dairy farming towards other equally-befitting ventures like opening up a grocery. I can’t, unless the processors increase the prices for buying from us. They make more money than us, the real farmers,” said Binali.
Less than 15 people- apparently, unelected officials of the people- sat down in some tiny Blantyre board room a couple of months ago. Their duty: to decide, without public mandate, whatsoever, the future and income-destiny of 4, 000 Malawians who eke their living by feeding dairy animals so the animals may in turn churn out the ‘waters of cash’- milk- and contribute towards the growth of the country’s dairy industry.
Coffee and milk exchanged hands in that board room, rife with smiling faces and hand shakes. Then, the smiling faces came out, wearing the mask of sad news, to declare some irrevocable decision to 4000 people who feed the nation through that nutritious drink milk.
“From June 1, 2009, the buying price for raw milk from local farmers will change from K68 per litre to………..” there was some chuckling noise- apparently in anticipation of good news, by milk producer groups- including Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association of Malawi (Shimpa) and Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) whose Chairperson and President, respectively, is Phillimon Kapinji.
Willard Aaron Khungwa, and Phillimon Madukani Phiri, Chairperson and Financial Manager for Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group, respectively, would have jumped in a parachute of excitement over the, apparently, imminent ‘good’ news- like all other people at Chandamale Milk Bulking Group, also in Bvumbwe, Thyolo, and other parts of Malawi. Adjustments in buying prices, though very welcome, rarely come handy for milk producers.
“K50.” Silence.
It was a reduction and not adjustment as anticipated by milk producers, a decision that has shocked farmers.
That (silence), too, was the mood when milk producers met in Blantyre Friday, under the armpit of Shimpa, to discuss about the new development.
“It will affect dairy farmers. A lot goes into feeding the animals, milking, and medication that even the K68 per litre buying price for raw milk was hardly enough to meet the needs of the poor farmer,” said Kapinji a day later at his base in Thyolo (Bvumbwe).
He adds: “Otherwise, there is no future for dairy farming in Malawi .”
Kapinji said increased imports of milk products, especially from European countries, where dairy farmers have their running and production costs “massively” subsidized, were chocking local industry because such products often attracted cheap prices on the local market. This has meant increased production costs for local milk products’ processors and influenced their recent decision to reduce raw milk buying prices from farmers.
His statement sounds very much like what Dairiboard Managing Director, Theodora Nyamandi, said about production costs. She bemoaned the high production costs in the country saying they were impinging on local companies’ capacity. Last week she was reported to be outside the country to give a refreshed view.
Kapinji has his suggestions on reducing the impact of foreign milk products on local production: The current taxation regime for products from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa region be increased from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent; special permits should be required for foreign manufacturers to export their products to Malawi; a 10 per cent (foreign) quota be imposed on European products so that the remaining 90 per cent market share is restricted for domestic milk processors.
But, according to Malawi Economic Justice Network Executive Director, Andrew Kumbatira, that would be against international trade protocols that advocate for free and fair trade. To Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director, John Kapito, it would be tantamount to gagging consumer choices.
When there are so many products to choose from, products’ prices tend to be cheap; when there are few options available, the consumer is pushed from left to right by powerful manufacturers, he says.
However, Kapinji banks on the Ministry of Industry and Trade. He urges the ministry to come to the rescue of local dairy farmers and the processing industry, which rests on continued milk supply from farmers.
He blames the reduction in raw milk buying prices (by processors) not on the processors; the system. He wants the once tight control measures to be back, replete with strategies and mechanisms that shelter the local dairy farmer from market shocks- a form of social security measure for their toil and sweat.
Processors of milk products- led by Suncrest Crimaries and Dairibord, among others- announced recently they would reduce buying prices for raw milk from K68 to K50 effective June 1. The processors say the influx of foreign milk products, both for fresh and powdered milk, had resulted into lack stocks of locally processed milk returning from the market.
This is said to have affected he performance of local industry players.
Back ground of dairy industry in Malawi
The country’s economy depends on agriculture, in which 90 per cent of the population is said to be involved in agriculture at some stage, in some way. With an average land holding size of 1.5 ha. Agriculture experts have tended to put much emphasis on increased production per hector while policies on livestock are directed towards self-sufficiency in all livestock products, and the export of any surpluses that may arise.
The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS; 2006-2011) goal on agriculture, for instance, is to increase the share of smallholder farmers from 23.6per cent to 34.9 per cent, as well as increasing the trade volumes for agricultural products.
According to Wilfred Lipita, Director for the Department of Animal Heath and Livestock Development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, this goal was being met. He said the country had witnessed an increased number of dairy farmers because it had revamped the once-down-and-out extension systems infrastructure.
The country, however, suffers from insufficiency in milk production, a development that has attracted target specific interventions from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and that of Economic Development.
Efforts aimed at developing the dairy industry in Malawi date back to as early as 1970 when Food and Agriculture Organisation (Fao), through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), initiated a programme that focused on improving productivity of dairy cows under smallholder farms. It focused on the use of agro-products as a concentrate source in a bid to provide fresh milk for the increasing population; reduce importation of milk by-products; and provide an alternative means of income for farmers hither to used to cultivating maize.
The majority of farms established then used liberal amounts of a mixture of maize bran, and dried leucaena leaves were being fed to cows, while the majority of farms used maize bran. All cows were confined to stalls as a means of conserving energy, for easy detection of heat and to avoid contact with local Malawi Zebu bulls, according to a report from the then Department of Animal Health and Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The system of confining dairy animals to stalls continues to date as a means of preventing diseases and contact with the Malawi Zebu.
The Fao and UNDP dairy farming initiative saw 1200 farmers from Blantyre , Lilongwe and Mzuzu being given ½ Friesian crosses. Records were then kept from 1973 to 1984, and data sent to the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) which analyzed it to compare the important reproductive and productive traits; measured the influence of environment, including years and season; assessed the suitability of various crosses to the different agricultural areas in the country and; determined the trends in dairy production.
The development helped agricultural researchers in coming up with the right breeds and crosses for Malawi . It covered Blantyre South, Blantyre North, Chiradzulu, Thyolo North, Mulanje West and Zomba, and used ½ Friesian or ¾ Friesian breeds.
Agricultural area, breed group, year of calving and area by breed interaction had a significant effect on total lactation milk yield, with high total milk yields in Zomba and Thyolo North (where most of the farmers who make up Shimpa are located and continue to practice dairy farming). The Ministry of Agriculture report attributes this to the general availability of animal feed throughout the year and because most farmers were new to dairy farming and were prepared to accept new innovations from extension workers more readily than their counterparts who had long time experience with the Malawi Zebu.
“These people resisted the idea that crossbred cows should be managed differently. In addition, smallholder operations were first started in Thyolo North and farmers in that area had gained more experience in handling crossbred cows than farmers elsewhere,” reads the ‘Productivity of Dairy Cows under Smallholder Farms Using Agro-by-products as a Concentrate Source’ report in part.
It adds that common feeds included Urea, cottonseed cake, Molasses, Maize bran, Monocalcium phosphate, salt, maize, groundnuts cake, wheat middlings and Dicalcium minerals, products Kapinji said had become too expensive for the local farmer, now faced with reduced raw milk supply prices.
Ministry of Agriculture analyses current situation
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security says it has been trying hard to improve the dairy farming environment in the country, with much emphasis on increasing production and good management systems.
Wilfred Lipita, Director for the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development- an arm of the ministry- said in an exclusive interview Friday dairy farming was growing at an average rate of 15 per cent since 2001, resulting into increased dairy animals and milk production per cow.
The country had 17, 000 dairy animals in 2001. Now the figure has gone up to 38, 000, and Lipita says the development comes in the wake of increased efforts towards revamping the industry and improved security that farmers no longer look behind their backs.
“Currently, the average milk yield per cow each day is 8 litres. This means we are now producing over 34, 000 metric tonnes of milk annually. If you multiply the 34, 000 times 1, 000, you will discover that Malawi is producing millions of litres of milk each year.
“Government has put in place facilities, strategies and the necessary infrastructure to develop the industry: We now have Livestock Multiplication Centres, which are producing dairy crosses for sale to farmers that, in 2008, we managed to produce 150 dairy cows which have already been sold to farmers owing to the huge demand for dairy cattle; we have put in place measures aimed at improving the number of breeds produced every year to 500; and are providing extension services to dairy farmers to increase production and improve on their animal husbandry practices,” said Lipita.
He added: “You may wish to remember that the Animal Multiplication Centres nearly collapsed some years ago. We have revamped them and are now working. We are also working on the low milk consumption problem; we think it emanates from poor husbandry practices, resulting into inadequate production. Let our farmers realize that there is money in dairy farming because dairy animals are ‘moving banks’; they are ATMs (Auto teller Machines) one merely needs to feed and take good care of.”
Lipita said milk products also had the “healing power” to change the social-economic and nutritious status of Malawians, saying that was the reason government initiated the Dairy Development Project. This is a self-funded (Malawi Government) initiative aimed at improving fortunes in the dairy sector.
During the 2007/08 fiscal year, government provided K120 million for implementation of the project, a working figure that increased to K150 million during implementation of the 2008/09 national budget. Lipita said the ministry also expected K150 million in this year’s to 2010 budget. The budget is yet to be passed, as the country’s new fiscal year takes effect from July1.
He said they expected to increase efforts towards encouraging good housing, feeding mechanisms, disease control and pasture production among the country’s 4000 dairy farmers. Lipita advised farmers against dipping their dairy flock in any other tank, as that would compromise milk quality.
He said farmers should only dip dairy animals in special tanks, as dipping at any other place would increase the chances of milk contamination. Normally, he said, animals are not supposed to be milked for one to two days once dipped in undesignated dips to reduce the hazardous risk of poisoning consumers.
Asked to comment on the issue of pricing, Lipita said pricing remained a contentious issue, one that could be tackled by increasing production because farmers would not feel the hard pinch of low buying prices if they produced more. They would still live above the poverty line, he maintained.
“The issue of marketing is a complicated one. I understand that milk processors, who were buying raw milk at around K68, now want to reduce the buying price. There is need to come up with an amicable system where the needs of the consumer, processor and producer have to be reconciled. There are many people, already, who don’t drink milk; so, if we increase final product prices, it may affect the consumer, If we increase the (raw milk) buying price, the processor will push over that cost to the consumer as they would still want to get something out of the business that, in the end, this remains a complicated issue,” said Lipita.
He said, meanwhile, dairy farmers needed to increase production to curtail some of the effects because that would translate into negligible implications on their living standards.
“In fact, they will move out of poverty because, if one sells eight litres a day, that would be K400 and well above the poverty line. Let’s work together to bring a solution to this, that is to say farmers, consumers and processors,” he added.
Producers speak out: Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group
Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group (BMBG) is a grouping of dairy farmers formed in 1973, a living effort of the Fao/UNDP initiative of long. It has, in the words of the group’s Finance Manager, Phillimon Madukani Phiri, a group of farmers who depend entirely on milk.
There are 575 members for the group, with 350 of them supplying milk on daily basis.
“Milk is the life of many people here. Any problems in prices and wastage of raw milk affect them greatly, to the extent that some of them fail to pay school fees for their dependants,” says Madukani Phiri.
Yet, this group- of small, rural farmers who can hardly afford the demands of life without milk- has lost K1.3 million from May 15 to May29.
“Our buyer (one of the big milk processing companies in the country; name withheld) reduced the amount of milk we supply to them, saying we were supplying too much milk. Yet this is the same country where they say milk consumption and production is low: where is the logic? Our storage facilities (two) keep 3.200 litres of raw milk daily, ready to supply to our buyer,’ he said.
May19, 2009 came as any other day. The two cooling facilities (sorry; one- Madukani Phiri claims the other one got damaged after one of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi’s (Escom) power black outs. K200, 000 is needed to get it repaired by the poor farmers as Escom has refused to shoulder the blame) were filled to the brim when, from nowhere, the processor came and said he would take only 2200 litres.
“1, 000 litres of milk went bad that day. Sadly, the trend has continued to date (May29, day of the interview at Bvumbwe. This means we have lost a whooping K1.3 million, small as we are and made up of farmers who entirely depend on milk for a living,” said Madukani Phiri, visibly a perturbed man.
He was a bit confused because, to shape up to the new development of a quota, he has to decide as to whose milk should be sold (as part of the 2200 litres the processor says will be buying, leaving 1, 000 litres for the flies) and whose (milk) should not.
“That is difficult. This is a group, and groups don’t work like that. We are losing a lot of milk and dairy farmers are complaining because that is money to them, It is school fees and fertilizer. To see their efforts wasted like that could have dire consequences for the dairy industry and, the time these processors would wish us to improve production, the industry will have been destroyed. How do we tell farmers we will only use milk from 150 of you and not all of you?”
Coming at a time processors and policymakers were saying milk production and consumption remained low per capita, the development is a jig saw puzzle to many farmers in Bvumbwe. You can see milk flowing, around the Police roadblock, as women resort to selling raw milk at K250 per 5 litre bottle.
Madukani Phiri challenges everybody that farmers in Bvumbwe have the capacity to deliver on any demand for milk, disputing sentiments milk production was low. He said milk production was now so overwhelming that processors had introduced quotas on milk producers, a development blamed on imported, cheap milk products.
That Friday afternoon, May29, a group of people were seen flocking to Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group. During the day, there were not many customers who flocked to the group’s sales’ office to buy own-processed milk- why now?
“They know that some of the milk has gone bad and can not be sold to processors, and want to lay their hands on it for home consumption.”
As it turned out, some brought tins, others 5 litre bottles. Only that the watchman also said he wanted alittle bit, so he warned people against taking from his basin.
That is a sad end that has become part of the story since May19, as 1000 litres of milk produced by largely-impoverished farmers goes bad daily, and others see lack in that misfortune. A new breed of milk drinkers has been created at Bvumbwe!
“We really need help; the introduction of quotas by milk processors will affect many people and affect dairy farming,” says Madukani Phiri, now in the milk cooling room where one equipment no longer works, pointing at the five melting ice blocks. They have taken the task of electricity.
Quotas threaten milk production
The Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA) has bemoaned the introduction of quotas by milk processors, saying the new trend would stifle growth in the industry.
Phillimon Kapinji, MMPA President, said in an exclusive interview the development went against well-researched findings that have revealed glaring disparities in milk production and consumption in the country.
Kapinji said the development would affect the 4000 farmers who earn their living through milk production.
“There is no basis for that, really. When have we started producing so much milk as to introduce quotas? Bulking groups have been heavily affected by this,” said Kapinji.
He said there was need for government’s intervention, adding MMPA had already started negotiations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and that of Agriculture.
“Much as we understand that local suppliers are being outdone by cheap milk imports from the European Union and other Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa countries, introducing quotas will only disenfranchise and kill the industry,” he said.
He urged government to introduce mechanisms aimed at controlling the “overwhelming influx” of powdered milk imports, and make sure the percentage of imports made up for only 10 per cent of local market share so that the remaining 90 per cent (market share) is reserved for local milk producers and processors,” said Kapinji.
Kapinji, however, contradicted with Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security statistics over the number of dairy farmers in Malawi . He said his organisation had 6, 000 registered farmers- a development he said signified growth of the industry.
He said dairy farmers stood a better chance of resolving their problems and challenges if they formed associations related to their cause. He said working in groups had so many benefits, including bulk buying of animal feed, supply bonuses and continued flow of income as other members came to the rescue of each other in times of financial inadequacy.
History of dairy farmers groups
The establishment of milk bulking groups came after the early efforts to develop dairy farming in Malawi , carried out in the early 1970s.
Kapinji, who is Chairperson for the Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (Shimpa) and President for the Malawi Milk Producers Association, said bulking groups arose when the number of farmers started to increase, and the need for a more common, authoritative voice emerged.
“These groups have since grown tremendously. There are several advantages: people work together; have a steady market as processors also want to be assured of continued supply and opt for groups other than individuals; they receive volume bonus, when they keep steady milk supply; and buy animal feed at wholesale prices, and reduce the costs incurred in rearing animals,” said Kapinji.
He said solving problems, such as the recent introduction of quotas, was also easy when farmers used one voice to air out their concerns.
Other groups include Dwale, Chandamale, Thunga, and Bvucco Community Based Organisation for Dairy Goats in Thyolo and Kalikwe Milk Buking Group in Dedza. Bvumbwe groups have benefited from the Agricultural Research and Development Programme’s initiative- the Dairy Entrepreneurship Project (Kukweza bizinezi yamkaka) meant to improve prospects in the sector. The One Village One Product initiative also works with people in groups, dairy farmers being some of the beneficiaries in Thyolo.
Through the Bvumbwe Milk Processing Unit, farmers have learnt improved farming practices that could as well compliment Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s projections to improve daily milk production per cow by double in five years’ time.
Bvumbwe Milk Bulking Group is the biggest in Malawi , with 575 members.
“That is why we are currently discussing with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as that of Agriculture on various issues pertaining to the industry and how we can help improve things,” he said.
That was the reason, he added, Shimpa had many members. The association has 23 bulking groups in Blantyre , Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Zomba and Neno, while MMPA has members in all milk producing districts of the country.
We want better conditions, farmers say
Bvumbwe farmers have asked for improved conditions in the dairy industry, saying they were getting almost nothing out of their sweat and were leaving on the fringe of life’s basics.
Rhoda Solomon, 56, a dairy farmer with two cows, said she had a dream during her tender years: she wanted be able to take care of her children, meet her daily needs without too much dependency on her husband and to lead a comfortable life.
She thought dairy farming would be the route towards her destiny-dreams.
“I have managed to achieve some of these but am still struggling to break through the hard barrier to comfortable life. There is money in dairy business but things are not going on well, especially on prices,” said Solomon, as she joined other women farmers gathered at Bvumbwe football ground in preparation for World Milk Day on June1.
She wanted milk processors to increase buying prices for raw milk; a wish likely to end in disappointment as processors have reduced buying prices effective June1.
Only one of her three cows is being milked at the moment, giving her 10 litres of milk every day. That was K680 Kwacha daily before the price reductions-she will now make do with K500. This is against the K7, 200 she uses to buy the four 50KG maize husks bags she uses per month, among other inputs.
“We need improvements in prices so that we may be able meet other daily needs. Money from milk is not meant to be channeled into milk production only,” said the woman farmer from Tayale Village in the area of Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo.
Her sentiments were echoed by John Damiano, 55, from Gunde Village , T/A Bvumbwe, Thyolo and Jason Binali, 54, from the same village. The fathers of 10 and 3 children, respectively, said they spend more on production inputs that what they got in return did not meet their daily requirements.
The two have two and seven dairy cows respectively, which they said made the “burden” of animal feed cumbersome.
“I need three bags of maize bran every month at K1800, 3 bags for Cowpeas husks at K1, 800 and medication costs. I can’t meet all these requirements with the money I get; the processors would have increased the price to K70 or K80,” said Damiano, surprised at the news they would, in fact, reduce the buying prices.
On the other hand. Binali said he only engaged in dairy farming to meet his dairy needs, but could not invest in anything because the proceeds he got from rearing milk yielding animals were not sufficient to meet other needs.
“In fact I have always wanted to channel some of the proceeds I make from dairy farming towards other equally-befitting ventures like opening up a grocery. I can’t, unless the processors increase the prices for buying from us. They make more money than us, the real farmers,” said Binali.
Lessons from Malawi's democracy
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
This Saturday, May 9, 2009, a group of people gathered at Goma Primary
School in Chikwawa. The bicycle parade to Mgabu Trading Centre, as one
way of sensitizing people about the beauty of taking part in national
elections, was taking too long to start. But everybody kept quiet, no
murmuring, complaints, whatsoever- just some inner, psychological
pain. It was as if everybody, more or less, blamed themselves for
their delinquency, lack of power to make things happen their way or
merely pushed it over to bad luck.
Among this group were Chikwawa group village heads- Goma, Senjere,
Changa, Makande, Linga, Singano, Konzere, Jombo, Mpheza, and Mgabu. At
Mgabu Trading Centre waited Traditional Authority (T/A) Mgabu himself,
and a host of other T/As; Ngowe and Sub-TA Masache, among others. The
meeting at Mgabu Trading Centre was initially slated for 10:00am, but
arrival delays for a Two-toner vehicle carrying the Public Address
System meant 12:00 noon would be the most probable time for departure
to the Trading Centre.
Then, around 11:00am, something happened- unrelated to the event that
was to be, but in the end (it) related, all the same. Made to relate
by the sharp democratically-tuned eye of Maynard Nyirenda, Programmes
Officer for the Sustainable Rural Growth and Development Initiative
(SRGDI), an organisation behind this great gathering of traditional
leaders and other villagers; for most of these, the relatively long
distance they had traveled registered on their bicycles. The village
‘motor vehicles’ had added some dusty colour to their, mostly, black
colour.
Distance speaks. It speaks through dust that clings to such mobile
property as bicycles, vehicles, ferries, even wheelbarrows.
Back to 11:00am, and what happened:
A man in his late 30s was chasing a little dog in, somewhat, lucid
manner from the Southern end of Goma Primary School. He caught up with
it just some two metres from Nyirenda and me, behind the primary
school. The ‘master’ then started whipping the little dog, fiercely,
without mercy, to the extent of even throwing six stones at it (poor
dog!). To Nyirenda’s amazement, the dog did not come anywhere near us
to seek refuge but lied down before him, licking his hands in an
attempt to mollify him.
That is typical of dogs; they often remain close to their master, even
when the master is away. They wait at home for his return, for in the
dog’s mind the master will always return, and then follows him
whenever it is permitted once he returns. The man, who later said his
name was Simeon Makaza, was a good man, according to some of the
villagers who sat patiently under Acacias trees, waiting for the
bicycle parade to Mgabu. He was only infuriated at his dog’s
discourtesy in eating his two mice. He had laboured and toiled really
had to get those two (mice) because, he claimed, eight more had eluded
his seemingly clever hands.
“I wanted to teach it (the dog) a lesson because it is still young,
only nine months old. As they say, Kuongola mtengo ndiukadali waungono
(the best time to straighten a tree is when it is still tender and
young),” said Makaza, seemingly satisfied with the ‘job’ he had done.
We did not leave Makaza at Goma Primary School, he and his dog. He
went home, some 100 metres away, took his bicycle and joined the
bicycle parade for Mgabu when 12:00 noon came and it was time to go.
Every one on the parade wore t-shirts written ‘Ndife Amodzi’ (We are
One). Except some four people because they had come alittle late when
the t-shirts had run out, but they still cycled, fully aware of the
importance of the day.
Any lessons from the ‘master’-little dog scenario at Goma (Primary
School)? I asked Nyirenda.
“Yes,” said Nyirenda. “It is like democracy”.
Here is a master and his little dog, and you talk about democracy. Has
that scenario gone that far?
“It’s not going far (linking the two to democracy); I am just applying
the things we come across in everyday life, like what we saw at Goma,
and relating them to democracy. The symbols we come across in life may
represent so many things, including the relationship between leaders
and their subjects, which I may link to democracy. There must always
be a process through which leaders are made accountable………….”
(Interruption)
I say, how does that relate to democracy?
“It relates. The dog had eaten its master’s two mice, isn’t it?”
He claimed so.
“Right. That applies in democratic systems of government, like ours
here in Malawi, too. The national leaders ‘eat’ our votes because we
cast them (votes) for them (leaders). The votes are not for free. It
is like investing power in them and we expect something back.
“Something in terms of development initiatives, favourable laws and
accountability. By beating up the dog, the owner- I wouldn’t love to
call him master, which does not apply in democracy because the master
is the voter, the purported subject- Makaza was just trying to make it
accountable for the two mice. Everything we see could have lessons to
the systems of our every day life,” said Nyirenda.
That was the reason national leaders have to play to ‘little dog’ once
every five years, he said. Just what happened on May19, 2009.
So, the delays in departing for Mgabu were a blessing in disguise; one
more lesson about democracy. Nyirenda said, for Malawi’s democracy to
grow and attain maturity to the level of the United States of America,
for instance, there was need to gauge the pay we have traveled, and
suggest some of the things we may put in place to make our leaders
accountable, other than instilling in them the spirit that they were
‘masters’.
Malawians needed to find out the impact of the four times (1994, 1999,
2004 and 2009) our national leaders were made to lie down and account
for their political actions. They then got re-elected (positive
sanction) or got the boot (negative sanction). That happens when
little dogs lie down.
Rafiq Hajat, Executive Director for the Institute for Policy
Interaction (IPI) and his counterpart at the Active Youth Initiative
for Social Enhancement, Marcel Chisi, agree with Nyirenda that there
is need to draw some lessons from the 15 years of Malawi’s democracy.
The boat is not half empty because even chairperson for the Public
Affairs Committee (Pac) Fr. Boniface Tamani, Human Rights Consultative
Committee’s (HRCC) chairperson, Undule Mwakasungula and Gender Support
Programme’s Cecilia Mussa agree- a common voice echoed by political
analysts and scientists.
Some of these lessons came out clearly during public lectures
organized by SRGDI with funding from the German institution GTZ. It
came under the ‘Demokalase Yathu’ (Our Democracy) Project, which was
conceived to help Malawians design democratic principles that make
local sense, and tallies with our hopes, wishes and aspirations.
Hajat, Mzuzu University political analyst Noel Mbowela, Chancellor
College lecture in the Department of Political and Administrative
Studies Joseph Chunga, among others, guided Malawians through this
process. Each step towards the whole 15-years process a lesson.
Some of these lessons also came from various other analysts and observers.
Malawi has no parliament, just a national assembly
One of the things that came out clearly was the revelation by Chisi
that Malawi has no parliament, only a national assembly. This took
students from the Catholic University by surprise. There was some
sort of understandable disgust provoked by that revelation, though it
is clear that constructive thinking, ironically, is almost taking the
place in Malawian politics of the politics of patronage as the void-
once filled by the zeal to appease, regionalism and nepotism- is being
filled with pour ideologies.
Having done away with the one party system of government, and thus
one-sidedness in thinking, people can now focus on a myriad of other
issues- truths, half truths, untruths, abuse, ignorance, or prejudice.
Chisi has picked prejudice, saying the events of 1997 in parliament,
when members of parliament (MPs) repelled the Senate, hinged on
prejudice for the people of Malawi because, as the behaviour of MPs
during the 2004 to 2009 House manifested, there was need for checks
and balances.
“Who could check that bunch of MPs? Not the constituents, because
those people were clearly following their party leaders’ bid, but the
senate. That is to say chiefs, minority groups, among others. It is
sad, but true, that Malawi has no parliament because of that action in
1997. Parliament comprises both the senate and the national assembly.
No one way about it,” says Chisi.
Hajat, however, says, as far as he was concerned, the Senate was still
there- at least in his mind- because the 1997 MPs did not call for a
referendum when undertaking such an “enormous task” as to discard off
chiefs and other minority groups in that one mad sweep.
That sounds very much like in 1993. In that year, Malawi’s political
curtain was apparently in tatters and appeared ripe for revolution.
Then came May17, 1994, when came the abrupt, but highly anticipated,
change- a new untried political demand made for a nation of learners.
It was a curious state of limbo buried by a collective barrage of
hope.
“That revolution is not over. We need that spirit to reverse the
damage imposed by a handful people over a nation state. We need the
Senate,” says Hajat.
He may be infuriated because, as it turned out, the hopeful image of
politics of perfection proved merely an illusion. The specter of a
smooth ride and fairness was apparently remote from a country still
dozing from a dictatorship, weakened by a new slanderous, castigating
multiparty regime still nursing the pangs of a shattered economy, an
overtaxed population and rife with traits of regionalism.
We may be lucky now, though, as political analysts and experts have
started replacing the lack of serious dissent, based on the view that
democracy would be perfect and the constitution hole-free. The likes
of Edge Kanyongolo, Boniface Dulani, among others, have contributed a
willingness to do voluntary research that unearths our shortfalls,
which they have presented at various platforms. No longer do members
of the academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), private sector
and the media view the political situation through the same prism.
This pleases Nyirenda, who chips in: “This situation will accord the
curious, progressive citizen a candid view of where our democracy has
come from while, for political scholars, it will supply some footnotes
to the relevance of citizens’ participation and, of course, give more
ammunition to the ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ critic of the Republican
constitution.”
Nobody is willing to relinquish grip over public media
One Bruce Sterling never set foot on Malawi. True. Yet, the practical
machinations of his words render credence in Malawi. If that sounds
unfamiliar, hear him (Sterling): “Knowledge is power. Do you suppose
that (that) fragile little form of yours, your primitive legs, your
ridiculous arms and hands, your tiny, scarcely wrinkled brain can
contain all that power? Certainly not! Already, your race is flying to
pieces under the impact of your own expertise. The original human form
is becoming obsolete.”
Nyirenda agrees that knowledge is power. There are so many ways of
getting this knowledge- through school class rooms, conferences,
meetings, seminars, every day experience. But none, he says, surpasses
the power of radio in Malawi, and to some extent television. And no
radio station surpasses the reach of Malawi Broadcasting Corporation’s
(MBC) Radio One (though Zodiac Broadcasting Station is going that
distance).
“People are being denied balanced knowledge here in Malawi; those
entrusted with the mandate to rule are not loosening their grip over
MBC, and that has an impact on democracy. What it means when we say
‘Knowledge is power’ is that it can change perspectives, it can tilt
results, it can misinform. Our people are being shown one side of the
coin and that is a serious anomaly,” says Nyirenda, an observation
once shared by many.
Dulani, Kanyongolo, Hajat, Mwakasungula, Hajat, international
electoral observers, parliament, former president Bakili Muluzi
(himself an abuser of the same) have all spoken about it. Even the
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority and Electoral Commission’s
(EC) media monitoring units have pointed it out. No change.
Students who also patronized the Demokalase Yathu Public lectures felt
the same- the need to open up the airwaves to dissenting views.
“Let the people get the power. Whether they have the capacity to
contain that power (knowledge) is irrelevant in democracy. Democracy
means power to the people and knowledge is one way of imparting that
knowledge, power,” says Mwakasungula.
EC Chairperson, Justice Anastasia Msosa, bemoaned it too (patronage of
the public media) in her assessment of the official campaign period.
“The public media has performed miserably in leveling the playing
field for other political parties,” she said.
Democratic governance makes it necessary to provide a time frame,
which in Malawi’s case comes every five years after any other national
election, where it is necessary to unmask, through a secret ballot,
the mass of repressed political wishes lying within the unconscious so
that a new possibility founded on informed knowledge and choices may
be launched to inspire people towards the next course of development.
Two months before this all-important unmasking process, the EC pays
for airtime on public broadcasters so that other political players
should have a platform to share their plans, aspirations, wishes
compressed in manifestos.
It never happened in Malawi this time (2009), though it happened in
1994 when the winds of change drew cracks across the hither to single
wall. This is despite the fact that, with the 2004 general elections
approaching and Muluzi ineligible to succeed himself- having served
the two constitutional terms- people thought things would change.
There is hope, however, as most analysts agree. Chisi and Mwakasungula
agree that 2009 may not be fatefully late a beginning to start the
process of change. We are still learning, says Chisi, as evidenced by
the fact, for example, that it may take Malawi over 228 years to reach
the level of democracy of the United States (if maturity in democracy
was measured by the number of years in it, which is, fortunately, not
the case. Democracy lies in the head- the willingness to learn and
change).
While it may be hard to know the real intents behind people who would
want to abuse their political mandate by monopolizing public airwaves,
Mwakasungula says it becomes less hard to isolate their intents from
the will of the people. It all boils down to intolerance and
selfishness, which is often fortified by their propaganda apparatus
including the use of public broadcasters.
Our liberalized markets need democracy, too
The idea behind democratic systems of government is to avoid monopoly
of power by politicians. Those who opted for democracy over all other
forms must have learnt it the hard way from corporations that
monopolized markets in the past. The corporations originally had power
over every dimension of people’s lives: they produced what they (not
people) wanted; produced whatever quantity or quality they determined;
they fixed prices and costs; they decided on the future of each of
their employees and, sometimes, on the future of entire communities.
They could even determine where people lived; what work, if any, would
do for them (people); what they had to eat, drink and wear; what sort
of knowledge, schools and universities needed to encourage; and what
kind of society children had to inherit. Not only that, they also
affected everybody in their treatment of natural resources and how
they decided to deal with their own factory garbage and residues.
Some of these ills, chips in Hajat, continue to be practiced with our
market players.
“Take our tobacco buyers, for instance; they form cartels and connive
on prices; they refuse to share, let alone disclose, part of their
huge profits with the tobacco farmer in Rumphi, Kasungu, Dedza. The
case is the same with the tea grower in Mulanje, Thyolo; and cotton
growers in Salima, Chikwawa, Nsanje. This shows the clear need for
democracy in our market economy,” says Hajat.
He adds that the British government, for instance, makes more money
from taxes imposed on tobacco products than the ‘real’ man who toils
on the ground in Malawi can ever imagine in his basket. They make
billions, he says, when it remains the same old poverty story for the
African farmer.
His sentiments may emanate from the reality that, while our economic
system is sold to us under the banner of a liberalized, free
enterprise economy, experience shows that free enterprise no longer
exists, if, in deed, it ever did. This because free enterprise, as the
name implies, would have been a system in which buyers and sellers had
equal powers, met at a neutral market in the real village, possess
equal information and make their trade without leaving traces of
poverty behind.
Our markets may not be that neutral, in the words of Hajat, because
tobacco buyers dictate the stakes and government still passes
legislation that rigs the market by giving certain groups investment
tax credits, incentives, depletion and depreciation allowances,
subsidies, rebates and price supports.
Assertions best understood by long time Kasungu farmer, Andrew Bauti:
“We need democracy on the tobacco market, and powers enabling farmers
to vote out players who practice unfair trade. In our system,
currently, neither small and big businesses nor buyers and sellers are
equal in any way. It is very unfair on us because we toil and get
nothing in return.”
That may be true because power is contagious. It can only be fought
with equal, or more, power. Buyers are more powerful than the rural
farmer. That is where democracy comes in when, for once, common
citizens retain their power to fight possible excessive use of power
by those in elected positions. This upon the realization that every
human group that exercises power does so, not in such a way as to
bring total happiness to those who are subject to it, but in such a
way as to increase that power.
That happens when we all pretend to own up to the moral values of
democracy none of us really possesses. And Hajat is against it.
From personal to ideology-based politics
Then comes the question of presidential and parliamentary elections.
Sterling wrote that elections were a means by which people delegated
and extended their mandate to national leaders so that, after a
specific period of time, the people (electorate) get their mandate
back and extend it through the election, or re-election, of new
leaders.
Every thing in life is an extension, he argued: as the wheel is an
extension of the foot; clothing an extension of the skin; the roof an
extension of the sky; synthetic hair an extension of tree leaves;
democracy an extension of choice, to the effect that it is no longer
meaningful to see democracy as a subject. It has even moved from an
object of desire to that of designing.
People have designed elections not as an end, but a means to an end.
And the way Malawians are achieving their means to this end (electing
leaders) has pleased Fr. Boniface Tamani, chairperson for the Public
Affairs Committee (PAC) so much.
“People have moved from the politics of personalities to politics
based on principles and ideologies, something we have been advocating
for all these years. It is pleasing to note that we have started
moving towards that direction,” said Tamani.
It is only natural to appreciate, as he does, because every election
is a complex process. The complexity is compounded by the reality that
it involves a multi-purposed society of ever-evolving egos, a
development that means voting on personal, regional, or ideological
lines may not be out of the complete question. To expect that every
one will vote on the basis of principles is tantamount to thinking
that every citizen thinks alike, says Nyirenda.
“Elections and democracy in other words, counters the myth that we
live as autonomous individuals, as islands unto ourselves, without
rights balanced by duties. Our ‘Demokalase Yathu Project’, for
instance, is premised on the realization that every decision each and
every Malawian makes-whether it be to sell yourself into slavery or to
sell yourself into prostitution- adds to and creates the telos of
communities you are part of. You do not exist as an island, in
democracy, you live in the context of majority wishes,” said Nyirenda.
Not that the majority should take everything for themselves, he adds,
but must employ selflessness, compromise, servility and understanding
to improvise the minority population (voters), the social-economically
disenfranchised, the socially and politically marginalized and the
psychologically weak. When people vote on ideology lines, it feeds
into their nature that they must consider the wishes of others without
being tainted by partisanship, nepotism, regionalism, or whatever,”
according to Nyirenda.
Many analysts have hailed Malawians for voting along ideological lines
this time around, though sentiments by Malawi Congress Party leader,
John Tembo, seemed to suggest he wanted people to maintain the status
quo.
What does the sentence, “Those who know the politics of this country
will understand that the way (Bingu wa) Mutharika has amassed the
number of votes he has is very, extra-ordinary”, mean? (That is an
issue for next time).
People get the government they deserve
This is Rafiq Hajat’s tirade against none-voters. During the 2004
parliamentary and presidential elections, only one in every two
registered voters trekked to the polling station, while the rest
stayed home, some remained on the wheel (track and bus drivers). It is
called voter apathy, a term referred to a scenario where eligible
voters decide to stay out for various reasons. There has, however,
never been a comprehensive study on the reasons voters opted to stay
out of the polling station even before voting (when you vote, you are
not supposed to linger around the polling station. Before you vote,
you are most welcome).
“Some of these people were then heard murmuring and complaining about
all sorts of things. If you don’t vote, the government and
administration that comes in is the one you deserve. The solution lies
in voting,” he said.
He may be backed by fact. In 2004, people gave Mutharika, then
standing on United Democratic Front ticket, 36 per cent of the
presidential vote. The policies, ideologies and principles he brought
into office were the things that the people deserved, those who voted,
but more importantly, those who did not.
Come May19, 2009. There was a huge turn out, which Muluzi has equated
to the situation and enthusiasm of 1994. It can not be ruled out that
most of the voters that shunned voting in 2004 came out this time
around, and voted for Mutharika.
Mutharika has chalked 2, 946, 103 votes, translating into 50.7 per
cent of the total votes. Tembo, his staggeringly insignificant runner
up, got 24 per cent of the vote when he got 1, 370, 044 votes. EC
statistics indicate that 5.8 million people registered to be in that
lonely house, polling booth, for some 10 seconds or more.
Why do we say that? “Because Mutharika has amassed an overwhelming
number of votes than anyone else in multiparty democracy since 1994.
The people who stayed out have understandably contributed to this,
after discovering that, may be, Mutharika’s style of leadership could
be something they have wanted all along and deserve,” says Gender
Support Programme’s Cecilia Mussa.
The youth have a great role to play in Malawi’s democracy
It came out clearly, from the minds of Chancellor College’s Chunga and
Mbowela of Mzuni, that Malawian youths form a political bloc that can
be dismissed at one’s own peril. The youths, especially those pursuing
higher education, are taken as role models in rural areas, are
flexible to new ideas, have more access to communication channels, and
have the energy to pursue their dreams, said Chunga, and could
therefore influence political change.
Mbowela cited last year’s election in the United States of America,
where he said the youth, as a bloc, influenced the election of Barack
Obama, as the first African American president. This influence lies
not in voter apathy, but in the ways their goals and aspirations are
employed and the common end to which they are directed. In the USA,
this common end came in their hope for change, and voting for it.
It lies in action, youths’ power, according to Mbowela and Chunga.
Action Chunga said was evident during the nationalist period when
university youths formed a universities’ revolution group that
influenced political change across the width and breadth of the
continent.
A power still evident in current development initiatives. The youth
contribute towards farming in Malawi, they have helped in Malawi
Social Action Fund work, as well as the income generating public works
programme, adds Chunga.
But their main power and influence lies in their numbers. If only they
redirect their energies (from violence) to leadership participation,
their influence could work well for the country’s development agenda,
in the reckoning of Chunga.
Gender equality, too, is a great issue
A long, long battle that represents, in a way, the short of human
rights advocacy. The United Nations has mechanisms that ensure that
minority groups are not suppressed by the majority- some form of
guarantee that the majority will not take everything to themselves but
employ selflessness, compromise, servility and understanding on the
needs of the minority.
Nowhere do they talk about the suppressed majority, like women, and
how the powerful, influential minority should handle them
(selflessness, compassion, compromise, servility, understanding), a
magnanimous sort of international oversight because women comprise a
whooping 52 per cent of the Malawian population.
The suppression of women arose originally on grounds of economics,
which held that cultural and moral change derive from changes in
economic structure. This perceived suppression got perpetuated with
the concept of private property; mainly because women could reproduce,
they, like animals, were defined as property.
Mussa feels that this practice is continuing in Malawi, looking at the
nature of positions our women hold in society. It is evident in the
continued second class status most women are subjected to, especially
in rural areas where the husband is very much the patriarch to be
feared and worshipped in equal measure.
“It is also clear in the difficulties women continue to face in so
many areas- their continued difficulty in regulating such matters as
sex, marriage, procreation and divorce,” she says, one of the reasons
gender activists may have almost turned gender equality advocacy into
women empowerment campaigns.
Mussa is convinced this practice is also rampant in employment because
it allows employers to get two workers for the price of one as there
are huge disparities between salaries men and women get at the
workplace. The man is paid wages but his wife, who performs the
services necessary for him to live a decent life during the many hours
he spends at work, is not paid (by the husband).
Women also provide a cheap reserve of labour, which helps keep wages
down and profits up.
Will this change?
Emma Kaliya, NGO Gender Coordinating Network’s chairperson sees no
reason why it should not. She says, through advocacy work, things were
now improving- raising the hopes even higher for women is the fact
that the black clouds may ascend even further and live room for light.
This light comes when women are elected, or appointed, into decision
making decisions.
“That is why we have applauded President Mutharika for choosing Joyce
Banda, a reputable woman, as his running mate and, consequently, vice
president of this country. We are really happy. Now we want a female
speaker,” said Kaliya.
Some 40 seats have gone to women in parliament, following the May19
elections. This goes against the target for the 50-50 campaign for
women meant to catapult more women into decision making positions.
Only that the secret ballot may not be the best of catapults.
Gender activists are not worried, though. They say ensuring that women
get to the same level as men, in terms of numbers and influence, is a
process. But it is not a one-day process.
As Malawi moves more and more towards the island of democratic
maturity, women shall finally make it, according to Kaliya, who sums
up:
“We know for sure it will happen, and society will be an improved lot
because women are known for their caring nature, their unsurpassed
love.”
The battle for women empowerment, a majority that suffers suppression,
is a battle of love, and care.
Democracy is Malawian
Chisi further dispelled suggestion democracy was foreign. He said it
was both local and foreign, but more local than foreign.
“Our chiefs practiced it over a long period of time, even before
colonialism. In fact, colonialists found democracy here (in Malawi)
because our chiefs used to delegate cases to their counselors (Nduna
zamfumu). Isn’t that democracy?”
Local government elections are an integral part of democracy
Hajat says the absence of councilors has been felt for the past four
years, one that shows that their presence fills some void in the
democratic open space. He says failure to hold local government
elections violates people’s development and political rights, as the
duty of MPs was not to initiate development activities in their areas
but make laws.
Nyirenda and the others agree. How can we help the common Malawian
understand the tenets and principles of democracy when there is no
democracy near him (meaning councilors). He says councilors were
“democracy brought to the people”,- a form of living democracy that
sits and chats with the people and sleep with the people.
“Unlike most MPs, councilors live with the people they represent; they
know them personality. Isn’t that not democracy near the people?”
This has been one of the shorts so far; democracy that stays with the
people. The distance from Salima to Capital Hill is too huge to be
‘walked’ on foot. The distance to the councilor’s house is not, says
Nyirenda.
The journey to explore the lessons from our fifteen-year old
democracy, too, is too huge to walk on foot. It is like walking from
Salima to Capital Hill.
We may be forgiven for being at Mvela in Dowa, and not Capital Hill yet.
This Saturday, May 9, 2009, a group of people gathered at Goma Primary
School in Chikwawa. The bicycle parade to Mgabu Trading Centre, as one
way of sensitizing people about the beauty of taking part in national
elections, was taking too long to start. But everybody kept quiet, no
murmuring, complaints, whatsoever- just some inner, psychological
pain. It was as if everybody, more or less, blamed themselves for
their delinquency, lack of power to make things happen their way or
merely pushed it over to bad luck.
Among this group were Chikwawa group village heads- Goma, Senjere,
Changa, Makande, Linga, Singano, Konzere, Jombo, Mpheza, and Mgabu. At
Mgabu Trading Centre waited Traditional Authority (T/A) Mgabu himself,
and a host of other T/As; Ngowe and Sub-TA Masache, among others. The
meeting at Mgabu Trading Centre was initially slated for 10:00am, but
arrival delays for a Two-toner vehicle carrying the Public Address
System meant 12:00 noon would be the most probable time for departure
to the Trading Centre.
Then, around 11:00am, something happened- unrelated to the event that
was to be, but in the end (it) related, all the same. Made to relate
by the sharp democratically-tuned eye of Maynard Nyirenda, Programmes
Officer for the Sustainable Rural Growth and Development Initiative
(SRGDI), an organisation behind this great gathering of traditional
leaders and other villagers; for most of these, the relatively long
distance they had traveled registered on their bicycles. The village
‘motor vehicles’ had added some dusty colour to their, mostly, black
colour.
Distance speaks. It speaks through dust that clings to such mobile
property as bicycles, vehicles, ferries, even wheelbarrows.
Back to 11:00am, and what happened:
A man in his late 30s was chasing a little dog in, somewhat, lucid
manner from the Southern end of Goma Primary School. He caught up with
it just some two metres from Nyirenda and me, behind the primary
school. The ‘master’ then started whipping the little dog, fiercely,
without mercy, to the extent of even throwing six stones at it (poor
dog!). To Nyirenda’s amazement, the dog did not come anywhere near us
to seek refuge but lied down before him, licking his hands in an
attempt to mollify him.
That is typical of dogs; they often remain close to their master, even
when the master is away. They wait at home for his return, for in the
dog’s mind the master will always return, and then follows him
whenever it is permitted once he returns. The man, who later said his
name was Simeon Makaza, was a good man, according to some of the
villagers who sat patiently under Acacias trees, waiting for the
bicycle parade to Mgabu. He was only infuriated at his dog’s
discourtesy in eating his two mice. He had laboured and toiled really
had to get those two (mice) because, he claimed, eight more had eluded
his seemingly clever hands.
“I wanted to teach it (the dog) a lesson because it is still young,
only nine months old. As they say, Kuongola mtengo ndiukadali waungono
(the best time to straighten a tree is when it is still tender and
young),” said Makaza, seemingly satisfied with the ‘job’ he had done.
We did not leave Makaza at Goma Primary School, he and his dog. He
went home, some 100 metres away, took his bicycle and joined the
bicycle parade for Mgabu when 12:00 noon came and it was time to go.
Every one on the parade wore t-shirts written ‘Ndife Amodzi’ (We are
One). Except some four people because they had come alittle late when
the t-shirts had run out, but they still cycled, fully aware of the
importance of the day.
Any lessons from the ‘master’-little dog scenario at Goma (Primary
School)? I asked Nyirenda.
“Yes,” said Nyirenda. “It is like democracy”.
Here is a master and his little dog, and you talk about democracy. Has
that scenario gone that far?
“It’s not going far (linking the two to democracy); I am just applying
the things we come across in everyday life, like what we saw at Goma,
and relating them to democracy. The symbols we come across in life may
represent so many things, including the relationship between leaders
and their subjects, which I may link to democracy. There must always
be a process through which leaders are made accountable………….”
(Interruption)
I say, how does that relate to democracy?
“It relates. The dog had eaten its master’s two mice, isn’t it?”
He claimed so.
“Right. That applies in democratic systems of government, like ours
here in Malawi, too. The national leaders ‘eat’ our votes because we
cast them (votes) for them (leaders). The votes are not for free. It
is like investing power in them and we expect something back.
“Something in terms of development initiatives, favourable laws and
accountability. By beating up the dog, the owner- I wouldn’t love to
call him master, which does not apply in democracy because the master
is the voter, the purported subject- Makaza was just trying to make it
accountable for the two mice. Everything we see could have lessons to
the systems of our every day life,” said Nyirenda.
That was the reason national leaders have to play to ‘little dog’ once
every five years, he said. Just what happened on May19, 2009.
So, the delays in departing for Mgabu were a blessing in disguise; one
more lesson about democracy. Nyirenda said, for Malawi’s democracy to
grow and attain maturity to the level of the United States of America,
for instance, there was need to gauge the pay we have traveled, and
suggest some of the things we may put in place to make our leaders
accountable, other than instilling in them the spirit that they were
‘masters’.
Malawians needed to find out the impact of the four times (1994, 1999,
2004 and 2009) our national leaders were made to lie down and account
for their political actions. They then got re-elected (positive
sanction) or got the boot (negative sanction). That happens when
little dogs lie down.
Rafiq Hajat, Executive Director for the Institute for Policy
Interaction (IPI) and his counterpart at the Active Youth Initiative
for Social Enhancement, Marcel Chisi, agree with Nyirenda that there
is need to draw some lessons from the 15 years of Malawi’s democracy.
The boat is not half empty because even chairperson for the Public
Affairs Committee (Pac) Fr. Boniface Tamani, Human Rights Consultative
Committee’s (HRCC) chairperson, Undule Mwakasungula and Gender Support
Programme’s Cecilia Mussa agree- a common voice echoed by political
analysts and scientists.
Some of these lessons came out clearly during public lectures
organized by SRGDI with funding from the German institution GTZ. It
came under the ‘Demokalase Yathu’ (Our Democracy) Project, which was
conceived to help Malawians design democratic principles that make
local sense, and tallies with our hopes, wishes and aspirations.
Hajat, Mzuzu University political analyst Noel Mbowela, Chancellor
College lecture in the Department of Political and Administrative
Studies Joseph Chunga, among others, guided Malawians through this
process. Each step towards the whole 15-years process a lesson.
Some of these lessons also came from various other analysts and observers.
Malawi has no parliament, just a national assembly
One of the things that came out clearly was the revelation by Chisi
that Malawi has no parliament, only a national assembly. This took
students from the Catholic University by surprise. There was some
sort of understandable disgust provoked by that revelation, though it
is clear that constructive thinking, ironically, is almost taking the
place in Malawian politics of the politics of patronage as the void-
once filled by the zeal to appease, regionalism and nepotism- is being
filled with pour ideologies.
Having done away with the one party system of government, and thus
one-sidedness in thinking, people can now focus on a myriad of other
issues- truths, half truths, untruths, abuse, ignorance, or prejudice.
Chisi has picked prejudice, saying the events of 1997 in parliament,
when members of parliament (MPs) repelled the Senate, hinged on
prejudice for the people of Malawi because, as the behaviour of MPs
during the 2004 to 2009 House manifested, there was need for checks
and balances.
“Who could check that bunch of MPs? Not the constituents, because
those people were clearly following their party leaders’ bid, but the
senate. That is to say chiefs, minority groups, among others. It is
sad, but true, that Malawi has no parliament because of that action in
1997. Parliament comprises both the senate and the national assembly.
No one way about it,” says Chisi.
Hajat, however, says, as far as he was concerned, the Senate was still
there- at least in his mind- because the 1997 MPs did not call for a
referendum when undertaking such an “enormous task” as to discard off
chiefs and other minority groups in that one mad sweep.
That sounds very much like in 1993. In that year, Malawi’s political
curtain was apparently in tatters and appeared ripe for revolution.
Then came May17, 1994, when came the abrupt, but highly anticipated,
change- a new untried political demand made for a nation of learners.
It was a curious state of limbo buried by a collective barrage of
hope.
“That revolution is not over. We need that spirit to reverse the
damage imposed by a handful people over a nation state. We need the
Senate,” says Hajat.
He may be infuriated because, as it turned out, the hopeful image of
politics of perfection proved merely an illusion. The specter of a
smooth ride and fairness was apparently remote from a country still
dozing from a dictatorship, weakened by a new slanderous, castigating
multiparty regime still nursing the pangs of a shattered economy, an
overtaxed population and rife with traits of regionalism.
We may be lucky now, though, as political analysts and experts have
started replacing the lack of serious dissent, based on the view that
democracy would be perfect and the constitution hole-free. The likes
of Edge Kanyongolo, Boniface Dulani, among others, have contributed a
willingness to do voluntary research that unearths our shortfalls,
which they have presented at various platforms. No longer do members
of the academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), private sector
and the media view the political situation through the same prism.
This pleases Nyirenda, who chips in: “This situation will accord the
curious, progressive citizen a candid view of where our democracy has
come from while, for political scholars, it will supply some footnotes
to the relevance of citizens’ participation and, of course, give more
ammunition to the ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ critic of the Republican
constitution.”
Nobody is willing to relinquish grip over public media
One Bruce Sterling never set foot on Malawi. True. Yet, the practical
machinations of his words render credence in Malawi. If that sounds
unfamiliar, hear him (Sterling): “Knowledge is power. Do you suppose
that (that) fragile little form of yours, your primitive legs, your
ridiculous arms and hands, your tiny, scarcely wrinkled brain can
contain all that power? Certainly not! Already, your race is flying to
pieces under the impact of your own expertise. The original human form
is becoming obsolete.”
Nyirenda agrees that knowledge is power. There are so many ways of
getting this knowledge- through school class rooms, conferences,
meetings, seminars, every day experience. But none, he says, surpasses
the power of radio in Malawi, and to some extent television. And no
radio station surpasses the reach of Malawi Broadcasting Corporation’s
(MBC) Radio One (though Zodiac Broadcasting Station is going that
distance).
“People are being denied balanced knowledge here in Malawi; those
entrusted with the mandate to rule are not loosening their grip over
MBC, and that has an impact on democracy. What it means when we say
‘Knowledge is power’ is that it can change perspectives, it can tilt
results, it can misinform. Our people are being shown one side of the
coin and that is a serious anomaly,” says Nyirenda, an observation
once shared by many.
Dulani, Kanyongolo, Hajat, Mwakasungula, Hajat, international
electoral observers, parliament, former president Bakili Muluzi
(himself an abuser of the same) have all spoken about it. Even the
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority and Electoral Commission’s
(EC) media monitoring units have pointed it out. No change.
Students who also patronized the Demokalase Yathu Public lectures felt
the same- the need to open up the airwaves to dissenting views.
“Let the people get the power. Whether they have the capacity to
contain that power (knowledge) is irrelevant in democracy. Democracy
means power to the people and knowledge is one way of imparting that
knowledge, power,” says Mwakasungula.
EC Chairperson, Justice Anastasia Msosa, bemoaned it too (patronage of
the public media) in her assessment of the official campaign period.
“The public media has performed miserably in leveling the playing
field for other political parties,” she said.
Democratic governance makes it necessary to provide a time frame,
which in Malawi’s case comes every five years after any other national
election, where it is necessary to unmask, through a secret ballot,
the mass of repressed political wishes lying within the unconscious so
that a new possibility founded on informed knowledge and choices may
be launched to inspire people towards the next course of development.
Two months before this all-important unmasking process, the EC pays
for airtime on public broadcasters so that other political players
should have a platform to share their plans, aspirations, wishes
compressed in manifestos.
It never happened in Malawi this time (2009), though it happened in
1994 when the winds of change drew cracks across the hither to single
wall. This is despite the fact that, with the 2004 general elections
approaching and Muluzi ineligible to succeed himself- having served
the two constitutional terms- people thought things would change.
There is hope, however, as most analysts agree. Chisi and Mwakasungula
agree that 2009 may not be fatefully late a beginning to start the
process of change. We are still learning, says Chisi, as evidenced by
the fact, for example, that it may take Malawi over 228 years to reach
the level of democracy of the United States (if maturity in democracy
was measured by the number of years in it, which is, fortunately, not
the case. Democracy lies in the head- the willingness to learn and
change).
While it may be hard to know the real intents behind people who would
want to abuse their political mandate by monopolizing public airwaves,
Mwakasungula says it becomes less hard to isolate their intents from
the will of the people. It all boils down to intolerance and
selfishness, which is often fortified by their propaganda apparatus
including the use of public broadcasters.
Our liberalized markets need democracy, too
The idea behind democratic systems of government is to avoid monopoly
of power by politicians. Those who opted for democracy over all other
forms must have learnt it the hard way from corporations that
monopolized markets in the past. The corporations originally had power
over every dimension of people’s lives: they produced what they (not
people) wanted; produced whatever quantity or quality they determined;
they fixed prices and costs; they decided on the future of each of
their employees and, sometimes, on the future of entire communities.
They could even determine where people lived; what work, if any, would
do for them (people); what they had to eat, drink and wear; what sort
of knowledge, schools and universities needed to encourage; and what
kind of society children had to inherit. Not only that, they also
affected everybody in their treatment of natural resources and how
they decided to deal with their own factory garbage and residues.
Some of these ills, chips in Hajat, continue to be practiced with our
market players.
“Take our tobacco buyers, for instance; they form cartels and connive
on prices; they refuse to share, let alone disclose, part of their
huge profits with the tobacco farmer in Rumphi, Kasungu, Dedza. The
case is the same with the tea grower in Mulanje, Thyolo; and cotton
growers in Salima, Chikwawa, Nsanje. This shows the clear need for
democracy in our market economy,” says Hajat.
He adds that the British government, for instance, makes more money
from taxes imposed on tobacco products than the ‘real’ man who toils
on the ground in Malawi can ever imagine in his basket. They make
billions, he says, when it remains the same old poverty story for the
African farmer.
His sentiments may emanate from the reality that, while our economic
system is sold to us under the banner of a liberalized, free
enterprise economy, experience shows that free enterprise no longer
exists, if, in deed, it ever did. This because free enterprise, as the
name implies, would have been a system in which buyers and sellers had
equal powers, met at a neutral market in the real village, possess
equal information and make their trade without leaving traces of
poverty behind.
Our markets may not be that neutral, in the words of Hajat, because
tobacco buyers dictate the stakes and government still passes
legislation that rigs the market by giving certain groups investment
tax credits, incentives, depletion and depreciation allowances,
subsidies, rebates and price supports.
Assertions best understood by long time Kasungu farmer, Andrew Bauti:
“We need democracy on the tobacco market, and powers enabling farmers
to vote out players who practice unfair trade. In our system,
currently, neither small and big businesses nor buyers and sellers are
equal in any way. It is very unfair on us because we toil and get
nothing in return.”
That may be true because power is contagious. It can only be fought
with equal, or more, power. Buyers are more powerful than the rural
farmer. That is where democracy comes in when, for once, common
citizens retain their power to fight possible excessive use of power
by those in elected positions. This upon the realization that every
human group that exercises power does so, not in such a way as to
bring total happiness to those who are subject to it, but in such a
way as to increase that power.
That happens when we all pretend to own up to the moral values of
democracy none of us really possesses. And Hajat is against it.
From personal to ideology-based politics
Then comes the question of presidential and parliamentary elections.
Sterling wrote that elections were a means by which people delegated
and extended their mandate to national leaders so that, after a
specific period of time, the people (electorate) get their mandate
back and extend it through the election, or re-election, of new
leaders.
Every thing in life is an extension, he argued: as the wheel is an
extension of the foot; clothing an extension of the skin; the roof an
extension of the sky; synthetic hair an extension of tree leaves;
democracy an extension of choice, to the effect that it is no longer
meaningful to see democracy as a subject. It has even moved from an
object of desire to that of designing.
People have designed elections not as an end, but a means to an end.
And the way Malawians are achieving their means to this end (electing
leaders) has pleased Fr. Boniface Tamani, chairperson for the Public
Affairs Committee (PAC) so much.
“People have moved from the politics of personalities to politics
based on principles and ideologies, something we have been advocating
for all these years. It is pleasing to note that we have started
moving towards that direction,” said Tamani.
It is only natural to appreciate, as he does, because every election
is a complex process. The complexity is compounded by the reality that
it involves a multi-purposed society of ever-evolving egos, a
development that means voting on personal, regional, or ideological
lines may not be out of the complete question. To expect that every
one will vote on the basis of principles is tantamount to thinking
that every citizen thinks alike, says Nyirenda.
“Elections and democracy in other words, counters the myth that we
live as autonomous individuals, as islands unto ourselves, without
rights balanced by duties. Our ‘Demokalase Yathu Project’, for
instance, is premised on the realization that every decision each and
every Malawian makes-whether it be to sell yourself into slavery or to
sell yourself into prostitution- adds to and creates the telos of
communities you are part of. You do not exist as an island, in
democracy, you live in the context of majority wishes,” said Nyirenda.
Not that the majority should take everything for themselves, he adds,
but must employ selflessness, compromise, servility and understanding
to improvise the minority population (voters), the social-economically
disenfranchised, the socially and politically marginalized and the
psychologically weak. When people vote on ideology lines, it feeds
into their nature that they must consider the wishes of others without
being tainted by partisanship, nepotism, regionalism, or whatever,”
according to Nyirenda.
Many analysts have hailed Malawians for voting along ideological lines
this time around, though sentiments by Malawi Congress Party leader,
John Tembo, seemed to suggest he wanted people to maintain the status
quo.
What does the sentence, “Those who know the politics of this country
will understand that the way (Bingu wa) Mutharika has amassed the
number of votes he has is very, extra-ordinary”, mean? (That is an
issue for next time).
People get the government they deserve
This is Rafiq Hajat’s tirade against none-voters. During the 2004
parliamentary and presidential elections, only one in every two
registered voters trekked to the polling station, while the rest
stayed home, some remained on the wheel (track and bus drivers). It is
called voter apathy, a term referred to a scenario where eligible
voters decide to stay out for various reasons. There has, however,
never been a comprehensive study on the reasons voters opted to stay
out of the polling station even before voting (when you vote, you are
not supposed to linger around the polling station. Before you vote,
you are most welcome).
“Some of these people were then heard murmuring and complaining about
all sorts of things. If you don’t vote, the government and
administration that comes in is the one you deserve. The solution lies
in voting,” he said.
He may be backed by fact. In 2004, people gave Mutharika, then
standing on United Democratic Front ticket, 36 per cent of the
presidential vote. The policies, ideologies and principles he brought
into office were the things that the people deserved, those who voted,
but more importantly, those who did not.
Come May19, 2009. There was a huge turn out, which Muluzi has equated
to the situation and enthusiasm of 1994. It can not be ruled out that
most of the voters that shunned voting in 2004 came out this time
around, and voted for Mutharika.
Mutharika has chalked 2, 946, 103 votes, translating into 50.7 per
cent of the total votes. Tembo, his staggeringly insignificant runner
up, got 24 per cent of the vote when he got 1, 370, 044 votes. EC
statistics indicate that 5.8 million people registered to be in that
lonely house, polling booth, for some 10 seconds or more.
Why do we say that? “Because Mutharika has amassed an overwhelming
number of votes than anyone else in multiparty democracy since 1994.
The people who stayed out have understandably contributed to this,
after discovering that, may be, Mutharika’s style of leadership could
be something they have wanted all along and deserve,” says Gender
Support Programme’s Cecilia Mussa.
The youth have a great role to play in Malawi’s democracy
It came out clearly, from the minds of Chancellor College’s Chunga and
Mbowela of Mzuni, that Malawian youths form a political bloc that can
be dismissed at one’s own peril. The youths, especially those pursuing
higher education, are taken as role models in rural areas, are
flexible to new ideas, have more access to communication channels, and
have the energy to pursue their dreams, said Chunga, and could
therefore influence political change.
Mbowela cited last year’s election in the United States of America,
where he said the youth, as a bloc, influenced the election of Barack
Obama, as the first African American president. This influence lies
not in voter apathy, but in the ways their goals and aspirations are
employed and the common end to which they are directed. In the USA,
this common end came in their hope for change, and voting for it.
It lies in action, youths’ power, according to Mbowela and Chunga.
Action Chunga said was evident during the nationalist period when
university youths formed a universities’ revolution group that
influenced political change across the width and breadth of the
continent.
A power still evident in current development initiatives. The youth
contribute towards farming in Malawi, they have helped in Malawi
Social Action Fund work, as well as the income generating public works
programme, adds Chunga.
But their main power and influence lies in their numbers. If only they
redirect their energies (from violence) to leadership participation,
their influence could work well for the country’s development agenda,
in the reckoning of Chunga.
Gender equality, too, is a great issue
A long, long battle that represents, in a way, the short of human
rights advocacy. The United Nations has mechanisms that ensure that
minority groups are not suppressed by the majority- some form of
guarantee that the majority will not take everything to themselves but
employ selflessness, compromise, servility and understanding on the
needs of the minority.
Nowhere do they talk about the suppressed majority, like women, and
how the powerful, influential minority should handle them
(selflessness, compassion, compromise, servility, understanding), a
magnanimous sort of international oversight because women comprise a
whooping 52 per cent of the Malawian population.
The suppression of women arose originally on grounds of economics,
which held that cultural and moral change derive from changes in
economic structure. This perceived suppression got perpetuated with
the concept of private property; mainly because women could reproduce,
they, like animals, were defined as property.
Mussa feels that this practice is continuing in Malawi, looking at the
nature of positions our women hold in society. It is evident in the
continued second class status most women are subjected to, especially
in rural areas where the husband is very much the patriarch to be
feared and worshipped in equal measure.
“It is also clear in the difficulties women continue to face in so
many areas- their continued difficulty in regulating such matters as
sex, marriage, procreation and divorce,” she says, one of the reasons
gender activists may have almost turned gender equality advocacy into
women empowerment campaigns.
Mussa is convinced this practice is also rampant in employment because
it allows employers to get two workers for the price of one as there
are huge disparities between salaries men and women get at the
workplace. The man is paid wages but his wife, who performs the
services necessary for him to live a decent life during the many hours
he spends at work, is not paid (by the husband).
Women also provide a cheap reserve of labour, which helps keep wages
down and profits up.
Will this change?
Emma Kaliya, NGO Gender Coordinating Network’s chairperson sees no
reason why it should not. She says, through advocacy work, things were
now improving- raising the hopes even higher for women is the fact
that the black clouds may ascend even further and live room for light.
This light comes when women are elected, or appointed, into decision
making decisions.
“That is why we have applauded President Mutharika for choosing Joyce
Banda, a reputable woman, as his running mate and, consequently, vice
president of this country. We are really happy. Now we want a female
speaker,” said Kaliya.
Some 40 seats have gone to women in parliament, following the May19
elections. This goes against the target for the 50-50 campaign for
women meant to catapult more women into decision making positions.
Only that the secret ballot may not be the best of catapults.
Gender activists are not worried, though. They say ensuring that women
get to the same level as men, in terms of numbers and influence, is a
process. But it is not a one-day process.
As Malawi moves more and more towards the island of democratic
maturity, women shall finally make it, according to Kaliya, who sums
up:
“We know for sure it will happen, and society will be an improved lot
because women are known for their caring nature, their unsurpassed
love.”
The battle for women empowerment, a majority that suffers suppression,
is a battle of love, and care.
Democracy is Malawian
Chisi further dispelled suggestion democracy was foreign. He said it
was both local and foreign, but more local than foreign.
“Our chiefs practiced it over a long period of time, even before
colonialism. In fact, colonialists found democracy here (in Malawi)
because our chiefs used to delegate cases to their counselors (Nduna
zamfumu). Isn’t that democracy?”
Local government elections are an integral part of democracy
Hajat says the absence of councilors has been felt for the past four
years, one that shows that their presence fills some void in the
democratic open space. He says failure to hold local government
elections violates people’s development and political rights, as the
duty of MPs was not to initiate development activities in their areas
but make laws.
Nyirenda and the others agree. How can we help the common Malawian
understand the tenets and principles of democracy when there is no
democracy near him (meaning councilors). He says councilors were
“democracy brought to the people”,- a form of living democracy that
sits and chats with the people and sleep with the people.
“Unlike most MPs, councilors live with the people they represent; they
know them personality. Isn’t that not democracy near the people?”
This has been one of the shorts so far; democracy that stays with the
people. The distance from Salima to Capital Hill is too huge to be
‘walked’ on foot. The distance to the councilor’s house is not, says
Nyirenda.
The journey to explore the lessons from our fifteen-year old
democracy, too, is too huge to walk on foot. It is like walking from
Salima to Capital Hill.
We may be forgiven for being at Mvela in Dowa, and not Capital Hill yet.
Union says 1m. affected by global economic crisis
By Richard Chirombo
The Malawi Union for the Informal Sector (Mufis) has contradicted Ministry of Finance and Economic observers on the immediate effects of the on going global economic crunch, saying contrary to perceptions the country would not be hard hit by the melt down, at least one million people are already filling its brunt.
Former Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe, said last month during a budget consultative meeting with civil society organizations in Blantyre the pangs of the economic crunch would not be paralyzing for Malawi.
Gondwe said, contrary to common perceptions the country could be ill-prepared to stand the repercussions of the melt down, the development was a blessing in disguise as it would enable Malawi pick up a few economic gains,
The Bankers Association of Malawi (Bam), commenting on current effects of the same on the country’s banking sector, also said the sector has, so far, managed to come out of the meltdown unscathed- a development Executive Director Fanuel Kumdana attributed to the “generally” closed nature of Malawi’s economy.
He said the absence of strong connections with United States of America, and Western banks, meant that the country had so far escaped the first-line pangs, a situation more advantageous than that faced by regional economic powerhouse, South Africa, and other centre economic states.
But Mufis has quashed this, saying research conducted by the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions’ affiliate targeting vendors and other informal economy players has revealed that, at least, one million people were already affected.
According to Davies Chimombo, Mufis General Secretary, the global economic crisis had now become local, with vendors and other informal economy players bearing the most brunt.
“We have been researching the effects of the global financial crisis through focus group discussions, and something that has come out clearly is that one million people- we are talking about vendors and other informal economy players- have already started feeling the pinch of the global economic crisis. 5000 people, who are our registered members at the moment, have confirmed that their businesses were going through financial turbulence,” said Chimombo.
Chimombo said all vendors contacted had revealed plunging fortunes in their business enterprises “as the number of customers is diminishing by the day, and those (customers) who manage to turn up and buy merchandise are not buying in bulk any more: they have no money to spend of goods and products”, a development, he said, calls for immediate interventions from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“Now that we know for certain that the global economic crisis is here with us, we must device means by which we may come around the problems being faced by vendors and other informal sector players. This could be in form of low interest loans- the same as what will happen with the highly touted K3 billion Youth Development Fund,” said Chimombo.
The Mufis General Secretary further said there was need for sector specific research to count the affected eggs (due to the economic melt down), and urged against current trends where conclusions about its effects on Malawi were being drawn in general terms. He said the informal sector initiative was part of that sector specific response.
Chimombo’s sentiments were echoed by Mwanda Chiwambala, Informal Sector National Researcher, who said the country could no longer burry its head in the sand and pretend everything was “okay. The situation is now different, and people have begun suffering from the effects of the crisis”, a case in point being reduced take-home package for vendors.
Chiwambala said, with financial assistance from Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (Wego) of South Africa, Mufis had also discovered that many employees from the formal sector were being laid off, thereby increasing the number of informal sector players and those currently affected by the meltdown.
“People are moving out of employment because of the same crisis and were resorting to finding solace in the informal sector. This will, in the long run, increase the effects of the crisis if our policy makers do not take any positive action now. Things are really getting worse,” said Chiwambala.
As part of the efforts aimed at curtailing the effects of the global crisis, Mufis organised a focus group discussion for the "affected" vendors and informal economy players in Blantyre yesterday. According to Chiwambala, the meeeting also confirmed their worst fears that the crunch had become "too local to be ignored".
However, the Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama), a local economics think tank, has refused to say anything on the Mufis findings, saying it would make an informed opinion once it gets a copy of the findings.
Ecama spokesperson, Juliana Chigumu, said the association would be better placed to comment once furnished with the “necessary figures and statistics. That will enable us to analyze and make an informed opinion”.
The global economic crisis started with oversights in the US futures market, and has now crept through other international economies, forcing Breton woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to draw up contingency plans aimed at bailing troubled economies that may not sift through the muddy economic waters alone out of possible collapse.
The Malawi Union for the Informal Sector (Mufis) has contradicted Ministry of Finance and Economic observers on the immediate effects of the on going global economic crunch, saying contrary to perceptions the country would not be hard hit by the melt down, at least one million people are already filling its brunt.
Former Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe, said last month during a budget consultative meeting with civil society organizations in Blantyre the pangs of the economic crunch would not be paralyzing for Malawi.
Gondwe said, contrary to common perceptions the country could be ill-prepared to stand the repercussions of the melt down, the development was a blessing in disguise as it would enable Malawi pick up a few economic gains,
The Bankers Association of Malawi (Bam), commenting on current effects of the same on the country’s banking sector, also said the sector has, so far, managed to come out of the meltdown unscathed- a development Executive Director Fanuel Kumdana attributed to the “generally” closed nature of Malawi’s economy.
He said the absence of strong connections with United States of America, and Western banks, meant that the country had so far escaped the first-line pangs, a situation more advantageous than that faced by regional economic powerhouse, South Africa, and other centre economic states.
But Mufis has quashed this, saying research conducted by the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions’ affiliate targeting vendors and other informal economy players has revealed that, at least, one million people were already affected.
According to Davies Chimombo, Mufis General Secretary, the global economic crisis had now become local, with vendors and other informal economy players bearing the most brunt.
“We have been researching the effects of the global financial crisis through focus group discussions, and something that has come out clearly is that one million people- we are talking about vendors and other informal economy players- have already started feeling the pinch of the global economic crisis. 5000 people, who are our registered members at the moment, have confirmed that their businesses were going through financial turbulence,” said Chimombo.
Chimombo said all vendors contacted had revealed plunging fortunes in their business enterprises “as the number of customers is diminishing by the day, and those (customers) who manage to turn up and buy merchandise are not buying in bulk any more: they have no money to spend of goods and products”, a development, he said, calls for immediate interventions from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“Now that we know for certain that the global economic crisis is here with us, we must device means by which we may come around the problems being faced by vendors and other informal sector players. This could be in form of low interest loans- the same as what will happen with the highly touted K3 billion Youth Development Fund,” said Chimombo.
The Mufis General Secretary further said there was need for sector specific research to count the affected eggs (due to the economic melt down), and urged against current trends where conclusions about its effects on Malawi were being drawn in general terms. He said the informal sector initiative was part of that sector specific response.
Chimombo’s sentiments were echoed by Mwanda Chiwambala, Informal Sector National Researcher, who said the country could no longer burry its head in the sand and pretend everything was “okay. The situation is now different, and people have begun suffering from the effects of the crisis”, a case in point being reduced take-home package for vendors.
Chiwambala said, with financial assistance from Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (Wego) of South Africa, Mufis had also discovered that many employees from the formal sector were being laid off, thereby increasing the number of informal sector players and those currently affected by the meltdown.
“People are moving out of employment because of the same crisis and were resorting to finding solace in the informal sector. This will, in the long run, increase the effects of the crisis if our policy makers do not take any positive action now. Things are really getting worse,” said Chiwambala.
As part of the efforts aimed at curtailing the effects of the global crisis, Mufis organised a focus group discussion for the "affected" vendors and informal economy players in Blantyre yesterday. According to Chiwambala, the meeeting also confirmed their worst fears that the crunch had become "too local to be ignored".
However, the Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama), a local economics think tank, has refused to say anything on the Mufis findings, saying it would make an informed opinion once it gets a copy of the findings.
Ecama spokesperson, Juliana Chigumu, said the association would be better placed to comment once furnished with the “necessary figures and statistics. That will enable us to analyze and make an informed opinion”.
The global economic crisis started with oversights in the US futures market, and has now crept through other international economies, forcing Breton woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to draw up contingency plans aimed at bailing troubled economies that may not sift through the muddy economic waters alone out of possible collapse.
An example of a concept parer. In response to Michael Chanza's request
Improving Community Participation in Public Health Care Delivery Systems – Media Decentralization Initiative (Mphamvu Zathu).
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa) is a Malawian journalists', and media practitioners, member-driven, not-for-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) established on November 5, 2005 –and registered under the Trustees Incorporation Act of the Government of Malawi - by practitioners from both the print and electronic media. Its main is to promote citizens' and media participation in the delivery of health care services, especially in the core areas of governance, participation and ownership, as well as improving reporting standards for sustainable social, cultural, health, and economic development, among other areas; characterized by a Malawi where all citizens take keen interest in the issues and developments that concern them, as well as on issues of national interest. Mawa seeks to implement a one-year initiative aimed at ascertaining the level of community knowledge on decentralization of the health care delivery system in the country. This emanates from the sad reality that most members of communities surrounding public health care institutions are unaware about decentralization of these facilities, save for procurement of large consignments of drugs, and other health necessities, as well as salaries –issues that are handled by the Central Government. This is largely manifested by common complaints from members of the community surrounding a public health care service provider; such that when there are no drugs and other services they blame the central government. This shows that there is lack of knowledge and poor communication linkages between health officials and these members of the community who utilize their services, and are also tax payers, directly or indirectly, in their own right. The total amount of funding required to carry out the whole programme will be made available to you at your convenience, once Mawa is given the discretion to implement the intimated programme on your behalf
2.0 OVERALL OBJECTIVE
The over-all objective of the programme is to provide a platform and forum where community members will be able to give their input on decentralization of the public health care delivery service, to which they are a crucial component as health impacts magnanimously towards national development; and also to raise public awareness about decentralization for sustainable community participation and effective delivery of public health care services, both at district and community level. This becomes imperative when we consider that decentralization provides the best opportunity for communities to develop, as initiatives and programmes are done using the area-needs assessment and suitability concept that promotes the principle that communities should choose for themselves the development programmes that tally with their local problems, a departure from past practice where initiatives were forced on people with the consequent tragedy that, often, there was no sustainability as such communities felt short-changed and left behind in terms of ownership. Now, with decentralization there to stay, people should continuously take part in local development initiatives, and this includes the provision of a platform where the governed and governors share notes and views in order for Malawi to increasingly improve as a blossoming, and fast-emerging, participatory democracy.
3.0 PROGRAMME PURPOSE
The purpose of the programme is to increase the knowledge of communities about their role in decentralization to enable them take part in various processes of development and public service delivery, as well as decision-making, at various stages of governance, especially in the provision of services at national, district and community level, other than current practices where communities don't take part in public health care delivery services because of deep-rooted perceptions that such structures and services are the monopoly of the central government.
4.0 PROGRAMME FOCUS
The programme seeks to support communities in 12 districts of Southern Malawi in the following areas:
4.1 Provide knowledge about decentralization of the public health sector delivery system and their role in making sure that there is accountability and transparency at community, district and national level.
4.2 Foster positive relationships between communities and health officials.
4.3 Increased participation of Communities at district level in the descentralisation process, a development that may only be realized after communities, health officials and officers come to realize that they all have a role to play for improved health services.
4.4 Publish community newspapers about proceedings at such for a using pictures and views of community members themselves for them to know and realize that they can play a role and influence national policy, both at district and national level.
4.5 Produce TV and Radio documentaries as relates to decentralization in various areas of the country, for case study and duplication by other countries and national players.
5.0 PROGRAMME BENEFICIARIES
Beneficiaries of the programme will be:
5.1 Grassroots communities and organizations surrounding health facilities
5.2 The national audience/readership/viewer-ship through the radio and TV documentaries; AND Newspaper publications reflecting community members and views.
5.3 Legally registered community based organizations
5.4 Thematic networks
5.5 Media institutions and practitioners
5.6 Research institutions
5.7 Decentralization advocates
6.0 MAJOR AND MINOR ACTIVITIES
The major component of the programme includes:
6.1Public debates between communities of interest and health officials.
6.2 Panel discussions attended by local district health officials, local government officials (District Commissioners and Traditional Leaders), and community members
6.3 Radio programmes and documentaries
6.7 Television documentaries
6.8 Newspaper publication featuring members of the community
6.9 Cinema shows highlighting benefits of decentralization
6.10 Media Community sensitization meetings at community centres such as markets, trading centres and community meeting places/halls/schools
7.0 EXPECTED RESULTS/OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAMME
The programme aims at achieving the following results:
7.1 Increased communities' participation in the decentralization of the public health care delivery system at district level
7.2 Improved communication between local government officials and communities/service beneficiaries
7.3. Increased national knowledge about decentralization of public health care delivery.
7.4 Accountability of services guaranteed.
7.5 Decentralizations sustained
7.6 Newspapers on decentralization published
7.7 Radio programmes and documentaries produced
7.8 Capacity of district/community health delivery centres to provide efficient services ascertained.
7.9 Increased knowledge and mutual understanding among stakeholders.
7.0 INSTITUTIONAL SET UP
8.0 The over-all responsibility for the implementation of the programme lies with Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa). This includes facilitating, providing strategic guidance to programme beneficiaries, supervision and monitoring and evaluation in the implementation of the programme. It is envisaged that Gtz will provide overall guidance, including policy guidance, for effective implementation of the programme.
9.0 TIME FRAME
The implementation time frame is 10 months, from January 2008 to August 2008.
10.0 CONTACT INFORMATION
For further details, please contact:
The Executive Director
Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa)
Private Bag GSP 443
Chichiri Blantyre 3.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa) is a Malawian journalists', and media practitioners, member-driven, not-for-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) established on November 5, 2005 –and registered under the Trustees Incorporation Act of the Government of Malawi - by practitioners from both the print and electronic media. Its main is to promote citizens' and media participation in the delivery of health care services, especially in the core areas of governance, participation and ownership, as well as improving reporting standards for sustainable social, cultural, health, and economic development, among other areas; characterized by a Malawi where all citizens take keen interest in the issues and developments that concern them, as well as on issues of national interest. Mawa seeks to implement a one-year initiative aimed at ascertaining the level of community knowledge on decentralization of the health care delivery system in the country. This emanates from the sad reality that most members of communities surrounding public health care institutions are unaware about decentralization of these facilities, save for procurement of large consignments of drugs, and other health necessities, as well as salaries –issues that are handled by the Central Government. This is largely manifested by common complaints from members of the community surrounding a public health care service provider; such that when there are no drugs and other services they blame the central government. This shows that there is lack of knowledge and poor communication linkages between health officials and these members of the community who utilize their services, and are also tax payers, directly or indirectly, in their own right. The total amount of funding required to carry out the whole programme will be made available to you at your convenience, once Mawa is given the discretion to implement the intimated programme on your behalf
2.0 OVERALL OBJECTIVE
The over-all objective of the programme is to provide a platform and forum where community members will be able to give their input on decentralization of the public health care delivery service, to which they are a crucial component as health impacts magnanimously towards national development; and also to raise public awareness about decentralization for sustainable community participation and effective delivery of public health care services, both at district and community level. This becomes imperative when we consider that decentralization provides the best opportunity for communities to develop, as initiatives and programmes are done using the area-needs assessment and suitability concept that promotes the principle that communities should choose for themselves the development programmes that tally with their local problems, a departure from past practice where initiatives were forced on people with the consequent tragedy that, often, there was no sustainability as such communities felt short-changed and left behind in terms of ownership. Now, with decentralization there to stay, people should continuously take part in local development initiatives, and this includes the provision of a platform where the governed and governors share notes and views in order for Malawi to increasingly improve as a blossoming, and fast-emerging, participatory democracy.
3.0 PROGRAMME PURPOSE
The purpose of the programme is to increase the knowledge of communities about their role in decentralization to enable them take part in various processes of development and public service delivery, as well as decision-making, at various stages of governance, especially in the provision of services at national, district and community level, other than current practices where communities don't take part in public health care delivery services because of deep-rooted perceptions that such structures and services are the monopoly of the central government.
4.0 PROGRAMME FOCUS
The programme seeks to support communities in 12 districts of Southern Malawi in the following areas:
4.1 Provide knowledge about decentralization of the public health sector delivery system and their role in making sure that there is accountability and transparency at community, district and national level.
4.2 Foster positive relationships between communities and health officials.
4.3 Increased participation of Communities at district level in the descentralisation process, a development that may only be realized after communities, health officials and officers come to realize that they all have a role to play for improved health services.
4.4 Publish community newspapers about proceedings at such for a using pictures and views of community members themselves for them to know and realize that they can play a role and influence national policy, both at district and national level.
4.5 Produce TV and Radio documentaries as relates to decentralization in various areas of the country, for case study and duplication by other countries and national players.
5.0 PROGRAMME BENEFICIARIES
Beneficiaries of the programme will be:
5.1 Grassroots communities and organizations surrounding health facilities
5.2 The national audience/readership/viewer-ship through the radio and TV documentaries; AND Newspaper publications reflecting community members and views.
5.3 Legally registered community based organizations
5.4 Thematic networks
5.5 Media institutions and practitioners
5.6 Research institutions
5.7 Decentralization advocates
6.0 MAJOR AND MINOR ACTIVITIES
The major component of the programme includes:
6.1Public debates between communities of interest and health officials.
6.2 Panel discussions attended by local district health officials, local government officials (District Commissioners and Traditional Leaders), and community members
6.3 Radio programmes and documentaries
6.7 Television documentaries
6.8 Newspaper publication featuring members of the community
6.9 Cinema shows highlighting benefits of decentralization
6.10 Media Community sensitization meetings at community centres such as markets, trading centres and community meeting places/halls/schools
7.0 EXPECTED RESULTS/OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAMME
The programme aims at achieving the following results:
7.1 Increased communities' participation in the decentralization of the public health care delivery system at district level
7.2 Improved communication between local government officials and communities/service beneficiaries
7.3. Increased national knowledge about decentralization of public health care delivery.
7.4 Accountability of services guaranteed.
7.5 Decentralizations sustained
7.6 Newspapers on decentralization published
7.7 Radio programmes and documentaries produced
7.8 Capacity of district/community health delivery centres to provide efficient services ascertained.
7.9 Increased knowledge and mutual understanding among stakeholders.
7.0 INSTITUTIONAL SET UP
8.0 The over-all responsibility for the implementation of the programme lies with Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa). This includes facilitating, providing strategic guidance to programme beneficiaries, supervision and monitoring and evaluation in the implementation of the programme. It is envisaged that Gtz will provide overall guidance, including policy guidance, for effective implementation of the programme.
9.0 TIME FRAME
The implementation time frame is 10 months, from January 2008 to August 2008.
10.0 CONTACT INFORMATION
For further details, please contact:
The Executive Director
Media Aids and Health Watch (Mawa)
Private Bag GSP 443
Chichiri Blantyre 3.
Witch up the laws in Malawi, activists ask
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
Forty-two year old Jonathan Mbulaje, from Kanjuli village in the area of T/A Kamenyagwaza, Dedza, once sacrificed the outer part of his left ear to rumour; now he struggles to live up to the haunting reality he will never have it back.
It all started as a simple matter one September day in 1999 when, after establishing a flourishing maize mill that helped save people from travelling a whopping seven kilometers to either Bembeke Trading Centre or (Bembeke) Turn-off, he was accused of ‘magically’ killing people and putting them in his mill, so his business could make quick returns.
“The next thing....I was awakened at mid-night by the thunderous roll of people who, first, smashed the window panes of my house and then broke my door. Some of them bit me up and….I don’t really remember what actually happened next but I just felt blood oozing from my left ear;(and) when I touched, the left part was not there. Where it went, who took it, and for what, I will never know.
“But that experience shuttered and devastated me, mainly because what they said was not true. In fact, I have never believed that there is witchcraft, that these things are real. I feel the whole belief is merely opium smoke from exhausted brains. We can never develop with this attitude and that’s the reason I left the area a long time ago and am now into cross-border trade, buying things like brankets and shit-beds in South Africa for sale back home,” says Mbulaje.
The father of six adds that when the mob realized that he had lost an ear, they became scared, knowing it would now be a Police case, and disappeared quieter than they came. Some of them were fellow villagers, he says.
Mbulaje must have been lucky to have gone away with his life as others, like 82-year old Patani Phiri from Nkhota-kota, lost their lives under similar circumstances.
Others have been chased from their respective communities, the only people and places they probably ever knew in this life turning their backs on them, as Civil Liberties Committee Executive Director Emmie Chanika observes. Over the years, her organisation has been over-whelmed with requests for shelter and legal aid from individuals suspected by their communities to be practicing witchcraft.
“It’s really becoming nasty and worrisome. Innocent people are being victimized, maimed, even killed –all this for something as nonsense as witchcraft,” says Chanika.
“But, somehow, we still have to do something. Government should stop burying its head in the sand like an ostrich. The thing is; our laws should now recognize the existence of witchcraft, realizing that colonialists included a clause in the Witchcraft Act stipulating that anyone who accused another of practicing it was committing a criminal offence simply because it suited their interests. They never wanted mob justice in villages; they never wanted to see people being forced to drink Mchape, as used to happen with our early traditions and, really, it worked.”
According to the human rights activist, her organisation is currently working on a case where a civil servant in Chikwawa (name withheld) is being chased from an area on accusations of practicing witchcraft. Several children have complained that they were being taught witchcraft by the same- accusations the 'accused' denies.
As if to stamp the issues with his authority, the village headman jurisdicting over the area summoned the individual and ruled in his absence that she lives the area. But the suspect never appeared before the village court on grounds that, as a civil servant, she is not under the jurisdiction of the headman, an argument Cilic supports.
“In fact, we have told her not to move out, and we will make sure we get to the dead-end of this issue. Why it is that only women are accused of teaching children witchcraft? Where are the men in all this? I feel it is because, culturally and traditionally, women are looked down upon; they are the easy scape-goat.”
Pastor Willie Chaponda of Mustard Seed Ministries supports the idea of amending the Witchcraft Act, saying, as a church leader, he has received several complaints from people, lamenting about the practice. Witchcraft has reached a crescendo, he says.
Chaponda explains that he has, to date, received over a hundred people asking him to pray for either them or their children because they are “active witches. So,he says, witchcraft is really there and needs to be recognized as such. There must also be clearly-stipulated punishments for those practicing it to bring back sanity in our communities.
He describes as a fallacy assertions to the effect that only those who accept practicing, “rather, the constitution says ‘pretending' to practice”, should be punished because we know it (witchcraft) is there but not everybody can just come forward and say ‘I practice it’”.
He has ‘proof’: “I once went to minister at a funeral in Chiradzulu and was bewildered that, upon my arrival, children who had been there since morning started to disperse one by one. When I enquired as to what the matter was, I was told that the children had heard that I exorcise people of witchcraft through prayer, and were afraid that I would do the same to them. Here, we see children who practiced witchcraft running away on their own, showing that the practice is there.”
Chaponda even adds that witchcraft varies with the extent of years in practice, it has degrees. It is difficult to pray for someone who has practiced for a long time, and it takes time to exorcise them completely. To some extent, people even vomit such things as snakes, frogs and centipedes, he reveals.
Elizabeth Divala, Blantyre Police Spokesperson- while acknowledging that her office has received as many as 20 cases of witchcraft, with six convictions of self-confessed practitioners (the law says pretenders)- argues that the issue is made complicated by lack of enabling legislation, as the current Act does not recognize witchcraft.
She says the Victim Support Unit (VSU) refers cases of witchcraft back to traditional leaders or the clergy, and that there have been some cases of success in that area, especially with people who are willing to be helped and thus confess.
“These are more-less like spiritual issues because they are mainly perceptions to do with the mind; we are talking about something people say is there but cannot point out (its) form. The only time it works with us is when individuals confess, and we open a file under the charges of pretending to practice witchcraft. Apart from that, we seek the help of religious leaders who seem to be helping us a lot,” says Divala.
Grant Chipangula, Traditional Healers Association of Malawi president, adds his voice to the hot-potato issue. He says any legislation dealing with witchcraft should first be handled by traditional doctors because they are the only ‘experts’ on the issue and, to that effect, more likely to find a remedy over the witchcraft jig-saw.
“Only us,traditional doctors and healers, can providing a lasting solution to this. The problem is that policy makers tend to over-look us, thinking we are less educated to grasp issues they treat as technical. But in our area, and the issue of witchcraft is a very good example, we are our own experts," says Chipangula.
His words could be sober and worth considering, it seems. What with African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN)-Malawi Chapter Executive Director, Ken Williams Mhango, claiming there is even a school drilling children in the practice in Salima district.
The organisation conducted a survey between January and February this year in Machinga. Among other findings, children who confessed to practing the same complained that those who refused t learn the 'trade' from parents or relatives suffered various kinds of abuse.
"Around 60 of the children we interviewed complained that they were subjected to physical assaults as well as food deprivation, so you can see that there is a relationship between child abuse and witchcraft. In fact, the issue also touches on other areas of development such as education, as most children end up sleeping in class instead of being attentive simply because they had been busy all night," says Mhango.
And in Salima, he adds, they established that there was a school training children in witchcraft. 'Around 1000 children are said to be in attendance, and 50 graduate every month".
"These things are real; let us look back into the law. A law that betrays the wishes of the people is not a law, it is a flaw."
Forty-two year old Jonathan Mbulaje, from Kanjuli village in the area of T/A Kamenyagwaza, Dedza, once sacrificed the outer part of his left ear to rumour; now he struggles to live up to the haunting reality he will never have it back.
It all started as a simple matter one September day in 1999 when, after establishing a flourishing maize mill that helped save people from travelling a whopping seven kilometers to either Bembeke Trading Centre or (Bembeke) Turn-off, he was accused of ‘magically’ killing people and putting them in his mill, so his business could make quick returns.
“The next thing....I was awakened at mid-night by the thunderous roll of people who, first, smashed the window panes of my house and then broke my door. Some of them bit me up and….I don’t really remember what actually happened next but I just felt blood oozing from my left ear;(and) when I touched, the left part was not there. Where it went, who took it, and for what, I will never know.
“But that experience shuttered and devastated me, mainly because what they said was not true. In fact, I have never believed that there is witchcraft, that these things are real. I feel the whole belief is merely opium smoke from exhausted brains. We can never develop with this attitude and that’s the reason I left the area a long time ago and am now into cross-border trade, buying things like brankets and shit-beds in South Africa for sale back home,” says Mbulaje.
The father of six adds that when the mob realized that he had lost an ear, they became scared, knowing it would now be a Police case, and disappeared quieter than they came. Some of them were fellow villagers, he says.
Mbulaje must have been lucky to have gone away with his life as others, like 82-year old Patani Phiri from Nkhota-kota, lost their lives under similar circumstances.
Others have been chased from their respective communities, the only people and places they probably ever knew in this life turning their backs on them, as Civil Liberties Committee Executive Director Emmie Chanika observes. Over the years, her organisation has been over-whelmed with requests for shelter and legal aid from individuals suspected by their communities to be practicing witchcraft.
“It’s really becoming nasty and worrisome. Innocent people are being victimized, maimed, even killed –all this for something as nonsense as witchcraft,” says Chanika.
“But, somehow, we still have to do something. Government should stop burying its head in the sand like an ostrich. The thing is; our laws should now recognize the existence of witchcraft, realizing that colonialists included a clause in the Witchcraft Act stipulating that anyone who accused another of practicing it was committing a criminal offence simply because it suited their interests. They never wanted mob justice in villages; they never wanted to see people being forced to drink Mchape, as used to happen with our early traditions and, really, it worked.”
According to the human rights activist, her organisation is currently working on a case where a civil servant in Chikwawa (name withheld) is being chased from an area on accusations of practicing witchcraft. Several children have complained that they were being taught witchcraft by the same- accusations the 'accused' denies.
As if to stamp the issues with his authority, the village headman jurisdicting over the area summoned the individual and ruled in his absence that she lives the area. But the suspect never appeared before the village court on grounds that, as a civil servant, she is not under the jurisdiction of the headman, an argument Cilic supports.
“In fact, we have told her not to move out, and we will make sure we get to the dead-end of this issue. Why it is that only women are accused of teaching children witchcraft? Where are the men in all this? I feel it is because, culturally and traditionally, women are looked down upon; they are the easy scape-goat.”
Pastor Willie Chaponda of Mustard Seed Ministries supports the idea of amending the Witchcraft Act, saying, as a church leader, he has received several complaints from people, lamenting about the practice. Witchcraft has reached a crescendo, he says.
Chaponda explains that he has, to date, received over a hundred people asking him to pray for either them or their children because they are “active witches. So,he says, witchcraft is really there and needs to be recognized as such. There must also be clearly-stipulated punishments for those practicing it to bring back sanity in our communities.
He describes as a fallacy assertions to the effect that only those who accept practicing, “rather, the constitution says ‘pretending' to practice”, should be punished because we know it (witchcraft) is there but not everybody can just come forward and say ‘I practice it’”.
He has ‘proof’: “I once went to minister at a funeral in Chiradzulu and was bewildered that, upon my arrival, children who had been there since morning started to disperse one by one. When I enquired as to what the matter was, I was told that the children had heard that I exorcise people of witchcraft through prayer, and were afraid that I would do the same to them. Here, we see children who practiced witchcraft running away on their own, showing that the practice is there.”
Chaponda even adds that witchcraft varies with the extent of years in practice, it has degrees. It is difficult to pray for someone who has practiced for a long time, and it takes time to exorcise them completely. To some extent, people even vomit such things as snakes, frogs and centipedes, he reveals.
Elizabeth Divala, Blantyre Police Spokesperson- while acknowledging that her office has received as many as 20 cases of witchcraft, with six convictions of self-confessed practitioners (the law says pretenders)- argues that the issue is made complicated by lack of enabling legislation, as the current Act does not recognize witchcraft.
She says the Victim Support Unit (VSU) refers cases of witchcraft back to traditional leaders or the clergy, and that there have been some cases of success in that area, especially with people who are willing to be helped and thus confess.
“These are more-less like spiritual issues because they are mainly perceptions to do with the mind; we are talking about something people say is there but cannot point out (its) form. The only time it works with us is when individuals confess, and we open a file under the charges of pretending to practice witchcraft. Apart from that, we seek the help of religious leaders who seem to be helping us a lot,” says Divala.
Grant Chipangula, Traditional Healers Association of Malawi president, adds his voice to the hot-potato issue. He says any legislation dealing with witchcraft should first be handled by traditional doctors because they are the only ‘experts’ on the issue and, to that effect, more likely to find a remedy over the witchcraft jig-saw.
“Only us,traditional doctors and healers, can providing a lasting solution to this. The problem is that policy makers tend to over-look us, thinking we are less educated to grasp issues they treat as technical. But in our area, and the issue of witchcraft is a very good example, we are our own experts," says Chipangula.
His words could be sober and worth considering, it seems. What with African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN)-Malawi Chapter Executive Director, Ken Williams Mhango, claiming there is even a school drilling children in the practice in Salima district.
The organisation conducted a survey between January and February this year in Machinga. Among other findings, children who confessed to practing the same complained that those who refused t learn the 'trade' from parents or relatives suffered various kinds of abuse.
"Around 60 of the children we interviewed complained that they were subjected to physical assaults as well as food deprivation, so you can see that there is a relationship between child abuse and witchcraft. In fact, the issue also touches on other areas of development such as education, as most children end up sleeping in class instead of being attentive simply because they had been busy all night," says Mhango.
And in Salima, he adds, they established that there was a school training children in witchcraft. 'Around 1000 children are said to be in attendance, and 50 graduate every month".
"These things are real; let us look back into the law. A law that betrays the wishes of the people is not a law, it is a flaw."
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Forgiving others
Forgiveness can be a difficult concept to grasp. While we all have a mental image of what forgiveness "should" look like when others forgive us, knowing how to forgive ourselves or someone else isn't as easy to understand.
When someone else causes us emotional harm, whether unintentional or intentional, learning to let go of this pain can be one of the most difficult transitions we go through. Social workers in the prison system work with families on the process of forgiveness to help ease the transition between incarceration and life on the outside. Similar to restorative justice programs which involve the victim of a crime and the offender, these prison programs seek to develop an understanding of the offenders' acts and come to terms with the eventual return to society.
The families involved tend to view forgiveness as an admission that the past is completely forgotten and life can return to normal as if nothing happened. As you can imagine, this effort at denying the behavior has a negative effect.
Carrying emotional pain, anger, anxiety, and other distressing thoughts about a situation or someone often is easier for us than beginning the forgiveness process. Cognitive-behavioral therapists often stress working on positive thoughts. It can be easier to invest time in negative thoughts, but these therapists work to help redirect energy toward positive change. The more we concentrate our emotional energy on carrying a grudge and not forgiving someone, the more likely we are to become anxious, depressed and feel negatively about the general situation.
Since it is often easy to think of forgiveness in terms of forgetting, we need to examine how we forget. Human memory does not work like computer memory. There is no way to reformat the past. Instead, we look at situations through different lenses. Psychologists often refer to these lenses as perspective. Reality of our situation is how we view it at the time that the impression or memory was formed.
Forgetting a past hurt refers to relearning the circumstances surround the situation, reprocess it through a fresh perspective, and move toward forgiveness. When we look at the outcome of what happened, we can either become bitter and angry or view the end result as an opportunity for personal growth and change.
How to Forgive and Release the Pain
Forgiveness...can you hear the haunting organ music when forgiveness is mentioned? Forgiveness elicits a wrinkled brow and a sinking feeling in many of us. How can we possibly forgive someone who has wronged us? If we forgive, do we have to rekindle a relationship with someone from the past? Does this person deserve our charity? Furthermore, if we do forgive those who have wronged us, how can we honestly feel a release from the anger, hurt, disappointment, grief, wound to our self-value, animosity, teeth-grinding and jaw-clenching rage that we hold inside? Can we truly let go of the grudge? Is it possible to be able to forgive and forget? Even if we should forgive, why would we want to?
We want to forgive to free our lives and cut the tie that binds us and our lives to the transgressor. To forgive does not mean you have to become friends with the person who hurt you. Instead, forgiveness can be the agent that frees you to move on and lighten your energy. Many spiritual teachers point out that we form a strong bond to the people we feel injured us. This bond holds us captive until we forgive--only forgiveness cuts the binding tie.
Difficulty: Moderately EasyInstructions
Step 1Look at circumstances in our own lives and yield to this understanding: People who are malicious, untrustworthy, emotionally disconnected, or incapable of caring actually "know not what they do." This recognition does not excuse the person, but it helps us to release our inner struggle with the notion that this individual could have done something different. The person was not spiritually or emotionally evolved enough to handle it differently. This knowing, at the soul level, is where we release the bondage and pain of our injuries.
Step 2Write a letter to the people you feel have hurt you. In this letter, let them know what they did to hurt you, why it hurt you, and how disappointed or angry you are due to the transgression. Once you are in touch with the pain, you might ask why they did what they did to you and how they would respond now to your pain. The writing of this letter allows you to gain insight and perspective, whether the infraction was intentional or unintentional. You do not mail the letter to the person. It is a tool to assist you in releasing your pain and beginning to forgive. You may gain understanding that people, sometimes, are not evolved emotionally and may have been doing their best at the time. While their behavior is not acceptable, this bit of information may help you free the weight that is keeping you down and sinking in your pain.
Step 3Reply to yourself with a letter from that person. This is your chance for them to say to you, "I'm sorry for hurting you," and perhaps to salve your wound. During this part of the healing, the sting will lessen. Would you like for the person to say, "I was wrong to treat you this way"? If so, write this response. Do not suppress your emotions when writing this letter. This is a great opportunity for you to allow a sigh of real relief in the forgiveness process.
Step 4Use visualization. Another effective forgiveness process is to imagine a gold frame surrounding the face of anyone with whom you would like to
forgive. See them inside the frame and visualize the frame and their
image transforming to gold dust. Blow the gold dust out into the
universe and watch it dissipate into the air and trickle out into space. This beautiful exercise helps you break down the negative energy
and transform it for healing. One additional and interesting forgiveness process is a balloon release image. Place everyone you are ready to forgive in an open field together and tie a balloon to each one. As you work with forgiving each individual, visualize the person floating up to the sky and out into eternity as your pain and grief float away with each person you release.
Step 5Release the anger from your body. One final forgiveness process is through channeling the anger, pain and frustration into Mother Earth and experiencing a transformation of energy. See the negative energy as an orange light traveling through your body, through the spine and chakras, then down and out of the bottoms of your feet into the earth. Observe the energy as it transforms into a rainbow of light energy, lifting from the earth and expanding out into the universe. Try variations of this process and the visualizations. Sometimes you may allow this rainbow of light to travel up and around the body, and reenter through the crown chakra on the top of the head and then leave the body through the heart chakra in small, heart-shaped rainbows or solid pastel hearts, sending love and light out to the world.
Step 6Continue working with these processes until thinking of the
person who hurt you no longer stings or causes tension. When you
reach a point of forgiveness, you feel detached and indifferent in
relationship to the event or person connected to the internal strife
you formerly experienced. This detachment may come and go at
first, until you finally forgive and no longer feel pain when you think
of the event or individual. Make this a pleasant--not dreaded--process
When someone else causes us emotional harm, whether unintentional or intentional, learning to let go of this pain can be one of the most difficult transitions we go through. Social workers in the prison system work with families on the process of forgiveness to help ease the transition between incarceration and life on the outside. Similar to restorative justice programs which involve the victim of a crime and the offender, these prison programs seek to develop an understanding of the offenders' acts and come to terms with the eventual return to society.
The families involved tend to view forgiveness as an admission that the past is completely forgotten and life can return to normal as if nothing happened. As you can imagine, this effort at denying the behavior has a negative effect.
Carrying emotional pain, anger, anxiety, and other distressing thoughts about a situation or someone often is easier for us than beginning the forgiveness process. Cognitive-behavioral therapists often stress working on positive thoughts. It can be easier to invest time in negative thoughts, but these therapists work to help redirect energy toward positive change. The more we concentrate our emotional energy on carrying a grudge and not forgiving someone, the more likely we are to become anxious, depressed and feel negatively about the general situation.
Since it is often easy to think of forgiveness in terms of forgetting, we need to examine how we forget. Human memory does not work like computer memory. There is no way to reformat the past. Instead, we look at situations through different lenses. Psychologists often refer to these lenses as perspective. Reality of our situation is how we view it at the time that the impression or memory was formed.
Forgetting a past hurt refers to relearning the circumstances surround the situation, reprocess it through a fresh perspective, and move toward forgiveness. When we look at the outcome of what happened, we can either become bitter and angry or view the end result as an opportunity for personal growth and change.
How to Forgive and Release the Pain
Forgiveness...can you hear the haunting organ music when forgiveness is mentioned? Forgiveness elicits a wrinkled brow and a sinking feeling in many of us. How can we possibly forgive someone who has wronged us? If we forgive, do we have to rekindle a relationship with someone from the past? Does this person deserve our charity? Furthermore, if we do forgive those who have wronged us, how can we honestly feel a release from the anger, hurt, disappointment, grief, wound to our self-value, animosity, teeth-grinding and jaw-clenching rage that we hold inside? Can we truly let go of the grudge? Is it possible to be able to forgive and forget? Even if we should forgive, why would we want to?
We want to forgive to free our lives and cut the tie that binds us and our lives to the transgressor. To forgive does not mean you have to become friends with the person who hurt you. Instead, forgiveness can be the agent that frees you to move on and lighten your energy. Many spiritual teachers point out that we form a strong bond to the people we feel injured us. This bond holds us captive until we forgive--only forgiveness cuts the binding tie.
Difficulty: Moderately EasyInstructions
Step 1Look at circumstances in our own lives and yield to this understanding: People who are malicious, untrustworthy, emotionally disconnected, or incapable of caring actually "know not what they do." This recognition does not excuse the person, but it helps us to release our inner struggle with the notion that this individual could have done something different. The person was not spiritually or emotionally evolved enough to handle it differently. This knowing, at the soul level, is where we release the bondage and pain of our injuries.
Step 2Write a letter to the people you feel have hurt you. In this letter, let them know what they did to hurt you, why it hurt you, and how disappointed or angry you are due to the transgression. Once you are in touch with the pain, you might ask why they did what they did to you and how they would respond now to your pain. The writing of this letter allows you to gain insight and perspective, whether the infraction was intentional or unintentional. You do not mail the letter to the person. It is a tool to assist you in releasing your pain and beginning to forgive. You may gain understanding that people, sometimes, are not evolved emotionally and may have been doing their best at the time. While their behavior is not acceptable, this bit of information may help you free the weight that is keeping you down and sinking in your pain.
Step 3Reply to yourself with a letter from that person. This is your chance for them to say to you, "I'm sorry for hurting you," and perhaps to salve your wound. During this part of the healing, the sting will lessen. Would you like for the person to say, "I was wrong to treat you this way"? If so, write this response. Do not suppress your emotions when writing this letter. This is a great opportunity for you to allow a sigh of real relief in the forgiveness process.
Step 4Use visualization. Another effective forgiveness process is to imagine a gold frame surrounding the face of anyone with whom you would like to
forgive. See them inside the frame and visualize the frame and their
image transforming to gold dust. Blow the gold dust out into the
universe and watch it dissipate into the air and trickle out into space. This beautiful exercise helps you break down the negative energy
and transform it for healing. One additional and interesting forgiveness process is a balloon release image. Place everyone you are ready to forgive in an open field together and tie a balloon to each one. As you work with forgiving each individual, visualize the person floating up to the sky and out into eternity as your pain and grief float away with each person you release.
Step 5Release the anger from your body. One final forgiveness process is through channeling the anger, pain and frustration into Mother Earth and experiencing a transformation of energy. See the negative energy as an orange light traveling through your body, through the spine and chakras, then down and out of the bottoms of your feet into the earth. Observe the energy as it transforms into a rainbow of light energy, lifting from the earth and expanding out into the universe. Try variations of this process and the visualizations. Sometimes you may allow this rainbow of light to travel up and around the body, and reenter through the crown chakra on the top of the head and then leave the body through the heart chakra in small, heart-shaped rainbows or solid pastel hearts, sending love and light out to the world.
Step 6Continue working with these processes until thinking of the
person who hurt you no longer stings or causes tension. When you
reach a point of forgiveness, you feel detached and indifferent in
relationship to the event or person connected to the internal strife
you formerly experienced. This detachment may come and go at
first, until you finally forgive and no longer feel pain when you think
of the event or individual. Make this a pleasant--not dreaded--process
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