November 14 - December 15, 2011
November 14, 2011
Egypt
Egyptian women lament how they have been marginalized in the discussion process of the new Egyptian government. "We were at the front of the protests, getting beaten and supporting the future of Egypt," recalls Heba. But now, she says, "Women are not being heard from and this is causing a lot of frustration among myself and my friends who want the ability to choose our lives and what we do."
The role of women in Egypt's transitional government has been very limited, and no women were included on the committee that drafted Egypt's transitional constitutional declaration. The new elections law does away with the Mubarak-era quota, which allocated 64 seats in parliament for women. The new law requires that at least some candidates be women, but some have complained that their parties are assigning them spots on election lists that will make it hard for them to win a seat in parliament.
The controversy over the status of women in post-Mubarak Egypt came to a head at the start of November after Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, a leading presidential candidate and Muslim cleric, gave two television interviews in which he outlined an Islamic future for the country that would impose Saudi Arabian-style dress and behavior on the public.
November 15, 2011
Kuwait
Kuwaiti citizen has been arrested for allegedly beating his Ethiopian housekeeper to death, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Citing legal sources, Al-Jarida daily said the man, who was not named, confessed that he "brutally beat up" the maid for seven days because she refused to work.
November 16, 2011
Jordan
A man from the southern city of Tafilah killed his sister in public by slitting her throat for being involved in a romantic relation, police sources said on Wednesday.
The killer told police he wanted to kill his sister to cleanse the family honour after the victim admitted involvement with a man who wanted to marry her, said the police sources.
Saudi Arabia
Women with sexy eyes in Saudi Arabia may be forced to cover them up, according to the spokesperson of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) in the conservative Gulf kingdom.
Spokesman of the Ha'eal district, Sheikh Motlab al-Nabet said the committee has the right to stop a women whose eyes seem "tempting" and order her to cover them immediately. Saudi women are already forced to wear a loose black dress and to cover their hair and in some areas, their face, while in public or face fines or sometimes worse, including public lashings. More HERE.
November 22, 2011
Kuwait
Kuwaiti Shaykh Yasir al-Habib, a Shi'a, explains and justifies the Islamic practice of zawaj al-mut'a, or temporary marriage (lit. 'pleasure marriage'), which is in a sense Islamically-sanctioned prostitution.
Pakistan
A bomb attack on a girls' school in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday killed a policeman, wounded eight others and destroyed a wall, police said. The remote-controlled bomb was planted at the outer wall of the government-run middle school in the outskirts of Mardan town in troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. The bomb exploded after police arrived to investigate complaints about a suspicious plastic bag outside the school, which was closed at the time.
"One policeman was killed and eight other people including five civilians were wounded," Zeshan Haider, Mardan police chief, told AFP by telephone. Three policemen were also wounded but no pupils were hurt. Haider said the target was the school. Islamist militants oppose co-education and have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in northwest Pakistan in recent years.
November 23, 2011
Britain
Each year, 6,500 girls in central London could undergo female genital mutilation. Now the city hopes to curb the practice by raising awareness through the integration of FGM education in secondary school curriculum.
Although female genital mutilation (FGM) is most commonly performed in Africa, where some 30 countries have subjected approximately 92 million girls to this practice, it is also an issue in Western countries. Parents from immigrant communities in countries including Germany, France and the United Kingdom are taking their young daughters abroad to subject them to FGM. Anecdotal evidence also points to it taking place in large European centers like London.
November 24, 2011
Afghanistan
Afghan prosecutors announced Wednesday that a young rape victim, jailed for adultery after reporting the crime and pushed into marrying her attacker, would have her sentence reduced from twelve to three years. The prosecutor said she would, for now, remain in jail -- with her child -- for not reporting her attack fast enough.
In a remarkable case that is all too common in Afghanistan but has drawn international attention, 21-year-old Gulnaz was attacked by a relative two years ago, but sentenced to 12 years in jail for adultery.
She has since given birth to a girl from the attack. Because of the dishonor of sex outside of wedlock, she had been given the choice of marrying her attacker to get out of jail and legitimize her infant daughter in the eyes of Afghanistan's conservative society. Update HERE.
November 25, 2011
Iran
A woman blinded and horrifically disfigured in an acid attack by a spurned admirer is suing Iran's judiciary after accusing senior officials of cheating her out of compensation when she agreed to spare her attacker from a similar fate.
Ameneh Bahrami, 34, suffered severe injuries to her eyes, face and hands when a former university classmate, Majid Movahedi, threw acid in her face after she rejected his advances. In November 2008, a criminal court in Tehran ordered Movahedi to be blinded in both eyes under Iran's application of the sharia code of qisas, which allows retribution for violent crimes. But he was given an eleventh hour reprieve in July when Ms Bahrami exercised her right to pardon him. Prison officials had been preparing to drop acid into his eyes when the pardon was delivered.
Egypt
For the past week Tahrir Square has seen mass protests and violent clashes between regime forces and pro-democracy campaigners demanding an end to trial by military tribunal and a faster transition to civilian rule.
French television reporter Caroline Sinz from the state network France 3 was subjected to a violent sexual assualt by a gang of young men and boys and her cameraman was beaten as they tried to cover the [Eyptian] revolt. The attacks came shortly after Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy reported that she had been the victim of a grotesque sexual assault by police after she was arrested during the protests.
Both cases recalled the February 11 sexual assault on South African CBS correspondent Lara Logan, who was seized by a mob as she worked in the square. Several other women, both Egyptian and foreign, have complained of sexual aggression from both protesters and security forces.
Pakistan
A New Jersey resident whose daughter and son-in-law were gunned down while on a trip to Pakistan was named as the chief suspect in their deaths. Muzaffar Hussain is suspected of murdering his New York native daughter Uzma Naurin, 30, and her husband, Saif Rehman, 31, in an "honor killing," the Daily Mail reported.
Naurin and Rehman were shot dead Nov. 1 when their car was ambushed near the northeastern Pakistan city of Gujrat. The car's driver and several other passengers were uninjured. The couple -- who were living in Scotland but planning to relocate to the US -- were in Pakistan to attend a family wedding which Hussain was also attending. Hussain has since returned to his home in Jersey City, N.J.
November 26, 2011
Iraq
One in five Iraqi women is subjected to either physical or psychological abuse, often inflicted by family members, Minister of State for Women's Rights Ibtihal al-Zaidi said on Saturday.
"One-fifth of Iraqi women are subjected to two types of violence, physical and psychological, constituting a very serious danger to the family and society," Zaidi said at a conference dedicated to fighting violence against women. "The most dangerous violence against woman is family violence, from the father, the brother, the husband or even the son," she said.
Maldives
The government will not allow debates to be held in the Maldives on issues that are against the fundamentals of Islam, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said today. The minister's comments come two days after the UN human rights chief called for a public debate in the Maldives on the practice of flogging women found guilty of extra-marital sex.
Minister Naseem told Haveeru that the government would not open a basic Islamic principle such as flogging for public debate in the Maldives despite requests to do so. "What's there to discuss about flogging? There is nothing to debate about in a matter clearly stated in the religion of Islam. No one can argue with God," he said. "Our foreign ministry will not allow that to happen."
November 28, 2011
Pakistan
A woman and her two young daughters received severe burnt injuries when an infuriated youth threw acid on them over a marriage dispute on Saturday.
UK
More than three thousand London girls are at risk of genital mutilation every year, experts warned today.
The report by black and ethnic minority women's organisation Imkaan found that in the city 3,500 baby girls are born every year to mothers who have suffered female genital mutilation, and therefore are at risk themselves. This is an increase of 65 per cent in 10 years.
Imkaan is calling for all school teachers to be trained to help girls who are facing violence and is calling on David Cameron to tackle the issue. Marai Larasi, director of Imkaan, said: "It is not acceptable that in 2011 many girls and women living in Britain face extreme, violent threats to their safety and even to their lives. These issues are neglected because of fears of being labelled at best culturally insensitive and at worst racist.
November 29, 2011
Iran
The Iranian government calls it the Family Protection Bill, but activists call it the "Anti-Family Protection Bill."
It would give men the right to take a second wife without the permission of the first, and it would enshrine a man's right to have an unlimited number of temporary marriages, which can last from 10 minutes to 99 years. Those arrangements come from Shariah law and have always existed in Iran, but the Family Protection Bill would make them official.
Tunisia
A group of Salafists disrupted classes on Monday at a university west of the capital Tunis, demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear full face veils, officials said.
The mob of Salafists also took hostage the dean of the University of Letters, Arts, and Humanities of Manouba along with several other professors. One of the professors who witnessed the protest said the group threatened him and verbally abused other professors. The professor called on the protection of the army, but no security forces had yet been confirmed arrived.
November 30, 2011
USA
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would make it a crime under U.S. law to take young girls out of the U.S. for the purpose of genital mutilation.
Reid's bill, the Girls' Protection Act, follows up on the successful passage of another Reid bill in 1996 that criminalizes this procedure in the U.S. on girls under the age of 18. But he said that law has what he called a "vacation loophole" that allows female genital mutilation, or FGM, to take place on U.S. girls when they are out of the country. See more info HERE.
December 1, 2011
Saudi Arabia
Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in 'no more virgins', the country's religious council has warned.
A 'scientific' report claims relaxing the ban would also see more Saudis - both men and women - turn to homosexuality and pornography. The startling conclusions were drawn by Muslim scholars at the Majlis al-Ifta' al-A'ala, Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University. Read a Muslim man's reply HERE.
December 2, 2011
Britain
A teenage student stabbed to death and dumped in a canal was groomed for sexual exploitation by adults from the age of 12, it has been revealed. Laura Wilson, 17, had been tracked by social services since 2005 after she was identified as being 'at risk' of sexual exploitation by British Pakistani men.
But their work focused on other girls who were more closely associated with abusers in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The white teenager was the victim of a cycle of sexual abuse and little was done to help her, Laura's family have claimed.
Afghanistan
Gunmen attacked and sprayed an Afghan family with acid in their home after the father rejected a man's bid to marry his teenage daughter, authorities said Thursday.
All five received medical treatment, with the mother and two daughters later discharged, medical officials said. The teenager is in intensive care and her father is still hospitalized, said Abdul Shokoor Rahimi, a doctor at the provincial hospital. The attack came on the heels of her family's refusal to marry off the teen to another local gunman.
December 3, 2011
Britain
Nearly 3,000 so-called honour attacks were recorded by police in Britain last year, new research has revealed.
According to figures obtained by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (Ikwro), at least 2,823 incidents of 'honour-based' violence took place, with the highest number recorded in London.
The charity said the statistics fail to provide the full picture of the levels of 'honour' violence in the UK , but are the best national estimate so far.
December 5, 2011
Italy
Mohamed El Ayani (39), a Moroccan living in Brescello, killed his wife, Rachida Radi (35), since he suspected she was converting to Christianity. The victim was killed with a hammer by her ex-husband, from whom she was divorcing. Once the investigation into her death is finished, her body will be flown for burial in Morocco.
Mohamed El Ayani turned himself in to the police shortly after the murder, holding his 4-year old daughter. He told the investigators his wife often went to chruch since she wanted to convert to Catholicism.
USA
The prominent human rights organization American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), its Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) program and the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force (VAST) will be hosting the first-ever human rights conference dedicated to exposing the plight of women under Islamic law in Dearborn, Michigan on the anniversary of the honor murder of Jessica Mokdad: the Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference.
December 7, 2011
Egypt
Egyptian belly dancers vowed Wednesday not to retire if Islamists take over in the predominantly Muslim country. "My job is not against religion, so I will not quit," said celebrated Egyptian belly dancer Lucy.
The Islamists have made big gains in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, triggering fears that they will restrict freedoms and entertainment. Belly dancing, popular for decades in the Middle East, is branded by the Islamists as immoral and un-Islamic.
"This is our job, which we will not give up," Al Shorouq quoted Safwa and Samara, two other Egyptian belly dancers, as saying. "Belly dancing is an art like any other form of art," they added.
Recent statements by ultra-conservative Salafists have raised worries among Egyptian entertainers, some of whom have said they were considering leaving the country.
December 8, 2011
Poland
A prosecutor in Sieradz says that Poland has probably seen its first case of honor killing. 34-year old Agnieszka, a mother of four, was murdered 2 years ago in June. The prosecution has accused a 40-year old Pakistani called Naaem, who has lived in Poland for 10 years.
The investigation, according to prosecutor Józef Mizerski, is not a typical a one in Poland. It is known as the honor killing. "In Pakistan, in 2007 alone, 1261 women lost their lives and none of the perpetrators was held responsible", says Mizerski.
December 9, 2011
Canada
The Supreme Court must decide whether women may keep their faces covered in court. Or rather whether Muslim women can, but other women can't.
A young Muslim woman in her thirties, known as N.S., claims that the psychological distress of testifying with her face uncovered against two male defendants, relatives she has accused of sexually assaulting her as a child, trumps the long-honoured right of the defendants' lawyers to see her expression under cross-examination.
The case went to the Ontario Court of Appeal in June of 2010. There, irony was heaped on irony in the presentations of two intervening groups whose perspectives sum up the conflict - the ideology of multiculturalism versus the sacred tenets of democracy - that sits at the heart of this case.
The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) - a bastion of feminist activists - argued that the alleged victim should be allowed to wear the veil if her religion demands it, stating that forcing a Muslim woman to uncover her face while testifying "could very well be seen and experienced as an act of racial, religious and gendered domination."
Opposing LEAF's viewpoint was the Muslim Canadian Congress. MCC spokesman Tarek Fatah maintained that religious freedoms are not absolute. They must be balanced against the right of a criminal defendant and his advocate to look his accuser in the face and assess her expression: "[Muslim women] should be treated like any other woman and receive the same protections." Fatah also objected to the Charter being a vehicle for gender inequality: "The covered female face is a reminder to the wearer that she is not free and to the observer, that she is a possession."
Turkey
"This is about mosques being a space for women," declared Kadriye Avci Erdemli, Istanbul's deputy mufti, the city's second most powerful administrator of the Islamic faith. "When a woman enters a mosque, she is entering the house of God and she should experience the same sacred treatment. In front of God, men and women are equal; they have the same rights to practice their religion."
As part of the "Beautification of Mosques for Women" project, Erdemli sent 30 teams to visit all of Istanbul's mosques and report back on the facilities for women. What the teams found was shocking, she claimed. "Many of the mosques have no toilets for women, no place for women to wash before praying," Erdemli recounted. "Most of the places allocated for women were used as storage places, and those that weren't were usually filthy and freezing cold in winter."
But it's not only a push for cleanliness and improved sanitation that is underway. The way mosques are arranged is also being changed, according to Erdemli. "In most mosques, the women's area was divided by a curtain or a wall, and this is not fair," she elaborated. "They are sacred places and women have the right to take advantage of their spiritual feeling as well."
In Istanbul's mosques, to reflect the beautification project's goal of equal worship space, "all the curtains and walls are coming down," Erdemli said. "But segregation will remain; men and children will pray in front of women."
December 12, 2011
Saudi Arabia
The head of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs argued in Riyadh on Saturday that general perceptions about Western lifestyle and culture have played a major role in influencing public opinion on women's rights in a Muslim society. Fuad Abdul Kareem Al-Abdul Kareem, RCWS' secretary-general, said the forum's main focus, among other issues, is on the socioeconomic factors of Saudi women based on Saudi law.
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference on the current campaign in favor of allowing Saudi women to work for the first time at shopping malls, Al-Abdul Kareem said that there are discussions on this matter among Saudi intellectuals. They [Muslim women]should not be accused of being backward because of their religion, he added. He said if Westerners want to know the reality about Muslim women, they should read books available on this issue, he observed.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Bravo Martin Mphande for Your 'Kalibu' Take
I have been to the place half a dozen time.
Each time, it was such a nice experience.
I have tested the 'Kalibu' food; it is better than what most Third-Grade tourism institutions can offer.
It is rare to find schools that prohibit the use of cellphones, and send 'disobedient' students home on the strength of their phone-addiction!
I have seen some of them (students) shake in the legs.
They know the rules are put in place for a good cause.
They know it is for their own good.
The headmaster, the director, the teachers- they are all there for one cause: To create a new generation of leaders.
I wish I had two children. I would send them all there.
You see, Kalibu Ministries is also there to take care of the students' spiritual needs.
I have seen a couple of students getting baptised.
Well, even if some students do not get baptised; at least, they sing gospel songs during the morning devotion.
The way the students sing, you would be disconnected to the powers-that-be if you do not feel a certain warmth in your bosom.
Oh, Kalibu is such a wonderful place.
Strategically located near Chileka International Airport.
The students, in addition, have opportunities to travel far and wide- in pursuit of that animal called education!
Each time, it was such a nice experience.
I have tested the 'Kalibu' food; it is better than what most Third-Grade tourism institutions can offer.
It is rare to find schools that prohibit the use of cellphones, and send 'disobedient' students home on the strength of their phone-addiction!
I have seen some of them (students) shake in the legs.
They know the rules are put in place for a good cause.
They know it is for their own good.
The headmaster, the director, the teachers- they are all there for one cause: To create a new generation of leaders.
I wish I had two children. I would send them all there.
You see, Kalibu Ministries is also there to take care of the students' spiritual needs.
I have seen a couple of students getting baptised.
Well, even if some students do not get baptised; at least, they sing gospel songs during the morning devotion.
The way the students sing, you would be disconnected to the powers-that-be if you do not feel a certain warmth in your bosom.
Oh, Kalibu is such a wonderful place.
Strategically located near Chileka International Airport.
The students, in addition, have opportunities to travel far and wide- in pursuit of that animal called education!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2012
Conference Secretariat
DW-MEDIA SERVICES GmbH
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
53113 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49.228.429-2142
Fax: +49.228.429-2140
gmf(at)dw-world.de
Deutsche Welle via TV, Radio and Internet:
News, Analysis and Service from Germany and Europe in 30 Languages 25-27 JUNE 2012 • BONN , GERMANY
International conference
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2012
Culture. Education. Media.
Shaping a sustainable world
Approximately 850 million people around the world are illiterate,most of them in crisis regions and war zones.
In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to declare the ten-year period from 2005-2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It is increasingly evident that education, culture and upbringing form the key to peaceful co-existence and a sustainable future.
The 2012 Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum will examine the role and responsibility of the media with their images and messages. How can media contribute constructively to cultural diversity? How can they serve to enhance awareness of the essential importance of education for sustainable development? Can media themselves carry out educational activities? Do they serve as a role model for presenting and conveying educational content?
The conference is divided into the following subject areas:
Right to education and Education For All (EFA)
Preserving and advancing cultural diversity / World Heritage
Political culture and intercultural dialogue
Education for sustainability (cultural, economic, political, social)
New approaches to learning (E-learning, social media etc.)
Media and education – What can the media contribute?
The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is a congress with international reach. It draws media representatives from around theworld – including many of Deutsche Welle’s partners – and people from the fields of politics, culture, business, development cooperation and science. About 1600 participants from more than 100 countries attended the conference in 2011.
More information on the conference can be found here:
www.dw-gmf.de
Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. Its task is to explain Germany’s role as a cultured European nation with democratic freedoms based on the rule of law, and to promote understanding and exchange between cultures and peoples.
DW-MEDIA SERVICES GmbH
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
53113 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49.228.429-2142
Fax: +49.228.429-2140
gmf(at)dw-world.de
Deutsche Welle via TV, Radio and Internet:
News, Analysis and Service from Germany and Europe in 30 Languages 25-27 JUNE 2012 • BONN , GERMANY
International conference
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2012
Culture. Education. Media.
Shaping a sustainable world
Approximately 850 million people around the world are illiterate,most of them in crisis regions and war zones.
In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to declare the ten-year period from 2005-2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It is increasingly evident that education, culture and upbringing form the key to peaceful co-existence and a sustainable future.
The 2012 Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum will examine the role and responsibility of the media with their images and messages. How can media contribute constructively to cultural diversity? How can they serve to enhance awareness of the essential importance of education for sustainable development? Can media themselves carry out educational activities? Do they serve as a role model for presenting and conveying educational content?
The conference is divided into the following subject areas:
Right to education and Education For All (EFA)
Preserving and advancing cultural diversity / World Heritage
Political culture and intercultural dialogue
Education for sustainability (cultural, economic, political, social)
New approaches to learning (E-learning, social media etc.)
Media and education – What can the media contribute?
The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is a congress with international reach. It draws media representatives from around theworld – including many of Deutsche Welle’s partners – and people from the fields of politics, culture, business, development cooperation and science. About 1600 participants from more than 100 countries attended the conference in 2011.
More information on the conference can be found here:
www.dw-gmf.de
Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. Its task is to explain Germany’s role as a cultured European nation with democratic freedoms based on the rule of law, and to promote understanding and exchange between cultures and peoples.
True or False: Is This Man Walking on Water?
Apologists cheat that there are three men who are on record to have walked on water.
Here is what they say: The 3rd man in history to walk on water.
.The 1st one was Christ.
. The 2nd one was Peter (the apostle).
. Then there was this guy, Jose.
Below is Jose, the man they claim to have walked on water. Question is: Is it true, or false? Is Jose walking on water here, as these apologists cite this picture as evidence that he walked on water?
NOTE: SOURCE OF PICTURE UNKNOWN
Here is what they say: The 3rd man in history to walk on water.
.The 1st one was Christ.
. The 2nd one was Peter (the apostle).
. Then there was this guy, Jose.
Below is Jose, the man they claim to have walked on water. Question is: Is it true, or false? Is Jose walking on water here, as these apologists cite this picture as evidence that he walked on water?
NOTE: SOURCE OF PICTURE UNKNOWN
The Five Stages of Conversion
As we discuss the five stages of Conversion we need to ask ourselves
the question continuously: What motivates us to righteous living?
STAGE 1: PEOPLE
Many of us, in fact most of us are converted to a person at first; the
missionaries, the bishop, a friend or relative. We believe because they
believe. Our testimonies are reliant on their testimonies. We have what is
called a “borrowed testimony”. The problem with this is that people change
and when they change what happens to you?•
•STAGE 2: THE CHURCH
There are those who are converted to the church; the organization, the
auxiliaries, the programs. We love going to Relief Society, Mutual, work
parties or activities. The downfall of this stage is that the church
changes. I can remember when we used to go to church in the morning and in
the evening on Sunday. Now we only go for a three hour block in the
morning. What happens to your testimony when your ward, which meets on a
Sunday morning, is told that they must start meeting on a Sunday afternoon?
What happens when you become too old to attend the Young Men or Young Women
programs, and now you have to attend Relief Society or Priesthood?•
•STAGE 3: THE GOSPEL
I believe that most of us find ourselves at this stage of conversion,
where we are converted to the principles, the teachings, and the
commandments. We could be found thinking “I am proud of being 100%
obedient”. The downfall of this stage is that the scriptures say it is a
slothful servant who is commanded in all things. A good example of one who
is converted to the gospel is found in Luke 18:18, where a Young ruler asks
the Lord “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord then answers
him by enumerating some of the commandments, to which the ruler answers:
“All these have I kept from my youth up”. Jesus then challenges him to move
his conversion up a stage by saying “Come follow me”. The Ruler goes away
sorrowful.
In Alma32:27,28,41-43 Alma compares the gospel to a seed and how we
should nourish it.•
•STAGE 4 : JESUS CHRIST
When we are converted to Jesus Christ, we are motivated to righteous
living by His love for us and our love for Him. The downfall of this stage
is that we do things because we feel obligated. We go through the motions
with the attitude that we have to do it.
In Alma 33:19-23 Alma teaches how we should look to Jesus Christ and
live.
It is difficult to think that there is yet a higher stage.•
•STAGE 5: THE ATONEMENT
When we listen to the Apostles bearing their testimonies they invariably
testify of the atonement, and how it works in their lives. When we are
converted to the atonement we have the attitude, “I want to do it”. We are
prepared to sacrifice all, so that He does not have to sacrifice anymore.
In Galatians 2: 20 we read “I am crucified with Christ: never the less I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live, in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loveth me, and gave
Himself for me.”
In Alma 34:8-16 Amulek explains beautifully how the atonement works.•
• The transformation that takes place through the stages of conversion
is like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. We are like the
caterpillar that is ground bound and lives a mundane life of no change with
a limited perspective of life. He then enters a cocoon, as we enter the
church. There are many things that we experience as we go through each
stage of the conversion process, learning principles and participating in
ordinances that will transform us like the caterpillar is transformed into
a beautiful butterfly. As we learn to apply the atonement we will be able
to “fly” and see from above, as God sees. People will notice a change in
our countenances and we will shine from within.
the question continuously: What motivates us to righteous living?
STAGE 1: PEOPLE
Many of us, in fact most of us are converted to a person at first; the
missionaries, the bishop, a friend or relative. We believe because they
believe. Our testimonies are reliant on their testimonies. We have what is
called a “borrowed testimony”. The problem with this is that people change
and when they change what happens to you?•
•STAGE 2: THE CHURCH
There are those who are converted to the church; the organization, the
auxiliaries, the programs. We love going to Relief Society, Mutual, work
parties or activities. The downfall of this stage is that the church
changes. I can remember when we used to go to church in the morning and in
the evening on Sunday. Now we only go for a three hour block in the
morning. What happens to your testimony when your ward, which meets on a
Sunday morning, is told that they must start meeting on a Sunday afternoon?
What happens when you become too old to attend the Young Men or Young Women
programs, and now you have to attend Relief Society or Priesthood?•
•STAGE 3: THE GOSPEL
I believe that most of us find ourselves at this stage of conversion,
where we are converted to the principles, the teachings, and the
commandments. We could be found thinking “I am proud of being 100%
obedient”. The downfall of this stage is that the scriptures say it is a
slothful servant who is commanded in all things. A good example of one who
is converted to the gospel is found in Luke 18:18, where a Young ruler asks
the Lord “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord then answers
him by enumerating some of the commandments, to which the ruler answers:
“All these have I kept from my youth up”. Jesus then challenges him to move
his conversion up a stage by saying “Come follow me”. The Ruler goes away
sorrowful.
In Alma32:27,28,41-43 Alma compares the gospel to a seed and how we
should nourish it.•
•STAGE 4 : JESUS CHRIST
When we are converted to Jesus Christ, we are motivated to righteous
living by His love for us and our love for Him. The downfall of this stage
is that we do things because we feel obligated. We go through the motions
with the attitude that we have to do it.
In Alma 33:19-23 Alma teaches how we should look to Jesus Christ and
live.
It is difficult to think that there is yet a higher stage.•
•STAGE 5: THE ATONEMENT
When we listen to the Apostles bearing their testimonies they invariably
testify of the atonement, and how it works in their lives. When we are
converted to the atonement we have the attitude, “I want to do it”. We are
prepared to sacrifice all, so that He does not have to sacrifice anymore.
In Galatians 2: 20 we read “I am crucified with Christ: never the less I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live, in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loveth me, and gave
Himself for me.”
In Alma 34:8-16 Amulek explains beautifully how the atonement works.•
• The transformation that takes place through the stages of conversion
is like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. We are like the
caterpillar that is ground bound and lives a mundane life of no change with
a limited perspective of life. He then enters a cocoon, as we enter the
church. There are many things that we experience as we go through each
stage of the conversion process, learning principles and participating in
ordinances that will transform us like the caterpillar is transformed into
a beautiful butterfly. As we learn to apply the atonement we will be able
to “fly” and see from above, as God sees. People will notice a change in
our countenances and we will shine from within.
CPJ: Mission Journal: Secrets bill spurs South African press
By Robert Mahoney/CPJ Deputy Director
Irrespective of whether South Africa actually implements the most draconian parts of state secrets legislation now under consideration, the media in the continent's most open democracy already feel under threat. The prospect of 25-year jail sentences for journalists publishing "classified" information has galvanized disparate news outlets and journalists groups to work together like never before.
The ruling African National Congress, sensing popular discontent over its record on unemployment, housing, and basic services, has proposed two measures that would rein in a press that has been making its politicians look bad by rooting out corruption stories. Journalists and civil society leaders call the legislation overly broad and badly written. They say it will effectively criminalize investigative reporting, prevent ordinary citizens from obtaining basic public information, and allow authorities to classify documents to avoid political embarrassment rather than safeguard national security.
The Protection of State Information Bill has lost some of its most restrictive features since it first surfaced in 2008. But the version that passed the lower house of parliament in November, where the ANC holds a nearly two-thirds majority, still gives government the power to declare almost any information secret--hence its popular name, the "secrecy bill."
Nobel laureates archbishop Desmond Tutu and writer Nadine Gordimer have blasted the bill. The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has picked apart its legal inconsistencies, both with the country's internationally admired constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, and with other freedom of information statutes. Even the ANC's powerful ally, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, came out against the bill, which would curb union members' rights to act as whistle-blowers against incompetence and corruption.
Press freedom advocates are also concerned about the international effects of any legislation, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where authoritarian leaders may use the South African experience as a pretext to block or even roll back media reform in their own states. "I tell the ANC whatever we do here has a very big impact on the continent," said Faith Pansy Tlakula, the African Union's special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
If the media, civil society, Right2Know, and political opposition campaign now under way fails to stop the bill, journalists will turn to the Constitutional Court to strike it down.
The bill has emerged against the backdrop of political infighting within the ANC, which is facing mounting criticism and street protests by groups frustrated with its failure to deliver on promises to improve the economy and provide housing, health, and education services. Unemployment is running around 25 percent, and is higher still among youth.
ANC frustration with media criticism starts at the top, with President Jacob Zuma, who has brought defamation suits against a number of publications and leading cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, known as Zapiro. Zuma runs for re-election in a year's time. The ANC also charges the media, which it perceives as still largely owned and staffed by whites, with failing to transform quickly enough to reflect South Africa's black majority.
Zuma has led the push against South Africa's press. (Reuters/Mike Hutchings)
Zuma has led the push against South Africa's press. (Reuters/Mike Hutchings)
"The hostility to media you get in government circles is deep," said Anton Harber, professor of journalism at Witwatersrand University. Like many journalists, he is concerned by another ANC proposal to set up a statutory Media Appeals Tribunal to handle complaints against the press. The tribunal would answer to the ANC-dominated Parliament and effectively undermine the current self-regulatory Press Council of South Africa.
"The Protection of Information Bill is the storm that's making landfall right now; the cold front parked out in the ocean is the Media Appeals Tribunal, which will be upon us in the New Year," said Nic Dawes, editor of the weekly Mail & Guardian, one of the country's foremost investigative newspapers.
"All this is going on because the ANC has a crisis of legitimacy. It has an internal crisis of legitimacy. It can't govern itself; it's torn apart by factionalism and greed. ... Then it has a crisis of legitimacy with its electorate who see people driving past them in very big, smart cars and living nice lives, and are angry about it," Dawes said.
"The ramifications of this are bad," said Tuwani Gumani, general secretary of the Media Workers Association of South Africa, or MWASA. "The ANC has said the only opposition we have are the media."
Barney Mthombothi, editor the Financial Mail, agrees. "We are acting as the opposition because the country doesn't have an effective opposition. ... Most of the corruption that comes out and actually embarrasses the government comes out because of media investigations."
The ANC's casting of the media as its only opponent has been long in the making, according to editors across the print and broadcast spectrum. Freed of the censorship regime of apartheid, journalists enjoyed unprecedented freedom and access to information under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. But these freedoms began to be curtailed by Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, and this trend has accelerated under Zuma.
"A strong contingent within the ANC wants the Media Appeals Tribunal," said Mark van der Velden, editor of the domestic news agency, SAPA. "It could be even more destructive of press freedom than the secrecy bill. ... It is another instance of the ANC narrowing the space for debate."
Journalists argue that unlike the secrecy bill, the tribunal is aimed directly at them and could lead to the registration of news outlets and eventually the licensing of journalists; in order to fine or sanction reporters in the expanding universe of online publications, after all, the statutory body would have to define who is a journalist.
"The Media Appeals Tribunal is our far biggest threat and we are nowhere near prepared for that," according to William Bird, director of the Media Monitoring Africa. He describes the ANC's motivation for silencing critics as: "'You need to punish these people.'... They will justify it on the basis of 'you impugn my dignity', and the whole basis of apartheid was about fundamentally violating people's right to dignity. That right trumps the media's right to be able to tell the story even if it's factual."
Many free speech advocates have made the comparison with the apartheid era.
"The ANC sees that it can do what apartheid did, which is control information," said MWASA's Gumani. "The secrecy bill has crystallized everything that everyone hates about the ANC: arrogance, abuse of power and the impunity that goes with it."
However, voices are now being raised among some working journalists cautioning against the comparison. "It's very seductive, very easy to make the comparison to apartheid (but) it's very counterproductive," said Dawes of the Mail & Guardian. He argues that journalists should focus on how the press was not free then and should guard against losing the freedoms it has since acquired. The argument should be that "to force on us a choice between our professional ethics, our duty, our vocation and the law is something that should never happen in a democracy. We are not saying this is like apartheid. We are saying we remember that pain."
Press freedom advocates have also started urging the civil society and political coalition against the secrecy bill to focus less on its impact on the media and more on its effects on ordinary South Africans in order to build broader political support.
"The bill is not just about journalists but about my mother not being able to get information from a government department," said Elston Seppie, executive director of the Freedom of Expression Institute, or FXI. "People want to engage politically with the state. It is critical to move beyond just thinking about the bill as a media-restricting measure, but on its impact generally on human rights."
Opponents say the bill will lead to the classification of politically embarrassing information and frighten potential whistle-blowers and confidential sources. In theory, any journalist who is given a confidential document by a source is supposed to hand it to the authorities or face at least five years' jail for possession, thereby endangering the source.
"The securocrats are going beyond themselves in wanting secrecy around things that don't need to be kept secret," said Moegsien Williams, editor of The Star. The chilling effect of this is already apparent both on journalists and the holders of information upon whom they rely.
"Even though it's not enacted, you've got that shift now," said Bird of Media Monitoring Africa. "Instead of how [officials] can enable access, it's about how they can prevent access."
ANC members say both the bill and the tribunal are needed to combat spies and lies. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu defended the bill as a reform of an apartheid-era law and safeguard for state secrets against unidentified foreign spies. "There is no intention to curb media freedom in this country," he said. The proposal for a tribunal arose because self-regulation was not working, he added, and newspapers were printing false stories about ANC members. He called the Press Council a "toothless dog" and said its complaints mechanism had to be "significantly strengthened" to protect citizens' constitutional right to dignity, otherwise ANC members would continue to push for the proposal to be turned into legislation. He rejected the accusation, however, that a statutory tribunal meant government control.
"We have never called for state regulation of the media," Mthembu said.
The Press Council counters by saying that aggrieved readers have recourse in civil court or through its own appeal procedure, which received 240 complaints in the first 11 months of this year compared with 213 in 2010. "Two thirds of complaints brought are upheld," according to Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe.
The press freedom climate is certainly sunnier than elsewhere in the continent. There are no journalists in jail, and none have been killed here since the early 1990s. Yet reporters, particularly broadcasters, have complained of increasing harassment by police preventing access or filming. Journalists say they have documented some 20 cases in the past two years of reporters and photographers being detained, sometimes overnight, for interfering with police in the execution of their duties, but prosecutors did not press charges. CPJ wrote to Zuma in 2010 about the arrest and ongoing prosecution of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika over an unpublished story critical of the police.
Editors doubt that the most restrictive elements of the secrecy bill will make it to the statute books. Many believe it will be amended during its passage through the upper house, the National Council of Provinces. Nevertheless, the final version, which must be signed by Zuma, will still be problematic especially if it does not include the media's demand for a public interest clause that would allow journalists to argue that the public's right to know supersedes the need for secrecy in any given case. That is why they pin their hopes on the 11-person Constitutional Court. Zuma has recently appointed a new chief justice to the bench but his vote carries the same weight as that of the other judges who have so far proved independent. They may strike down the bill as being in violation of Article 16 of the South African Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
"I think that whatever [the ANC] comes up with can be taken to the Constitutional Court and I think we can win," Financial Mail editor Mthombothi said. Media lawyer Dario Milo noted that the court has not always found in favor of the press, but with the "broad provisions on criminality in its current form the court will likely strike it down." Nevertheless there is still a risk, and several editors told CPJ privately that any decision could be close.
An appeals tribunal is still some way from seeing the legislative light of day, and some opponents think it can be headed off. Williams, editor of The Star, is hopeful. "The ANC are democrats. There is no proof they want to roll back the constitution," said Williams, who recommends the press keep engaging the ANC leadership. Others warn against complacency. "This is a time for action," special rapporteur Tlakula said. "The Media Appeals Tribunal scares me."
CPJ is conducting a fact-finding and advocacy mission to South Africa. CPJ Chairman Sandy Rowe and Deputy Director Robert Mahoney met with a wide cross-section of local media, as well as press freedom advocates, civil society groups, academics, lawyers, and members of the African National Congress.
Robert Mahoney is CPJ’s deputy director. He has worked as a reporter, editor, and bureau chief for Reuters throughout the world. Mahoney has led CPJ missions to global hot spots from Iraq to Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @RobMahoney_CPJ.
Irrespective of whether South Africa actually implements the most draconian parts of state secrets legislation now under consideration, the media in the continent's most open democracy already feel under threat. The prospect of 25-year jail sentences for journalists publishing "classified" information has galvanized disparate news outlets and journalists groups to work together like never before.
The ruling African National Congress, sensing popular discontent over its record on unemployment, housing, and basic services, has proposed two measures that would rein in a press that has been making its politicians look bad by rooting out corruption stories. Journalists and civil society leaders call the legislation overly broad and badly written. They say it will effectively criminalize investigative reporting, prevent ordinary citizens from obtaining basic public information, and allow authorities to classify documents to avoid political embarrassment rather than safeguard national security.
The Protection of State Information Bill has lost some of its most restrictive features since it first surfaced in 2008. But the version that passed the lower house of parliament in November, where the ANC holds a nearly two-thirds majority, still gives government the power to declare almost any information secret--hence its popular name, the "secrecy bill."
Nobel laureates archbishop Desmond Tutu and writer Nadine Gordimer have blasted the bill. The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has picked apart its legal inconsistencies, both with the country's internationally admired constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, and with other freedom of information statutes. Even the ANC's powerful ally, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, came out against the bill, which would curb union members' rights to act as whistle-blowers against incompetence and corruption.
Press freedom advocates are also concerned about the international effects of any legislation, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where authoritarian leaders may use the South African experience as a pretext to block or even roll back media reform in their own states. "I tell the ANC whatever we do here has a very big impact on the continent," said Faith Pansy Tlakula, the African Union's special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
If the media, civil society, Right2Know, and political opposition campaign now under way fails to stop the bill, journalists will turn to the Constitutional Court to strike it down.
The bill has emerged against the backdrop of political infighting within the ANC, which is facing mounting criticism and street protests by groups frustrated with its failure to deliver on promises to improve the economy and provide housing, health, and education services. Unemployment is running around 25 percent, and is higher still among youth.
ANC frustration with media criticism starts at the top, with President Jacob Zuma, who has brought defamation suits against a number of publications and leading cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, known as Zapiro. Zuma runs for re-election in a year's time. The ANC also charges the media, which it perceives as still largely owned and staffed by whites, with failing to transform quickly enough to reflect South Africa's black majority.
Zuma has led the push against South Africa's press. (Reuters/Mike Hutchings)
Zuma has led the push against South Africa's press. (Reuters/Mike Hutchings)
"The hostility to media you get in government circles is deep," said Anton Harber, professor of journalism at Witwatersrand University. Like many journalists, he is concerned by another ANC proposal to set up a statutory Media Appeals Tribunal to handle complaints against the press. The tribunal would answer to the ANC-dominated Parliament and effectively undermine the current self-regulatory Press Council of South Africa.
"The Protection of Information Bill is the storm that's making landfall right now; the cold front parked out in the ocean is the Media Appeals Tribunal, which will be upon us in the New Year," said Nic Dawes, editor of the weekly Mail & Guardian, one of the country's foremost investigative newspapers.
"All this is going on because the ANC has a crisis of legitimacy. It has an internal crisis of legitimacy. It can't govern itself; it's torn apart by factionalism and greed. ... Then it has a crisis of legitimacy with its electorate who see people driving past them in very big, smart cars and living nice lives, and are angry about it," Dawes said.
"The ramifications of this are bad," said Tuwani Gumani, general secretary of the Media Workers Association of South Africa, or MWASA. "The ANC has said the only opposition we have are the media."
Barney Mthombothi, editor the Financial Mail, agrees. "We are acting as the opposition because the country doesn't have an effective opposition. ... Most of the corruption that comes out and actually embarrasses the government comes out because of media investigations."
The ANC's casting of the media as its only opponent has been long in the making, according to editors across the print and broadcast spectrum. Freed of the censorship regime of apartheid, journalists enjoyed unprecedented freedom and access to information under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. But these freedoms began to be curtailed by Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, and this trend has accelerated under Zuma.
"A strong contingent within the ANC wants the Media Appeals Tribunal," said Mark van der Velden, editor of the domestic news agency, SAPA. "It could be even more destructive of press freedom than the secrecy bill. ... It is another instance of the ANC narrowing the space for debate."
Journalists argue that unlike the secrecy bill, the tribunal is aimed directly at them and could lead to the registration of news outlets and eventually the licensing of journalists; in order to fine or sanction reporters in the expanding universe of online publications, after all, the statutory body would have to define who is a journalist.
"The Media Appeals Tribunal is our far biggest threat and we are nowhere near prepared for that," according to William Bird, director of the Media Monitoring Africa. He describes the ANC's motivation for silencing critics as: "'You need to punish these people.'... They will justify it on the basis of 'you impugn my dignity', and the whole basis of apartheid was about fundamentally violating people's right to dignity. That right trumps the media's right to be able to tell the story even if it's factual."
Many free speech advocates have made the comparison with the apartheid era.
"The ANC sees that it can do what apartheid did, which is control information," said MWASA's Gumani. "The secrecy bill has crystallized everything that everyone hates about the ANC: arrogance, abuse of power and the impunity that goes with it."
However, voices are now being raised among some working journalists cautioning against the comparison. "It's very seductive, very easy to make the comparison to apartheid (but) it's very counterproductive," said Dawes of the Mail & Guardian. He argues that journalists should focus on how the press was not free then and should guard against losing the freedoms it has since acquired. The argument should be that "to force on us a choice between our professional ethics, our duty, our vocation and the law is something that should never happen in a democracy. We are not saying this is like apartheid. We are saying we remember that pain."
Press freedom advocates have also started urging the civil society and political coalition against the secrecy bill to focus less on its impact on the media and more on its effects on ordinary South Africans in order to build broader political support.
"The bill is not just about journalists but about my mother not being able to get information from a government department," said Elston Seppie, executive director of the Freedom of Expression Institute, or FXI. "People want to engage politically with the state. It is critical to move beyond just thinking about the bill as a media-restricting measure, but on its impact generally on human rights."
Opponents say the bill will lead to the classification of politically embarrassing information and frighten potential whistle-blowers and confidential sources. In theory, any journalist who is given a confidential document by a source is supposed to hand it to the authorities or face at least five years' jail for possession, thereby endangering the source.
"The securocrats are going beyond themselves in wanting secrecy around things that don't need to be kept secret," said Moegsien Williams, editor of The Star. The chilling effect of this is already apparent both on journalists and the holders of information upon whom they rely.
"Even though it's not enacted, you've got that shift now," said Bird of Media Monitoring Africa. "Instead of how [officials] can enable access, it's about how they can prevent access."
ANC members say both the bill and the tribunal are needed to combat spies and lies. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu defended the bill as a reform of an apartheid-era law and safeguard for state secrets against unidentified foreign spies. "There is no intention to curb media freedom in this country," he said. The proposal for a tribunal arose because self-regulation was not working, he added, and newspapers were printing false stories about ANC members. He called the Press Council a "toothless dog" and said its complaints mechanism had to be "significantly strengthened" to protect citizens' constitutional right to dignity, otherwise ANC members would continue to push for the proposal to be turned into legislation. He rejected the accusation, however, that a statutory tribunal meant government control.
"We have never called for state regulation of the media," Mthembu said.
The Press Council counters by saying that aggrieved readers have recourse in civil court or through its own appeal procedure, which received 240 complaints in the first 11 months of this year compared with 213 in 2010. "Two thirds of complaints brought are upheld," according to Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe.
The press freedom climate is certainly sunnier than elsewhere in the continent. There are no journalists in jail, and none have been killed here since the early 1990s. Yet reporters, particularly broadcasters, have complained of increasing harassment by police preventing access or filming. Journalists say they have documented some 20 cases in the past two years of reporters and photographers being detained, sometimes overnight, for interfering with police in the execution of their duties, but prosecutors did not press charges. CPJ wrote to Zuma in 2010 about the arrest and ongoing prosecution of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika over an unpublished story critical of the police.
Editors doubt that the most restrictive elements of the secrecy bill will make it to the statute books. Many believe it will be amended during its passage through the upper house, the National Council of Provinces. Nevertheless, the final version, which must be signed by Zuma, will still be problematic especially if it does not include the media's demand for a public interest clause that would allow journalists to argue that the public's right to know supersedes the need for secrecy in any given case. That is why they pin their hopes on the 11-person Constitutional Court. Zuma has recently appointed a new chief justice to the bench but his vote carries the same weight as that of the other judges who have so far proved independent. They may strike down the bill as being in violation of Article 16 of the South African Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
"I think that whatever [the ANC] comes up with can be taken to the Constitutional Court and I think we can win," Financial Mail editor Mthombothi said. Media lawyer Dario Milo noted that the court has not always found in favor of the press, but with the "broad provisions on criminality in its current form the court will likely strike it down." Nevertheless there is still a risk, and several editors told CPJ privately that any decision could be close.
An appeals tribunal is still some way from seeing the legislative light of day, and some opponents think it can be headed off. Williams, editor of The Star, is hopeful. "The ANC are democrats. There is no proof they want to roll back the constitution," said Williams, who recommends the press keep engaging the ANC leadership. Others warn against complacency. "This is a time for action," special rapporteur Tlakula said. "The Media Appeals Tribunal scares me."
CPJ is conducting a fact-finding and advocacy mission to South Africa. CPJ Chairman Sandy Rowe and Deputy Director Robert Mahoney met with a wide cross-section of local media, as well as press freedom advocates, civil society groups, academics, lawyers, and members of the African National Congress.
Robert Mahoney is CPJ’s deputy director. He has worked as a reporter, editor, and bureau chief for Reuters throughout the world. Mahoney has led CPJ missions to global hot spots from Iraq to Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @RobMahoney_CPJ.
FIBA Expert to Drill Players/Coaches
With funding from the Olympic Solidarity through Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC), the Basketball Association of Malawi (BASMAL) will from December 16 host a Senegalese FIBA expert Seydou Sano who will run a Development of National Sports Structure programme.
Sano will work with local experts Hope Chisamanga and Blair Phiri who have been identified and approved by The Olympic Solidarity and FIBA.
BASMAL has received K3 million from the MOC to enable it develop a sports and coaching structure by implementing a mid to long-term action plan for Basketball.
The expert will train the players and local coaches in Blantyre and Lilongwe as follows: from December 16 – 23 at African Bible College; December 27 – 31 at Blantyre Youth Center. Participants in the program have been drawn from across the country.
Sano holds a Master’s Degree in Technique of Sportive Activity from the University Of Montreal (Canada) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Technique of Physical Activity and Sport.
He is a FIBA Africa Roving Coach Instructor and has conducted 13 training courses in 10 African countries. Sano is a Senegalese National Coach for the senior men’s and women’s teams. He is a gold medallist of three men and women Afro Basket tournaments as well as a gold medallist of the last two African games. He is fluent in French, English and Spanish.
Sano will work with local experts Hope Chisamanga and Blair Phiri who have been identified and approved by The Olympic Solidarity and FIBA.
BASMAL has received K3 million from the MOC to enable it develop a sports and coaching structure by implementing a mid to long-term action plan for Basketball.
The expert will train the players and local coaches in Blantyre and Lilongwe as follows: from December 16 – 23 at African Bible College; December 27 – 31 at Blantyre Youth Center. Participants in the program have been drawn from across the country.
Sano holds a Master’s Degree in Technique of Sportive Activity from the University Of Montreal (Canada) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Technique of Physical Activity and Sport.
He is a FIBA Africa Roving Coach Instructor and has conducted 13 training courses in 10 African countries. Sano is a Senegalese National Coach for the senior men’s and women’s teams. He is a gold medallist of three men and women Afro Basket tournaments as well as a gold medallist of the last two African games. He is fluent in French, English and Spanish.
NEW INQUIRY: THE DEVELOPMENT SITUATION IN MALAWI
In July 2011 mass demonstrations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages in Malawi resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Combined with the use of state resources for personal gain and the lack of political freedom, Malawi has entered a political and economic crisis.
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, uly 2011 mass demonstrations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages in Malawi resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Combined with the use of state resources for personal gain and the lack of political freedom, Malawi has entered a political and economic crisis.
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, uly 2011 mass demonstrations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages in Malawi resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Combined with the use of state resources for personal gain and the lack of political freedom, Malawi has entered a political and economic crisis.
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks becoming a fragile state.
Poverty rates are high: 74% of the population live on less than $1.25 per
day and 90% on less than $2 per day. Malawi is off-track for most of the
Millennium Development Goal targets.
The Committee invites submissions on:
* How the UK can best help to improve opportunities for economic
growth, job creation and meeting the Millennium Development Goal targets in
Malawi
* The role of DFID in protecting civil liberties including freedom of
expression and access to justice
* The conditions under which the UK should continue to provide
development assistance to Malawi
The deadline for submitting written evidence is Monday 20 February 2012.
Written evidence submitted should:
Be no longer that 3000 words in length
* Have numbered paragraphs
* Avoid the use of colour or expensive-to-print material
* Be provided electronically in MS Word or Rich Text format (No
PDF's) by e-mail to
indcom@parliament.uk>.
If submitted by e-mail or e-mail attachment, a letter should also be sent
validating the e-mail. The letterhead should contain your full postal
address and contact details
Submissions can also be sent by post to International Development
Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA.
A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the
parliamentary website at:
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/witguide.htm
>
Please also note that:
* Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a
submission, but may be referred to within written evidence, in which case a
hard copy of the published work should be included. If a number of
published documents are sent to accompany written evidence, these should be
listed in the covering email.
* Written evidence submitted must be kept confidential until
published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or
organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
* Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The
Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written
evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be
searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the
Parliamentary Record Office. If there is any information you believe to be
sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would
result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in
deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
* It would be helpful, for Data Protection purposes, if individuals
wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details separately in
a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in
which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to
third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
* Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Committee Membership is as follows:
Malcolm Bruce MP, Chair (Lib Dem, Gordon), Hugh Bayley MP (Lab, City of
York), Richard Burden MP (Lab, Birmingham, Northfield), Mr Sam Gyimah MP
(Con, East Surrey), Richard Harrington MP (Con, Watford), Pauline Latham
MP (Con, Mid Derbyshire), Jeremy Lefroy MP (Con, Stafford), Mr Michael
McCann MP (Lab, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow), Alison McGovern
MP (Lab, Wirral South), Anas Sarwar MP (Lab, Glasgow Central), Chris White
MP (Con, Warwick and Leamington).
Specific Committee Information: indcom@parliament.uk /< mailto:indcom@parliament.uk%20/
020 7219 1221 Committee Contact:
fukia@parliament.uk /020 7219 2738
Media Information:
daviesnick@parliament.uk/
Committee Website:
www.parliament.uk/indcom
>
Watch committees and parliamentary debates online:
www.parliamentlive.tv
>
Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee
reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St,
Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).
Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research
papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more,
can be found on
www.parliament.uk
>
Vanessa Hallinan | Committee Assistant to the International Development
Committee and the Committees on Arms Export Controls
| House of Commons | Committee Office
| 7 Millbank | London SW1P 3JA |
telephone: +44 (0)20 7219 1223 |
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, uly 2011 mass demonstrations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages in Malawi resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Combined with the use of state resources for personal gain and the lack of political freedom, Malawi has entered a political and economic crisis.
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, uly 2011 mass demonstrations against unemployment, high food prices and fuel shortages in Malawi resulted in the deaths of 20 people. Combined with the use of state resources for personal gain and the lack of political freedom, Malawi has entered a political and economic crisis.
In April 2011 the UK's Ambassador to Malawi was asked to leave the country for
criticising its leadership. In July, DFID suspended general budget support
to Malawi worth £19 million in response to economic mismanagement and poor
governance. DFID had allocated £373 million to Malawi for the period
2011-2015. Its budget there was projected to rise from £90 million a year
in 2011-12 to £98 million in 2014-15. The World Bank, the EU, the African
Development Bank, Germany and Norway have all suspended or ended general
budget support to Malawi.
Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks
becoming a fragile Analysts have warned that unless the situation changes, Malawi risks becoming a fragile state.
Poverty rates are high: 74% of the population live on less than $1.25 per
day and 90% on less than $2 per day. Malawi is off-track for most of the
Millennium Development Goal targets.
The Committee invites submissions on:
* How the UK can best help to improve opportunities for economic
growth, job creation and meeting the Millennium Development Goal targets in
Malawi
* The role of DFID in protecting civil liberties including freedom of
expression and access to justice
* The conditions under which the UK should continue to provide
development assistance to Malawi
The deadline for submitting written evidence is Monday 20 February 2012.
Written evidence submitted should:
Be no longer that 3000 words in length
* Have numbered paragraphs
* Avoid the use of colour or expensive-to-print material
* Be provided electronically in MS Word or Rich Text format (No
PDF's) by e-mail to
indcom@parliament.uk
If submitted by e-mail or e-mail attachment, a letter should also be sent
validating the e-mail. The letterhead should contain your full postal
address and contact details
Submissions can also be sent by post to International Development
Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA.
A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the
parliamentary website at:
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/witguide.htm
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Please also note that:
* Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a
submission, but may be referred to within written evidence, in which case a
hard copy of the published work should be included. If a number of
published documents are sent to accompany written evidence, these should be
listed in the covering email.
* Written evidence submitted must be kept confidential until
published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or
organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
* Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The
Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written
evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be
searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the
Parliamentary Record Office. If there is any information you believe to be
sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would
result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in
deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
* It would be helpful, for Data Protection purposes, if individuals
wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details separately in
a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in
which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to
third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
* Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Committee Membership is as follows:
Malcolm Bruce MP, Chair (Lib Dem, Gordon), Hugh Bayley MP (Lab, City of
York), Richard Burden MP (Lab, Birmingham, Northfield), Mr Sam Gyimah MP
(Con, East Surrey), Richard Harrington MP (Con, Watford), Pauline Latham
MP (Con, Mid Derbyshire), Jeremy Lefroy MP (Con, Stafford), Mr Michael
McCann MP (Lab, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow), Alison McGovern
MP (Lab, Wirral South), Anas Sarwar MP (Lab, Glasgow Central), Chris White
MP (Con, Warwick and Leamington).
Specific Committee Information: indcom@parliament.uk /< mailto:indcom@parliament.uk%20/
020 7219 1221 Committee Contact:
fukia@parliament.uk
Media Information:
daviesnick@parliament.uk/
Committee Website:
www.parliament.uk/indcom
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Watch committees and parliamentary debates online:
www.parliamentlive.tv
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Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee
reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St,
Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).
Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research
papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more,
can be found on
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Vanessa Hallinan | Committee Assistant to the International Development
Committee and the Committees on Arms Export Controls
| House of Commons | Committee Office
| 7 Millbank | London SW1P 3JA |
telephone: +44 (0)20 7219 1223 |
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Oh, Evison Matafale, Oh!
'The Black Missionaries' glory is premised on the dead.
Their story, too, is one built around the dead.
The Late Evison Matafale: To Be Always Remembered by Malawians
It (the story) is not about all the dead, though; not about all the people who went towards the way of all the earth.
Theirs is a sad story- one about a man who came back to Malawi after a short stint in Zimbabwe, and, then, died before his journey was through.
At 32, the trumpet that his time was nigh blew a bit earlier. That is why, every November 27 of whichever year, Matafale will always die.
His actual death came in 2001. After that, because of the Black Missionaries' zeal, Matafale has died 10 times more. The sort of death that leaves people miring in a pool of 'what-ifs'.
What, for example, if Matafale survived the three days of police custody and sang his way through 2002 to 2011?
What, another example, if Matafale survived the push of colourless breath and lived a little longer for us- our Lake Malawi, Lake Chilwa, Lake Chiuta, Shire and Linthipe Rivers to appreciate?
What if he married in 2006, and left us, at least, two Evison Matafale juniors?
It will never be.
Because the story is sad.
A life story that ends on November 27. 2001. Actually, this (November 27, 2001) is where the story starts; the long tale of Matafale's vision and prophetic mission.
A prophetic mission that has turned Matafale into an endless story. People can choose where to start, or end- but Matafale's story is endless. Just the mention of 'Oh, Matafale, oh' is enough to spur lovers of talent and freedom into some tell-tale mode.
A mode that, always, ends in misery. For the more reason that Matafale's end was sad.
And that, though November 27, 2001 marks the beginning of another story- a story of courage and vision and talent and foresight- this story, too, ends in sadness.
Oh, Matafale, oh!
Of course, Evison Matafale- the man who died, and for whom the living pay homage every year, was a Malawian per excellence, starting from the time he stayed in Lilongwe, and played seek and hide with the likes of Madalitso Kateta and friends.
Matafale is a man who died before his time. A man who was, and is not! To live with us no more.
Kateta will tell you that Matafale was a jolly, good-fella in youth, well before he started teaching at a Secondary School in Lilongwe.
But, with Matafale's life, there simply is no single 'well'. For the more reason that his story is riddled with admiration and awe. All those who hear his story go home in awe, beating their heads was what was meant to be, but, really, never come to be.
Well (this is the other 'well', the second one, because, with Matafale, there is never one 'well'. Just many), Matafale first brushed whisks with that animal called youth in Lilongwe. And, as a nasty, good-fella, Matafale was outgoing in youth, as he stumped his small feet on Lilongwe's unsuspecting dry bushes, killing birds with his mahogany-strong catapult.
Matafale would always tell the likes of Kateta to go in the bush first, and check if it offered any hope for catches.
Any catch. Mouse, Birds.
Oh,fruits were a catch too.
They all, to Matafale, counted.
But Matafale would always tell others to go first. In a way, at that tender age, he was still a 'King'. The sort of jolly-good king he would later become.
There- in the shadows of Mango, paw-paw, pitch, blue-gum, mahogany, and ebony giant trees- passed a tiny king. A would-be-king of Malawi Reggae.
Unfortunately for the trees and the people who saw this young, noisy man walk to towards the next bush with a gang of fellow youths, they could not see this greatness in him.
This greatness was hidden; hidden in that little, childish, bassless voice of his- a voice that was him in youth, but could not be remembered in adulthood.
Instead, the 'lucky' human beings- including his parents and relatives- saw him alongside the other 'little' human beings, human beings whose future they did not know, little kids whose purpose in life they could not fathom, small citizens whose death they could not predict.
That was then- a time that really existed- when Matafale was, put simply, a human being.
What they knew- these people we don't know, these people whose faces we will never know, these people who Matafale knew, but never really knew- was that they would never see him again one day.That is the day of timely death, when, all troubles forgotten, the great and the small, the ruled and the judges above the blueless skies fly.
That, exactly, is what happens in life. You see some people and know you will never plant your eyes on them again. That, where they go, you will never know.
'That is life', so said the people who realized this, and on the strength of the conviction that it was no use giving a damn about this, already already cut the task short for us.
But Matafale would be demanding at times. He would tell the Kateta's to go far afield whenever the fallen Reggae King wanted to bathe in the open. Matafale has swam in Lilongwe's biggest and touted rivers and dams. Because he was a simple man, a man who never assumed to be what he was not. Or, put simply, a man who never wanted to be where he had not arrived.
But he knew where he was going. Because he was a visionary creature. And, kinda, he knew how to get there.
That's how he arrived in our hearts. And conquered our hearts with his sweet music. Before death, brutally, took his frame and soul away. A Malawian no more!
Before Matafale outgrew the bushes and the rivers and the dams and the trees, he was an unheralded young man; a man, perhaps, who had nothing to do with Reggae.
That time, between the 1980s and 2000, Charles Akuline Sinetre was the 'Reggae Ambassador'. He still is.
Charles Akuline Sinetre has always been a man of the people. His music and cham-tale beats have shaken the nation's apprehensive hearts.
Sinetre could give you 'Rock with Me', 'The Sleeping Cat', 'Never throw a stone', and sing about how the sky was blue and the winds forever blowing, and how that (blowing winds and blue skies) made his world (and our world, too) go around.
Sinetre, always high-spirited, would also ask God to bless this world in 'Dalitsani Dziko', telling the nation that time was nigh, time to implore the Lord that on this world his blessings should pour.
The sort of blessings that touch people's heads in form of rain, and sun's sweet rays, and the flavourless less of oxygen that turns our hearts into valleys and mountains in life's little journey called 'being'.
Nisphore Gervasio- now gone, long gone towards the way of all the earth- was a music critic from Kauye Village, Traditional Authority Kamenyagwaza in Dedza between 1990 and 2004. He specialised in Reggae.
Of Sinetre in 1994 he said: "He knows how to experiment with his voice; and knows how to manipulate the bass guitar, to come up with his own kind of raggae- the kind of reggae that cries above the Balaka Reggae beat".
Nisphore Gervasio was right. Charles Sinetre has always been ahead of his game. No wonder, he just returned, a couple of years back, from his music studies in the United Kingdom.
There are no music schools in Malawi. And no infrastructure for music performances.
The French Cultural Centre closed shop in 2010. It's good the Ministry of Sports and Culture bought the place. But it remains closed.
The Ware House Cultural Centre, in down town Blantyre, remains a ramshackle of a building. Fire its warmth destroyed some rains back, and the winds now blow willy-nilly against what used to be the Mighty Ware House. It can no longer house people. the way it used to be.
Performances, be it drama, music, what have you, are done outside. Against the winds, the sun and the skies. Against the wishes of art lovers.
Owners of the place say they can not renovate it without the prior permission of the owners of the place- Central and East African Railways!
Now there is a place in town called Robin's Park. Strategically located near Kwacha International Conference Centre (now MBC TV Headquarters), Robin's Park -owned by Azam Tigers Football Club manager, Robin Alufandika) is already fighting for a place in the books of shame.
Munyaradzi Chidzonga, the Zimbabwean Big Brother Africa representative of yester-years, can attest to this. Two weeks ago, when he came to premier his 'The Gentleman' alongside Malawian beauty queen- the strangely-bodied Faith Chibale- he was welcomed by the sun in the day, and a black-out at night!
Munya later mourned, like a cow deprived of its newly-born: "Owners of this place (Robin's Park) are poor planners. They knew Escom (The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi- the body that distributes more black outs than power) is unreliable. Yet, they did not prepare a stand-by generator".
It is against this background that Charles Sinetre has shown to be a man ahead of his time; a man who plans before the black out attacks its 'suspecting victims'. He has studied music now, when Malawi has no music schools of repute.
He was the 'Reggae Ambassador' then (and now), well before Malawi could guess that Reggae music would later make Matafale the country's legend.
Charles Sinetre blew the Regae trumpet before Matafale, and stayed faithful to that calling.
No wonder, Sinetre was there in Chileka- when people converged to celebrate Matafale's life- and sang his reggae beats in honour of the fallen Matafale. A man who was, and went before his time.
Apart from Sinetre, we have had this Man-of-all-Time Paul Banda. Paul is, to Malawi, the winds and the sun and the skies. He is everything in music, everything we ever wanted.
His voice makes the strong-hearted wait and listen. His well-composed songs will never be 'eaten' by the memories for a long time to come.
One of the best acts to have come from the legendary-while-alive Paul Banda is that song 'Tonthola'.
The beat start on a mellow note, then, the drums, beaten carefully- as if they were a newly-born son, whose back can be hurt at the slightest exertion of pressure- before the 'go' drum, certifying that the instruments have reached the mouth of an invisible bridge, draws Paul Banda to planned attention.
Paul Banda, mellow as usual, but touched to the bottom of his heart by the plight of our anonymous orphaned child, takes to his self-drawn journey of drawing people's attention to human suffering.
It is not Paul Banda who speaks. Paul Banda is the people's representative, the like of a Member of Parliament. Now, the child-in-the-good-old Paul Banda says, pleadingly:
'Ndikhumbira inu anzanga/Mwana wamasiye ine/ Amayi anandisiya ndikali woyamwa ine/Nawo bambo kumwalira ndikali wam'ng'ono ine/Palibe chondikondwetsa m'dziko laweni lino...'
Paul Banda, touched by the little voice, thunders in the chorus:
'Iwe tonthola kondwa/Chikondi chambuye chilipo/Anakupatsa kholo lachikondi lokoma mtima/ Taonanso abwenzi/ Okongola ulinawo/ Ukakumana ndivuto/Usayese wakutaya/Usuzumire mwanzako/Akuzunzika koposa/Apo iwe m'bale/Umvetse chikondi chambuye..."
That is Paul Banda, the loving man. Always blowing the trumpet of hope. Always reassuring.
'Tonthola', like most of Paul Banda's songs, is a mature piece. In his songs, heavens and earth meet.
Sinetre. Paul. Lucius Banda. MBC Band. Kalimba. Makasu. The late Bright Nkhata. Paul Chaphuka. Paul Chimkwakwa. Robert Fumulani. The Ndikakwera paphiri la Mulanje and Tsoka Liyenda geniuses. Ben Mankhamba. Paul Subiri and Rodrick Valamanja. Vic 'Marley' Kunje, Annie Matumbi (now Maliseni), Young Kay, Diktator, JB, Tay Green. Mirella Nkhoma. Lucius Banda. Mlaka Maliro. Billy Kaunda, Joseph Nkasa. Gift Fumulani. And more.
These have been, to Malawi, what sand is to the ocean. Anchors of our music.
On the list of these 'anchors' Matafale came, to sing with his heart, sharing a message of both warning and hope to Malawi, and the world at large. This message came through a golden message, a voice weighed down by long-suffering.
Let's face it. When Matafale talked of suffering, he had a race in mind- the Black race.
He felt, strongly, that the black skin has been the subject of a man-hunt for centuries, starting, as it were, from the time innocent human beings- sitting on the verandah of their grass-thatched houses, as cattle, goats, and mice grazed together in the green underground- heard the sound of a gun.
They, being naive to this sound, did follow the sound. It is this animal called curiosity that, sometimes, sends the African to his early grave. 'His' because it is men who follow the danger, the sound, as women prepare Nsima, or sweet beer at home. Of course, after a long day in the field, cultivating the plants of life.
The men, innocent as they were, were caught in their innocence, and ferried across the seas.
The conditions were poor. Ventilation non-existent.
Many died.
Others arrived, weak and lonely and down-trodden, in Europe and the Americas. There, they toiled for no pay.
They were beaten. For no reason at all- except that they were taken from Africa, their mother continent, a continent their planned not to leave, to this very far away land.
So, Matafale- being full of memory, sang in one of his songs:
I stand here/In a black skin/The oppressed skin...
There is pain in this song. But Matafale ends by saying he will still a song of freedom. He called his song about oppression i>'Freedom' /i>.
This is what Matafale did sometimes. His mesages were, at times, ironical. He could say what he did not mean, and mean what he wanted to say!
That is what Matafale also preached in songs such as 'Timba', 'Watsetseleka', Sing a song', and more.
Before Matafale 'went for never' (never to come back), he left Malawi and the world with a song so strong. That beat 'Time Mark', in which he said (and not only likened himself to Daniel) he was 'Prophet Daniel', telling the world as it were- and not as it (the world) wanted things to be.
Of course, music plaudits have lauded that song, and called it all names reserved for master-pieces.
The truth is that 'Time Mark' was done in a hurry, and the instruments override Matafale's voice. The coordination between the drums and key-boards is, to say the least, poor to the bottom of the mud.
It is a song done in a hurry.
So, the 'hit' 'Time Mark' is- contrary to the reasons most people applaud it for- a warning. The poor instruments-and-voice mixing is a warning almost hinging on foresight.
Matafale was delivering a message that his days were nigh.
That is why he was in a hurry. That is why that song has all the hallmarks of an individual about to leave his land for the land commonly hoped for- a land where the grass is green and the sun burns no more.
That is the message Matafale delivered in 'Time Mark'. A good-bye message. The message is not about the September 11, 2001 events in the United States of America, or about terrorism, or prophecy.
It is about Matafale going. Going with a veiled bye. It is a song about a man in a hurry. Just that Matafale did not prepare the journey. That is why his is a sad story.
When he came onto the Malawi music scene, he shook Malawi with 'Watsetsereka'. Then, when the name 'Wailing Brothers' and Evison Matafale meant the same thing: quality music.
Then, just in the nick of time, Matafale jumped ship to form his own 'Black Missionaries' Band. This was not strange. Matafale was always a man on a mission.
I got to know Matafale, at least, some one-and-a-half year before he died.
He could always come to the UDF News (at the United Democratic Front's headquarters in Limbe, Blantyre) and ask for either Richard Chinansi or me.
He always had a message.
He would either say, "'Mr. Richard Chirombo', I have a message. Anthuwa akupanga zopusa kwabasi".
By 'anthuwa', he meant the people in the United Democratic Front regime. 'In fact, 'anthuwa' (these people) included the Late Davis Kapito- former United Democratic Front Governor for the Southern Region. Now gone.
Or he would say: "Chinansi, I want to deliver a message. Someone is not doing his job properly. I will show these people the way". That's how Matafale spoke: he never name-called!
He would say 'people', 'anthuwa', abalewa' alongowa'. Everyone, to him, was a person, human being, brother, sister. Others, in his life, were somebody- never something. He wanted people to do right. He was for the right.
That was Matafale for you. He wanted things to be done well.
In the course of that time, we became friends.
We could meet in Soche East, Blantyre- Matafale always in sandals- and talk about the things Matafale thought were going wrong.
It was through this acquaintance that Richard Chinansi and I came to read that letter Matafale wrote. That latter for which he was to be brutally slain.
Nobody should deny that the Malawi Police Service and former President Bakili Muluzi's government 'killed' Matafale. One day, in a world without handcuffs and power-intoxication, they will answer for their gruesome crime! A crime committed at the time of Malawi's need for talent.
When Matafale died, so many people were angry. One of songs of anger and remorse was played by renowned Disk Jockey, then working for the Mighty 'FM 101 Power', the one-and-only Patrick Kamkwatira.
Kamkwatira, the day after Matafale was murdered by the Bakili Muluzi regime and the non-reformed Malawi Police Service, played Billy Kaunda's song. It is the chorus that captivated the sadness in me:
"...Akhoza kukupha/Mkuyamba kukana/Popeza wakufa sapereka umboni".
It is Billy Kaunda, Member of Parliament in the Ngoni-land of Mzimba- singing. But the anger was Kamkwatira's!
The song, roughly translated, means: 'They will kill you, on the hope that the dead make bad first eye-witnesses'.
You can hummer a man, under the cover of fearsome darkness. If the man dies, he will remain a silent witness who will never speak to jurors and messengers of justice- that is the message Kaunda talks so well about.
Of coarse, the dead will never stand for their own witnesses (in voice). But the conscience of the men involved will always be there, to torment them in times of peace.
Though pathologists and other experts can work on dead bodies to come up with scientific conclusions, the dead humans-no-longer-being will never testify in person, with their own voices. This is so simple to understand. The breath that gives voices having been withdrawn from them- to hope no more, cry no more, pray no more, wish no more, and, the painful end in all this, testify no more!
So, against this barrage of anger Matafale still went, interred in the fertile soils of Chileka.
He lies there, fittingly among the other legends of Robert Fumulani fame.
There, as the people throng Chileka Police Ground once a year, in his honour to dance their sorrows and the sad Matafale memories away. Matafale hears no more, listens no more.
What he does is to testify about the brutality of man. That animal called brutality, an animal that takes away what it never bothered to bring aboard.
Matafale and Matafale and Matafale went. But the people who murdered him did not.
Though they, at times, from pneumonia, high blood pressure and abnormal body-disks' movements suffer- they live on.
Among them are uniform wearers. Among them child bearers.
They eat and dine and wine- on the wings of winds on which Matafale's soul blew away.
Against the green of envy that, out of malice, Matafale's life took.
What remains, after every November 27 show, is a cry: Oh, Matafale, oh!
It means: What, Matafale, did you go!
Perhaps!
Their story, too, is one built around the dead.
The Late Evison Matafale: To Be Always Remembered by Malawians
It (the story) is not about all the dead, though; not about all the people who went towards the way of all the earth.
Theirs is a sad story- one about a man who came back to Malawi after a short stint in Zimbabwe, and, then, died before his journey was through.
At 32, the trumpet that his time was nigh blew a bit earlier. That is why, every November 27 of whichever year, Matafale will always die.
His actual death came in 2001. After that, because of the Black Missionaries' zeal, Matafale has died 10 times more. The sort of death that leaves people miring in a pool of 'what-ifs'.
What, for example, if Matafale survived the three days of police custody and sang his way through 2002 to 2011?
What, another example, if Matafale survived the push of colourless breath and lived a little longer for us- our Lake Malawi, Lake Chilwa, Lake Chiuta, Shire and Linthipe Rivers to appreciate?
What if he married in 2006, and left us, at least, two Evison Matafale juniors?
It will never be.
Because the story is sad.
A life story that ends on November 27. 2001. Actually, this (November 27, 2001) is where the story starts; the long tale of Matafale's vision and prophetic mission.
A prophetic mission that has turned Matafale into an endless story. People can choose where to start, or end- but Matafale's story is endless. Just the mention of 'Oh, Matafale, oh' is enough to spur lovers of talent and freedom into some tell-tale mode.
A mode that, always, ends in misery. For the more reason that Matafale's end was sad.
And that, though November 27, 2001 marks the beginning of another story- a story of courage and vision and talent and foresight- this story, too, ends in sadness.
Oh, Matafale, oh!
Of course, Evison Matafale- the man who died, and for whom the living pay homage every year, was a Malawian per excellence, starting from the time he stayed in Lilongwe, and played seek and hide with the likes of Madalitso Kateta and friends.
Matafale is a man who died before his time. A man who was, and is not! To live with us no more.
Kateta will tell you that Matafale was a jolly, good-fella in youth, well before he started teaching at a Secondary School in Lilongwe.
But, with Matafale's life, there simply is no single 'well'. For the more reason that his story is riddled with admiration and awe. All those who hear his story go home in awe, beating their heads was what was meant to be, but, really, never come to be.
Well (this is the other 'well', the second one, because, with Matafale, there is never one 'well'. Just many), Matafale first brushed whisks with that animal called youth in Lilongwe. And, as a nasty, good-fella, Matafale was outgoing in youth, as he stumped his small feet on Lilongwe's unsuspecting dry bushes, killing birds with his mahogany-strong catapult.
Matafale would always tell the likes of Kateta to go in the bush first, and check if it offered any hope for catches.
Any catch. Mouse, Birds.
Oh,fruits were a catch too.
They all, to Matafale, counted.
But Matafale would always tell others to go first. In a way, at that tender age, he was still a 'King'. The sort of jolly-good king he would later become.
There- in the shadows of Mango, paw-paw, pitch, blue-gum, mahogany, and ebony giant trees- passed a tiny king. A would-be-king of Malawi Reggae.
Unfortunately for the trees and the people who saw this young, noisy man walk to towards the next bush with a gang of fellow youths, they could not see this greatness in him.
This greatness was hidden; hidden in that little, childish, bassless voice of his- a voice that was him in youth, but could not be remembered in adulthood.
Instead, the 'lucky' human beings- including his parents and relatives- saw him alongside the other 'little' human beings, human beings whose future they did not know, little kids whose purpose in life they could not fathom, small citizens whose death they could not predict.
That was then- a time that really existed- when Matafale was, put simply, a human being.
What they knew- these people we don't know, these people whose faces we will never know, these people who Matafale knew, but never really knew- was that they would never see him again one day.That is the day of timely death, when, all troubles forgotten, the great and the small, the ruled and the judges above the blueless skies fly.
That, exactly, is what happens in life. You see some people and know you will never plant your eyes on them again. That, where they go, you will never know.
'That is life', so said the people who realized this, and on the strength of the conviction that it was no use giving a damn about this, already already cut the task short for us.
But Matafale would be demanding at times. He would tell the Kateta's to go far afield whenever the fallen Reggae King wanted to bathe in the open. Matafale has swam in Lilongwe's biggest and touted rivers and dams. Because he was a simple man, a man who never assumed to be what he was not. Or, put simply, a man who never wanted to be where he had not arrived.
But he knew where he was going. Because he was a visionary creature. And, kinda, he knew how to get there.
That's how he arrived in our hearts. And conquered our hearts with his sweet music. Before death, brutally, took his frame and soul away. A Malawian no more!
Before Matafale outgrew the bushes and the rivers and the dams and the trees, he was an unheralded young man; a man, perhaps, who had nothing to do with Reggae.
That time, between the 1980s and 2000, Charles Akuline Sinetre was the 'Reggae Ambassador'. He still is.
Charles Akuline Sinetre has always been a man of the people. His music and cham-tale beats have shaken the nation's apprehensive hearts.
Sinetre could give you 'Rock with Me', 'The Sleeping Cat', 'Never throw a stone', and sing about how the sky was blue and the winds forever blowing, and how that (blowing winds and blue skies) made his world (and our world, too) go around.
Sinetre, always high-spirited, would also ask God to bless this world in 'Dalitsani Dziko', telling the nation that time was nigh, time to implore the Lord that on this world his blessings should pour.
The sort of blessings that touch people's heads in form of rain, and sun's sweet rays, and the flavourless less of oxygen that turns our hearts into valleys and mountains in life's little journey called 'being'.
Nisphore Gervasio- now gone, long gone towards the way of all the earth- was a music critic from Kauye Village, Traditional Authority Kamenyagwaza in Dedza between 1990 and 2004. He specialised in Reggae.
Of Sinetre in 1994 he said: "He knows how to experiment with his voice; and knows how to manipulate the bass guitar, to come up with his own kind of raggae- the kind of reggae that cries above the Balaka Reggae beat".
Nisphore Gervasio was right. Charles Sinetre has always been ahead of his game. No wonder, he just returned, a couple of years back, from his music studies in the United Kingdom.
There are no music schools in Malawi. And no infrastructure for music performances.
The French Cultural Centre closed shop in 2010. It's good the Ministry of Sports and Culture bought the place. But it remains closed.
The Ware House Cultural Centre, in down town Blantyre, remains a ramshackle of a building. Fire its warmth destroyed some rains back, and the winds now blow willy-nilly against what used to be the Mighty Ware House. It can no longer house people. the way it used to be.
Performances, be it drama, music, what have you, are done outside. Against the winds, the sun and the skies. Against the wishes of art lovers.
Owners of the place say they can not renovate it without the prior permission of the owners of the place- Central and East African Railways!
Now there is a place in town called Robin's Park. Strategically located near Kwacha International Conference Centre (now MBC TV Headquarters), Robin's Park -owned by Azam Tigers Football Club manager, Robin Alufandika) is already fighting for a place in the books of shame.
Munyaradzi Chidzonga, the Zimbabwean Big Brother Africa representative of yester-years, can attest to this. Two weeks ago, when he came to premier his 'The Gentleman' alongside Malawian beauty queen- the strangely-bodied Faith Chibale- he was welcomed by the sun in the day, and a black-out at night!
Munya later mourned, like a cow deprived of its newly-born: "Owners of this place (Robin's Park) are poor planners. They knew Escom (The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi- the body that distributes more black outs than power) is unreliable. Yet, they did not prepare a stand-by generator".
It is against this background that Charles Sinetre has shown to be a man ahead of his time; a man who plans before the black out attacks its 'suspecting victims'. He has studied music now, when Malawi has no music schools of repute.
He was the 'Reggae Ambassador' then (and now), well before Malawi could guess that Reggae music would later make Matafale the country's legend.
Charles Sinetre blew the Regae trumpet before Matafale, and stayed faithful to that calling.
No wonder, Sinetre was there in Chileka- when people converged to celebrate Matafale's life- and sang his reggae beats in honour of the fallen Matafale. A man who was, and went before his time.
Apart from Sinetre, we have had this Man-of-all-Time Paul Banda. Paul is, to Malawi, the winds and the sun and the skies. He is everything in music, everything we ever wanted.
His voice makes the strong-hearted wait and listen. His well-composed songs will never be 'eaten' by the memories for a long time to come.
One of the best acts to have come from the legendary-while-alive Paul Banda is that song 'Tonthola'.
The beat start on a mellow note, then, the drums, beaten carefully- as if they were a newly-born son, whose back can be hurt at the slightest exertion of pressure- before the 'go' drum, certifying that the instruments have reached the mouth of an invisible bridge, draws Paul Banda to planned attention.
Paul Banda, mellow as usual, but touched to the bottom of his heart by the plight of our anonymous orphaned child, takes to his self-drawn journey of drawing people's attention to human suffering.
It is not Paul Banda who speaks. Paul Banda is the people's representative, the like of a Member of Parliament. Now, the child-in-the-good-old Paul Banda says, pleadingly:
'Ndikhumbira inu anzanga/Mwana wamasiye ine/ Amayi anandisiya ndikali woyamwa ine/Nawo bambo kumwalira ndikali wam'ng'ono ine/Palibe chondikondwetsa m'dziko laweni lino...'
Paul Banda, touched by the little voice, thunders in the chorus:
'Iwe tonthola kondwa/Chikondi chambuye chilipo/Anakupatsa kholo lachikondi lokoma mtima/ Taonanso abwenzi/ Okongola ulinawo/ Ukakumana ndivuto/Usayese wakutaya/Usuzumire mwanzako/Akuzunzika koposa/Apo iwe m'bale/Umvetse chikondi chambuye..."
That is Paul Banda, the loving man. Always blowing the trumpet of hope. Always reassuring.
'Tonthola', like most of Paul Banda's songs, is a mature piece. In his songs, heavens and earth meet.
Sinetre. Paul. Lucius Banda. MBC Band. Kalimba. Makasu. The late Bright Nkhata. Paul Chaphuka. Paul Chimkwakwa. Robert Fumulani. The Ndikakwera paphiri la Mulanje and Tsoka Liyenda geniuses. Ben Mankhamba. Paul Subiri and Rodrick Valamanja. Vic 'Marley' Kunje, Annie Matumbi (now Maliseni), Young Kay, Diktator, JB, Tay Green. Mirella Nkhoma. Lucius Banda. Mlaka Maliro. Billy Kaunda, Joseph Nkasa. Gift Fumulani. And more.
These have been, to Malawi, what sand is to the ocean. Anchors of our music.
On the list of these 'anchors' Matafale came, to sing with his heart, sharing a message of both warning and hope to Malawi, and the world at large. This message came through a golden message, a voice weighed down by long-suffering.
Let's face it. When Matafale talked of suffering, he had a race in mind- the Black race.
He felt, strongly, that the black skin has been the subject of a man-hunt for centuries, starting, as it were, from the time innocent human beings- sitting on the verandah of their grass-thatched houses, as cattle, goats, and mice grazed together in the green underground- heard the sound of a gun.
They, being naive to this sound, did follow the sound. It is this animal called curiosity that, sometimes, sends the African to his early grave. 'His' because it is men who follow the danger, the sound, as women prepare Nsima, or sweet beer at home. Of course, after a long day in the field, cultivating the plants of life.
The men, innocent as they were, were caught in their innocence, and ferried across the seas.
The conditions were poor. Ventilation non-existent.
Many died.
Others arrived, weak and lonely and down-trodden, in Europe and the Americas. There, they toiled for no pay.
They were beaten. For no reason at all- except that they were taken from Africa, their mother continent, a continent their planned not to leave, to this very far away land.
So, Matafale- being full of memory, sang in one of his songs:
I stand here/In a black skin/The oppressed skin...
There is pain in this song. But Matafale ends by saying he will still a song of freedom. He called his song about oppression i>'Freedom' /i>.
This is what Matafale did sometimes. His mesages were, at times, ironical. He could say what he did not mean, and mean what he wanted to say!
That is what Matafale also preached in songs such as 'Timba', 'Watsetseleka', Sing a song', and more.
Before Matafale 'went for never' (never to come back), he left Malawi and the world with a song so strong. That beat 'Time Mark', in which he said (and not only likened himself to Daniel) he was 'Prophet Daniel', telling the world as it were- and not as it (the world) wanted things to be.
Of course, music plaudits have lauded that song, and called it all names reserved for master-pieces.
The truth is that 'Time Mark' was done in a hurry, and the instruments override Matafale's voice. The coordination between the drums and key-boards is, to say the least, poor to the bottom of the mud.
It is a song done in a hurry.
So, the 'hit' 'Time Mark' is- contrary to the reasons most people applaud it for- a warning. The poor instruments-and-voice mixing is a warning almost hinging on foresight.
Matafale was delivering a message that his days were nigh.
That is why he was in a hurry. That is why that song has all the hallmarks of an individual about to leave his land for the land commonly hoped for- a land where the grass is green and the sun burns no more.
That is the message Matafale delivered in 'Time Mark'. A good-bye message. The message is not about the September 11, 2001 events in the United States of America, or about terrorism, or prophecy.
It is about Matafale going. Going with a veiled bye. It is a song about a man in a hurry. Just that Matafale did not prepare the journey. That is why his is a sad story.
When he came onto the Malawi music scene, he shook Malawi with 'Watsetsereka'. Then, when the name 'Wailing Brothers' and Evison Matafale meant the same thing: quality music.
Then, just in the nick of time, Matafale jumped ship to form his own 'Black Missionaries' Band. This was not strange. Matafale was always a man on a mission.
I got to know Matafale, at least, some one-and-a-half year before he died.
He could always come to the UDF News (at the United Democratic Front's headquarters in Limbe, Blantyre) and ask for either Richard Chinansi or me.
He always had a message.
He would either say, "'Mr. Richard Chirombo', I have a message. Anthuwa akupanga zopusa kwabasi".
By 'anthuwa', he meant the people in the United Democratic Front regime. 'In fact, 'anthuwa' (these people) included the Late Davis Kapito- former United Democratic Front Governor for the Southern Region. Now gone.
Or he would say: "Chinansi, I want to deliver a message. Someone is not doing his job properly. I will show these people the way". That's how Matafale spoke: he never name-called!
He would say 'people', 'anthuwa', abalewa' alongowa'. Everyone, to him, was a person, human being, brother, sister. Others, in his life, were somebody- never something. He wanted people to do right. He was for the right.
That was Matafale for you. He wanted things to be done well.
In the course of that time, we became friends.
We could meet in Soche East, Blantyre- Matafale always in sandals- and talk about the things Matafale thought were going wrong.
It was through this acquaintance that Richard Chinansi and I came to read that letter Matafale wrote. That latter for which he was to be brutally slain.
Nobody should deny that the Malawi Police Service and former President Bakili Muluzi's government 'killed' Matafale. One day, in a world without handcuffs and power-intoxication, they will answer for their gruesome crime! A crime committed at the time of Malawi's need for talent.
When Matafale died, so many people were angry. One of songs of anger and remorse was played by renowned Disk Jockey, then working for the Mighty 'FM 101 Power', the one-and-only Patrick Kamkwatira.
Kamkwatira, the day after Matafale was murdered by the Bakili Muluzi regime and the non-reformed Malawi Police Service, played Billy Kaunda's song. It is the chorus that captivated the sadness in me:
"...Akhoza kukupha/Mkuyamba kukana/Popeza wakufa sapereka umboni".
It is Billy Kaunda, Member of Parliament in the Ngoni-land of Mzimba- singing. But the anger was Kamkwatira's!
The song, roughly translated, means: 'They will kill you, on the hope that the dead make bad first eye-witnesses'.
You can hummer a man, under the cover of fearsome darkness. If the man dies, he will remain a silent witness who will never speak to jurors and messengers of justice- that is the message Kaunda talks so well about.
Of coarse, the dead will never stand for their own witnesses (in voice). But the conscience of the men involved will always be there, to torment them in times of peace.
Though pathologists and other experts can work on dead bodies to come up with scientific conclusions, the dead humans-no-longer-being will never testify in person, with their own voices. This is so simple to understand. The breath that gives voices having been withdrawn from them- to hope no more, cry no more, pray no more, wish no more, and, the painful end in all this, testify no more!
So, against this barrage of anger Matafale still went, interred in the fertile soils of Chileka.
He lies there, fittingly among the other legends of Robert Fumulani fame.
There, as the people throng Chileka Police Ground once a year, in his honour to dance their sorrows and the sad Matafale memories away. Matafale hears no more, listens no more.
What he does is to testify about the brutality of man. That animal called brutality, an animal that takes away what it never bothered to bring aboard.
Matafale and Matafale and Matafale went. But the people who murdered him did not.
Though they, at times, from pneumonia, high blood pressure and abnormal body-disks' movements suffer- they live on.
Among them are uniform wearers. Among them child bearers.
They eat and dine and wine- on the wings of winds on which Matafale's soul blew away.
Against the green of envy that, out of malice, Matafale's life took.
What remains, after every November 27 show, is a cry: Oh, Matafale, oh!
It means: What, Matafale, did you go!
Perhaps!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Before Gadhafi By the Green-Sword Fell
Malawi's former president, Bakili Muluzi, with the fallen Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.
Now, Muluzi about Gadhafi can only remember!
Development Partners Give USD 33 million for the Procurement of Essential Medicines for Malawi
Lilongwe, 13th December 2011: The Governments of the United Kingdom, Norway, and Germany are pleased to announce a grant of USD 33 million for emergency procurement of selected essential primary health care medicines and supplies for Malawi to supplement the Government of Malawi’s purchases over a period of 18 months. The project is a result of joint collaboration between the Government of Malawi, the U.S. Government through USAID, and UNICEF.
Of the nearly USD 33 million being made available, the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID) will contribute about USD 16 million, while Norway and Germany will add USD 10 million and USD 7 million, respectively.
The aim of the grant is to avert shortages of essential drugs over the next 18 months and to ensure that the downward trend in morbidity and mortality among children and pregnant women is maintained. It is also intended to prevent the health gains Malawi has made in recent years from being undermined by the unavailability of essential medicines and supplies in its hospitals and health centres.
“I am pleased that DFID is a partner to this project which will reduce the needless loss of life due to the national shortage of drugs, which I saw for myself during a recent visit to a hospital in Blantyre,” said Sarah Sanyahumbi, DFID Head in Malawi. “There are complex reasons for the lack of drugs – but most of these are solvable. Hence the Government’s and Central Medical Stores’ commitment to improving the national procurement and distribution system is so important.”
Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asbjørn Eidhammer said his country’s support to the health sector has been a priority since the Embassy was opened in 1999.
“Norway has been a pool partner to the Health Sector Programme of Work from its beginning in 2004. We had to withhold funding to POW from November 2010. We are pleased that we are now able to redirect our POW funds to directly support emergency procurement of drugs and medical supplies for all Malawians. We are also pleased to see that the Government of Malawi and Central Medical Stores have shown a commitment to improve procurement and logistics.”
The Head of German Development Cooperation, Hanspeter Schwaer added, "The aim of our development cooperation is to sustain and improve the livelihoods of Malawians. With the emergency procurement of drugs, we have acted swiftly on an immediate demand and in order to protect and save lives."
The Minister of Health Hon. Dr. Jean Kalilani expressed her appreciation of the initiative as it would complement the current drug stock that has been under pressure due to the ever-increasing demand for drugs and other supplies in hospitals.
“This is a clear testimony of the good relationship that has existed over the years between the Ministry of Health and its partners. Meanwhile, efforts will now be intensified to strengthen the Central Medical Stores to ensure that the procurement and supply chain management systems are efficient and effective,” she said.
The medicines and supplies under this procurement will, among other interventions, enable health authorities to treat up to 1.5 million episodes of diarrhoea, 1 million episodes of acute respiratory infections, and 264,000 episodes of malaria during the 18 month period. These three diseases, it has to be noted, account for more than half of all child deaths in Malawi. In addition, up to 600,000 pregnant women will be supplied with micronutrient supplements and medication to enable them to have a safer delivery.
By providing medicines and supplies, the grant will free up resources of the Government of Malawi and Central Medical Stores to bolster on-going efforts to reform and strengthen the national supply chain for essential medicines and medical supplies to avoid future shortages of the kind that have been seen in recent months.
Under the collaboration, UNICEF will procure the medicines in two phases, with the first consignment expected in the country in January 2012. USAID through the DELIVER PROJECT will manage in-country storage and distribution of the medicines to as many as 620 hospitals and health centres throughout the country.
The Ministry of Health will approve the distribution plans and the quantities of medicines to be procured and will work closely with District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) to establish and maintain a system for monitoring stock levels and promptly addressing any imbalances to avoid stock-outs. The medicines and supplies will be delivered to facilities in the form of standard kits on a monthly basis, so districts will have a role to play in ensuring that stock imbalances are corrected by moving commodities as needed from low-volume to high-volume facilities.
The Central Medical Stores will establish a system for “topping up” medicines in health care facilities that run out of particular commodities and will continue to be the principal supplier of commodities to central and district hospitals. In addition, as the kits will supply only a basic package of essential medicines and supplies, primary health care facilities will continue to order some commodities through the Central Medical Stores.
The Government, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, has decided to invest the funds freed up by this project into the Central Medical Stores to support on-going reforms.
The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Hon. Dr. Ken Lipenga, MP, thanked the cooperating partners for this timely support which will go a long way in assisting the people of Malawi. The Minister said that it was remarkable that despite the economic crisis currently facing the world and in particular the Euro zone, the UK Government, the Government of Federal Republic of Germany and the Royal Norwegian Government had come forward with this generous contribution for the procurement of essential drugs.
“This kind of generosity will not go unnoticed by the people of Malawi,” said Minister Lipenga.
With the grant, all government and most CHAM rural health facilities will receive supplemental stocks of essential medicines and supplies from late January up to mid-2013.
Of the nearly USD 33 million being made available, the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development (DFID) will contribute about USD 16 million, while Norway and Germany will add USD 10 million and USD 7 million, respectively.
The aim of the grant is to avert shortages of essential drugs over the next 18 months and to ensure that the downward trend in morbidity and mortality among children and pregnant women is maintained. It is also intended to prevent the health gains Malawi has made in recent years from being undermined by the unavailability of essential medicines and supplies in its hospitals and health centres.
“I am pleased that DFID is a partner to this project which will reduce the needless loss of life due to the national shortage of drugs, which I saw for myself during a recent visit to a hospital in Blantyre,” said Sarah Sanyahumbi, DFID Head in Malawi. “There are complex reasons for the lack of drugs – but most of these are solvable. Hence the Government’s and Central Medical Stores’ commitment to improving the national procurement and distribution system is so important.”
Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asbjørn Eidhammer said his country’s support to the health sector has been a priority since the Embassy was opened in 1999.
“Norway has been a pool partner to the Health Sector Programme of Work from its beginning in 2004. We had to withhold funding to POW from November 2010. We are pleased that we are now able to redirect our POW funds to directly support emergency procurement of drugs and medical supplies for all Malawians. We are also pleased to see that the Government of Malawi and Central Medical Stores have shown a commitment to improve procurement and logistics.”
The Head of German Development Cooperation, Hanspeter Schwaer added, "The aim of our development cooperation is to sustain and improve the livelihoods of Malawians. With the emergency procurement of drugs, we have acted swiftly on an immediate demand and in order to protect and save lives."
The Minister of Health Hon. Dr. Jean Kalilani expressed her appreciation of the initiative as it would complement the current drug stock that has been under pressure due to the ever-increasing demand for drugs and other supplies in hospitals.
“This is a clear testimony of the good relationship that has existed over the years between the Ministry of Health and its partners. Meanwhile, efforts will now be intensified to strengthen the Central Medical Stores to ensure that the procurement and supply chain management systems are efficient and effective,” she said.
The medicines and supplies under this procurement will, among other interventions, enable health authorities to treat up to 1.5 million episodes of diarrhoea, 1 million episodes of acute respiratory infections, and 264,000 episodes of malaria during the 18 month period. These three diseases, it has to be noted, account for more than half of all child deaths in Malawi. In addition, up to 600,000 pregnant women will be supplied with micronutrient supplements and medication to enable them to have a safer delivery.
By providing medicines and supplies, the grant will free up resources of the Government of Malawi and Central Medical Stores to bolster on-going efforts to reform and strengthen the national supply chain for essential medicines and medical supplies to avoid future shortages of the kind that have been seen in recent months.
Under the collaboration, UNICEF will procure the medicines in two phases, with the first consignment expected in the country in January 2012. USAID through the DELIVER PROJECT will manage in-country storage and distribution of the medicines to as many as 620 hospitals and health centres throughout the country.
The Ministry of Health will approve the distribution plans and the quantities of medicines to be procured and will work closely with District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) to establish and maintain a system for monitoring stock levels and promptly addressing any imbalances to avoid stock-outs. The medicines and supplies will be delivered to facilities in the form of standard kits on a monthly basis, so districts will have a role to play in ensuring that stock imbalances are corrected by moving commodities as needed from low-volume to high-volume facilities.
The Central Medical Stores will establish a system for “topping up” medicines in health care facilities that run out of particular commodities and will continue to be the principal supplier of commodities to central and district hospitals. In addition, as the kits will supply only a basic package of essential medicines and supplies, primary health care facilities will continue to order some commodities through the Central Medical Stores.
The Government, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, has decided to invest the funds freed up by this project into the Central Medical Stores to support on-going reforms.
The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Hon. Dr. Ken Lipenga, MP, thanked the cooperating partners for this timely support which will go a long way in assisting the people of Malawi. The Minister said that it was remarkable that despite the economic crisis currently facing the world and in particular the Euro zone, the UK Government, the Government of Federal Republic of Germany and the Royal Norwegian Government had come forward with this generous contribution for the procurement of essential drugs.
“This kind of generosity will not go unnoticed by the people of Malawi,” said Minister Lipenga.
With the grant, all government and most CHAM rural health facilities will receive supplemental stocks of essential medicines and supplies from late January up to mid-2013.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Zomba: The Natural, The Historical, The Beautiful
Nothing feels more natural than being in Zomba, Malawi's former Capital city, first municipality, and colonialist-masters favourite.
For once, there is the natural endowment, the cool breeze that characterise Zomba for most parts of the year, and the crime-free status and more.
That is why tourists, both local and foreign, love to visit Zomba. There, they hop to the famous Chingwe hole on Zomba mountain, the beautiful Lake Chilwa, among others.
Well, the most adventurous even take a boat-ride to Lake Malawi in Mangochi, where they swim in the waters that habour more species of fish than can be found anywhere in the world.
For those who stick to Zomba, wishing to pass their memorable days away in peace, they take to horses' riding at Ku Chawe. There is no need to fear, or shy away from the innocent horses on the basis that 'I have never had a horse-ride before': There are people who will give you a test-ride, otherwise called a guided ride.
It's things like these that make a vist to Zomba a memorable one; one worth taking again, and again, and again, and again.
Well, I had all these experiences recently, when I booked a 'Deluxe' room at Sunbird Ku Chawe for three days on end.
It was a worthwhile trip. The members of staff were friendly, reminiscent of that smile that never departs from the ordinary Malawian's lips.
Whether the weather be cold. Whether it be hot. Even when the days get so hard you 'survive' more than 'live'. The Malawian will always be happy, happy for the Gift of Life.
Now, I remember sitting in the Chingwe Conference Room of SunBird Ku Chawe, and -looking down, upon the world below- I could fathom (though the world could not see me; being, as it were, at that height, a distance so stunningly beautiful you realise the existence of a surpreme being, a being that put all these things together) the trees mingled together in a holy alliance of beauty.
Surely, with the beauty of Zomba the mountain and Zomba the plateau, there is nothing like an 'accident-of-nature' and an 'accident-in-nature'.
This because there is someone who came before accidents, and put all these pieces together.
In Zomba, these pieces are put together to form this natural thing called 'impression'.
This is the impression I got from my four-day stay at Ku Chawe. There, I looked at the lights below, the lights of Zomba City.
A city that will forever remain an integral part of Malawi's history.
Colonialists- that is, the British-left their giant country and came to what was called Nyasaland, the present-day Malawi.They soon fell in love with Zomba and made it the centre of their administration.
On one hand, it is Zomba's European weather they liked; it reminded them of the land they left- in a way abandoned- somewhere beyond the sees.
On the other hand, the friendly people of Zomba made it attractive for them to come (to Zomba) and stay (forever).
But this did not only happen to those who came to Zomba, and came to love it. and came to stay in it, and came to be part of it, and came to commit their future to Zomba and, therefore, Malawi- the land of the Lake of Stars.
Others who went to such districts as Karonga also came to love those parts as well. One of these being former colonial policeman Harold Williams.
Williams came to love Malawi that he made it his adoptive home.
So happy was he with the decision that, tired of the Malawi Congress Party regime, Williams was one of the people who founded the pressure group (later to turn into a political party, and ruling party), The United Democratic Front (UDF).
When the UDF took over the reigns of power in 2004, and lost direction towards 2004- when President Bakili Muluzi wanted to extend his term of office, preferring a Third Term to the Constitutional Two Terms- Williams was there, showing Malawi's leaders that Malawians were fools no more.
Williams was so resilient he was manhandled by overzealous Malawi Police Service officers. But he, kind of, did not give up.
He took the fight to the bitter end.
Until he died during the second half of 2011, living behind a history of someone who came to Malawi, came to love it, and died fighting for the right.
May the Good Soul of Harold Williams Rest In Peace!
I have remembered all this because of Zomba.
Come to Zomba and you will go home refreshed in the mind, and more aware of the Great Designer who lives somewhere above.
For once, there is the natural endowment, the cool breeze that characterise Zomba for most parts of the year, and the crime-free status and more.
That is why tourists, both local and foreign, love to visit Zomba. There, they hop to the famous Chingwe hole on Zomba mountain, the beautiful Lake Chilwa, among others.
Well, the most adventurous even take a boat-ride to Lake Malawi in Mangochi, where they swim in the waters that habour more species of fish than can be found anywhere in the world.
For those who stick to Zomba, wishing to pass their memorable days away in peace, they take to horses' riding at Ku Chawe. There is no need to fear, or shy away from the innocent horses on the basis that 'I have never had a horse-ride before': There are people who will give you a test-ride, otherwise called a guided ride.
It's things like these that make a vist to Zomba a memorable one; one worth taking again, and again, and again, and again.
Well, I had all these experiences recently, when I booked a 'Deluxe' room at Sunbird Ku Chawe for three days on end.
It was a worthwhile trip. The members of staff were friendly, reminiscent of that smile that never departs from the ordinary Malawian's lips.
Whether the weather be cold. Whether it be hot. Even when the days get so hard you 'survive' more than 'live'. The Malawian will always be happy, happy for the Gift of Life.
Now, I remember sitting in the Chingwe Conference Room of SunBird Ku Chawe, and -looking down, upon the world below- I could fathom (though the world could not see me; being, as it were, at that height, a distance so stunningly beautiful you realise the existence of a surpreme being, a being that put all these things together) the trees mingled together in a holy alliance of beauty.
Surely, with the beauty of Zomba the mountain and Zomba the plateau, there is nothing like an 'accident-of-nature' and an 'accident-in-nature'.
This because there is someone who came before accidents, and put all these pieces together.
In Zomba, these pieces are put together to form this natural thing called 'impression'.
This is the impression I got from my four-day stay at Ku Chawe. There, I looked at the lights below, the lights of Zomba City.
A city that will forever remain an integral part of Malawi's history.
Colonialists- that is, the British-left their giant country and came to what was called Nyasaland, the present-day Malawi.They soon fell in love with Zomba and made it the centre of their administration.
On one hand, it is Zomba's European weather they liked; it reminded them of the land they left- in a way abandoned- somewhere beyond the sees.
On the other hand, the friendly people of Zomba made it attractive for them to come (to Zomba) and stay (forever).
But this did not only happen to those who came to Zomba, and came to love it. and came to stay in it, and came to be part of it, and came to commit their future to Zomba and, therefore, Malawi- the land of the Lake of Stars.
Others who went to such districts as Karonga also came to love those parts as well. One of these being former colonial policeman Harold Williams.
Williams came to love Malawi that he made it his adoptive home.
So happy was he with the decision that, tired of the Malawi Congress Party regime, Williams was one of the people who founded the pressure group (later to turn into a political party, and ruling party), The United Democratic Front (UDF).
When the UDF took over the reigns of power in 2004, and lost direction towards 2004- when President Bakili Muluzi wanted to extend his term of office, preferring a Third Term to the Constitutional Two Terms- Williams was there, showing Malawi's leaders that Malawians were fools no more.
Williams was so resilient he was manhandled by overzealous Malawi Police Service officers. But he, kind of, did not give up.
He took the fight to the bitter end.
Until he died during the second half of 2011, living behind a history of someone who came to Malawi, came to love it, and died fighting for the right.
May the Good Soul of Harold Williams Rest In Peace!
I have remembered all this because of Zomba.
Come to Zomba and you will go home refreshed in the mind, and more aware of the Great Designer who lives somewhere above.
Monday, December 5, 2011
To Bingu and His Zealots: Why Grab Land From Orphans?
There are children in Mulanje district, children who wish to have been in caring arms, but get the wind instead. The children of Friends of Mulanje Orphans (Fomo).
Their parents, those unforgettable beings, took them this far, and, then, went. There, where people look no back.
Behind- in Mulanje that is- they left something for their children, the children who have found love in Fomo: hopelessness!
At that hour, of hopelessness and gloom, came Mary Woodworth- a British citizen who sends her love from within and (from) across the seas and the blueless skies, to the forgotten children of Mulanje.
Mulanje is not just a district. It is a visible district. So visible, perhaps, because of Mulanje Mountain, where Mulanje Cedar and massifs Malawi glorify. Mulanje mountain is a beacon in the sky.
Mulanje mountain is the pinnacle of visibility, for sure.
But can we say that Mary Woodworth saw Mulanje from the United Kingdom, and, when she looked at the base of Mulanje mountain, saw children wonder about? Uncared for? Unaccounted for. Unknown?
Perhaps?
No, Mary Woodworth is a Malawian- that is, she was born a Malawian. A Malawian from Mulanje.
As a Malawian, she knew about the extended family system, a system so much glorified in Africa. A system worshiped!
In the past, before Westernization took the human being out of the African, there were no orphans in Africa; no vulnerable children.
That was then, when society took care of its people. African society, that is.
But Westernization came, and killed the African conscience.
Then, HIV and AIDS came too- stretching the extended family system beyond limits.
However, both westernization and HIV and AIDS did not come from Africa.
Africa is suffering from problems man-made somewhere.
But some of Africa's problems are man-made!
Need examples?
There are men and women in Malawi, shameless men and women who rule over both the people and the people's poverty. But they also rule over their own fat accounts. Their accounts are full, but their people languish.
Some of these misguided people know that HIV and AIDS is ravaging our souls, but still go on to claim that they have "abolished" HIV and AIDS!
I guess you wouldn't expect a Head of State and Government to say that, but one African leader has actually said this. Search me!
It only shows how detached these people are from reality!
So detached are they that they have started grabbing property from orphans and vulnerable children in Mulanje, the land of the great mountain and massifs.
The people who are doing this, the thieves of orphaned and vulnerable children's property, are cronies of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the party of the President, which President is Bingu wa Mutharika, whose title is DPP President and State President, which State is that of the Republic of Malawi, which Malawi is in Africa, to be precise Southern Africa, which Southern Africa others call Central Africa, the Central Africa that was there before the British called this land Southern Africa, those British folks who live across the great oceans, which oceans never on water go hungry, which water comes from the rains, the rains that fall in the world and Africa, which Africa they colonized, which colonies live no more, because Mulanje Mountain has prevailed!
Well, as Mulanje Mountain, these politicians too have prevailed. Prevailed over innocent, powerless, hungry, starving, clothes-less, shelter-less children. Politicians whose rust for money values no humanity, sees no suffering around. People who wear black jackets, drink decorated water, and go upstairs to down upon all the world.
These politicians- DPP politicians, some DPP politicians- have lost their sense of morality and are grabbing orphans' land in Mulanje.
For once, they have grabbed Fomo land in Mulanje- their, close to their tea plantation- and want to get it for themselves. They think orphans and vulnerable children have no right to own land.
Now, they have grabbed the land, with the blessings of President Bingu wa Mutharika who rules over the land, and makes no qualms about claiming that he is in-charge, and given it to a certain rich man in Mulanje.An equally selfish, gluttonous man who feels satisfied grabbing land from innocent children.
Now, as if that were not enough, they have confiscated Mary Woodworth's British passport! Government seized the passport of the charity volunteer Mary Woodworth, 46, last week.
They have been shamelessly fighting her since last year, when they arrested and accused her of committing a horde of senseless offenses. They included trespass (let's stop here and ask some questions).
Tell me, how can one 'trespass her own land? Eeh? So, if one is not a DPP fanatic, they begin to trespass on their own land? Malawi must surely be in bad hands!
The second charge bordered on conduct likely to cause breach of the peace (another question).
Now, if one is taking care of orphans on her own land, giving the orphans and vulnerable children hope and, therefore, peace, where does the breaching of peace come from?
The other charge is that of theft. Again, how does one steal his own land?
They say she grabbed land from Chitakale Tea Plantations owned by businessman and DPP politician, the filthily-rich Leston Mulli.
No wonder, the Mulanje Magistrates' court discharged her and the five other innocent women whose only crime is to love children left behind by their parents, children forsaken by their relatives, children who can no longer be absorbed by the extended family system.
The one thing about these innocent Mulanje children is that- having been left behind by their parents, for reasons they will never know, for reasons they will never understand, other than their 'time' came, time that came 'too' soon- they are hated so much by the ruling DPP and its cronies they simply have to disappear from the neighbourhood of ruling DPP policians!
But justice will have none of this cruelty. This fat inhumanity! This shameless selfishness.
Surely, Mbona is on Mary Woodworth and these children's side. Surely!
Why, if the question be raised, would people in black suits, with their beards protruding and gathering all the moss around, grab land from little children who have found hope, and are going back to school, eating well, and hoping again; and, then, prosecute their new-found-mum?
That is cruelty beyond measure. Greed larger than the stoutest man's stomach!
Why prosecute Mary Woodworth, who has just been in the country from three weeks now. She needed rest, after a long flight from the United Kingdom. She needed to see the faces of the children she cares for, too. She wanted to hug them, and tell them she counts on them, that they are productive citizens of this country. She wanted to touch their backs, and tell them to hope on, that life is a bag with so many things within.
She expected to receive nothing from the boys- not even to grab their land; she only knew they would smile back, and tell her 'Takulandirani' (we welcome you back).
Of course, she got smiles from the kids- their mum was back.
It is from the government of President Bingu wa Mutharika she got the greatest insult from: court summons.
Mary Woodworth- so loving, so selfless- was was summoned to appear before the Mulanje Magistrates' Court on Wednesday to face six charges.
Private lawyer Frank Mbeta applied to the court that Mary Woodworth should be summoned, and got his bid. The truth is that it is not only Mary Woodworth who has been summoned; it is all the children she looks after.
Not only that. Her passport has been taken by security forces at Mulanje.
All this is questionable because the Supreme Court already ruled that the land belonged to Woodworth and her aunt Lisnet Gremu.
But the government of President Bingu wa Mutharika, knowing that the individual who wanted to grab the land from innocent children and lost- shamefully so (because the courts in Malawi are so independent and make us all proud)- still plotted to take the land from Fomo, woodworth and the innocent children.
It gave the land to Dave Kanyoza, a business associate of Mulli.
It is so simple to 'read' these people. All they want is that Malawians should forget this injustice perpetrated by a selfish state, and that, over time- probably when Mary Woodworth will be dead- the Mullis will still grab the land.
It is a plan so wicked and evil the individuals involved must be worse the Adolf Hitler and other men who will never be forgotten for the atrocities they committed here (on earth).
Now, Woodworth fears for her life. Fortunately, the British Embassy is providing her with consular support and security, to shield her from the fangs of evil, useless, shameless men of the ruling party.
But Woodworth has not given up. Woodworth will not give up. After all, her orphanage reaches out to over 5,000 children. With its 13 centres covering over 80 villages in Mulanje district, a lot of children now have hope, and know that tomorrow is there for them.
Confirmed reports indicate that President Bingu wa Mutharika wants the land in question because he plans to build 'The Malawi Institute of Climatology and Earth Sciences' in 2012. The President promised Mulli the same, and Mulli pledged to donate part of the children's land. The land does not belong to him, it belongs to Mary Woodworth. But Mary Woodworth, be so loving, saw it fit to use it for charitable causes: giving hope to innocent children now orphaned by no want of their own. No cause of their own.
But this government can be so persistently cruel it still wants the land. This is not new. The current administration has been disregarding court decisions because it believes that it will always get its way.
It is a government poor on human rights record, sick at media freedom, and shameless at suppressing dissent.
Intellectual discourse, too, has been up for a beating by President Bingu wa Mutharika's administration. The irony is that all the hullabaloo about 'Academic Freedom' started when this strange man, the so-called Professor Bingu wa Mutharika, was minister responsible for Higher Education.
Already, Peter Mutharika has shown how much he can mess this country up if given a chance.
He failed to resolve the 'Academic Freedom' issue.
And the people spoke in Rumphi Central Constituency in September 2011. There, the ruling DPP lost like a misguided youth.
People wanted to teach the DPP a lesson. A lesson that, even though the late Moses Chirambo was DPP MP for the area, it is not automatic that constituents will always be gullible and vote for failures.
You say the DPP can learn? No.
The land issue in Mulanje gives us insight into this strange stubbornness in the corridors of DPP.
A kind of stubbornness that prompts the President to get his younger brother out of the Education Ministry he so messed up, for that of Minister of Foreign Affairs- apparently to clear Bingu wa Mutharika's mess. A mess born when he deported British Ambassador to Malawi, Fergus Cochraine-Dyet!
But Mutharika, the Peter, has been hitting on rocks. So far, as in the Ministry of Education, his days have been sad and lonely, with no achievements to point at.
But the DPP still does not learn.
That is why it has gone full throttle in its attempts to grab land from innocent, orphaned, and vulnerable children in Mulanje.
Some of the efforts government has made include attempts to resurface thrown-out charges.
Here we go:
Last month, government officials turned the Mulanje Magistrates' Court into a hall of scandal when- on Wednesday, November 30, 2011- they presented charges against Mary Woodworth- which charges were discharged in the year 2010.
This shaming of Malawian courts by the government of Malawi and DPP cronies came to the fore when Woodworth's lawyer, Patric Mpaka, used his legal skills to get the better of opposing lawyers by showing them the anomaly and act of deceit on their part.
In addition, Mpaka told all those who were representing the 'misguided' side that they did not have, and could not provide, a legitimate letter of consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Mpaka did not mince words when he informed the honourable court about the dishonourable act by the dishonourable people representing supposed honourable individuals who are out to grab innocent children's land that the paper-work used to drum the charges against Woodworth were used previously, and duly discharged by the same Magistrate, Tsoka Banda.
Mpaka realized also, after cross-examination, that the DPP issued consent to private practise lawyer, Noel Chalamanda, to prosecute the case scheduled (way back in 2010), and that the case was dismissed due to poor commitment by from the prosecution.
That dismissal gave Woodworth the chance to get a breather and go back to the United Kingdom to fundraise for her charity.
It is on her return that police officers have confiscated her passport and reopened the old case, this time with a different lawyer wearing the unfitting tag of state prosecutor. His name is Frank Pemba.
That is why, in his submission to the court, Mpaka labeled Pemba “an imposter”- especially for his blatant failure to produce produce certified consent from the DPP.
All these efforts, imagine, are aimed at grabbing land from innocent children.
Zachimalawi warns that- when all this is over- there is something that never overs! That is justice!
Let justice prevail. They hopefulness in the children prevail.
Zachimalawi wishes justice well.
Their parents, those unforgettable beings, took them this far, and, then, went. There, where people look no back.
Behind- in Mulanje that is- they left something for their children, the children who have found love in Fomo: hopelessness!
At that hour, of hopelessness and gloom, came Mary Woodworth- a British citizen who sends her love from within and (from) across the seas and the blueless skies, to the forgotten children of Mulanje.
Mulanje is not just a district. It is a visible district. So visible, perhaps, because of Mulanje Mountain, where Mulanje Cedar and massifs Malawi glorify. Mulanje mountain is a beacon in the sky.
Mulanje mountain is the pinnacle of visibility, for sure.
But can we say that Mary Woodworth saw Mulanje from the United Kingdom, and, when she looked at the base of Mulanje mountain, saw children wonder about? Uncared for? Unaccounted for. Unknown?
Perhaps?
No, Mary Woodworth is a Malawian- that is, she was born a Malawian. A Malawian from Mulanje.
As a Malawian, she knew about the extended family system, a system so much glorified in Africa. A system worshiped!
In the past, before Westernization took the human being out of the African, there were no orphans in Africa; no vulnerable children.
That was then, when society took care of its people. African society, that is.
But Westernization came, and killed the African conscience.
Then, HIV and AIDS came too- stretching the extended family system beyond limits.
However, both westernization and HIV and AIDS did not come from Africa.
Africa is suffering from problems man-made somewhere.
But some of Africa's problems are man-made!
Need examples?
There are men and women in Malawi, shameless men and women who rule over both the people and the people's poverty. But they also rule over their own fat accounts. Their accounts are full, but their people languish.
Some of these misguided people know that HIV and AIDS is ravaging our souls, but still go on to claim that they have "abolished" HIV and AIDS!
I guess you wouldn't expect a Head of State and Government to say that, but one African leader has actually said this. Search me!
It only shows how detached these people are from reality!
So detached are they that they have started grabbing property from orphans and vulnerable children in Mulanje, the land of the great mountain and massifs.
The people who are doing this, the thieves of orphaned and vulnerable children's property, are cronies of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the party of the President, which President is Bingu wa Mutharika, whose title is DPP President and State President, which State is that of the Republic of Malawi, which Malawi is in Africa, to be precise Southern Africa, which Southern Africa others call Central Africa, the Central Africa that was there before the British called this land Southern Africa, those British folks who live across the great oceans, which oceans never on water go hungry, which water comes from the rains, the rains that fall in the world and Africa, which Africa they colonized, which colonies live no more, because Mulanje Mountain has prevailed!
Well, as Mulanje Mountain, these politicians too have prevailed. Prevailed over innocent, powerless, hungry, starving, clothes-less, shelter-less children. Politicians whose rust for money values no humanity, sees no suffering around. People who wear black jackets, drink decorated water, and go upstairs to down upon all the world.
These politicians- DPP politicians, some DPP politicians- have lost their sense of morality and are grabbing orphans' land in Mulanje.
For once, they have grabbed Fomo land in Mulanje- their, close to their tea plantation- and want to get it for themselves. They think orphans and vulnerable children have no right to own land.
Now, they have grabbed the land, with the blessings of President Bingu wa Mutharika who rules over the land, and makes no qualms about claiming that he is in-charge, and given it to a certain rich man in Mulanje.An equally selfish, gluttonous man who feels satisfied grabbing land from innocent children.
Now, as if that were not enough, they have confiscated Mary Woodworth's British passport! Government seized the passport of the charity volunteer Mary Woodworth, 46, last week.
They have been shamelessly fighting her since last year, when they arrested and accused her of committing a horde of senseless offenses. They included trespass (let's stop here and ask some questions).
Tell me, how can one 'trespass her own land? Eeh? So, if one is not a DPP fanatic, they begin to trespass on their own land? Malawi must surely be in bad hands!
The second charge bordered on conduct likely to cause breach of the peace (another question).
Now, if one is taking care of orphans on her own land, giving the orphans and vulnerable children hope and, therefore, peace, where does the breaching of peace come from?
The other charge is that of theft. Again, how does one steal his own land?
They say she grabbed land from Chitakale Tea Plantations owned by businessman and DPP politician, the filthily-rich Leston Mulli.
No wonder, the Mulanje Magistrates' court discharged her and the five other innocent women whose only crime is to love children left behind by their parents, children forsaken by their relatives, children who can no longer be absorbed by the extended family system.
The one thing about these innocent Mulanje children is that- having been left behind by their parents, for reasons they will never know, for reasons they will never understand, other than their 'time' came, time that came 'too' soon- they are hated so much by the ruling DPP and its cronies they simply have to disappear from the neighbourhood of ruling DPP policians!
But justice will have none of this cruelty. This fat inhumanity! This shameless selfishness.
Surely, Mbona is on Mary Woodworth and these children's side. Surely!
Why, if the question be raised, would people in black suits, with their beards protruding and gathering all the moss around, grab land from little children who have found hope, and are going back to school, eating well, and hoping again; and, then, prosecute their new-found-mum?
That is cruelty beyond measure. Greed larger than the stoutest man's stomach!
Why prosecute Mary Woodworth, who has just been in the country from three weeks now. She needed rest, after a long flight from the United Kingdom. She needed to see the faces of the children she cares for, too. She wanted to hug them, and tell them she counts on them, that they are productive citizens of this country. She wanted to touch their backs, and tell them to hope on, that life is a bag with so many things within.
She expected to receive nothing from the boys- not even to grab their land; she only knew they would smile back, and tell her 'Takulandirani' (we welcome you back).
Of course, she got smiles from the kids- their mum was back.
It is from the government of President Bingu wa Mutharika she got the greatest insult from: court summons.
Mary Woodworth- so loving, so selfless- was was summoned to appear before the Mulanje Magistrates' Court on Wednesday to face six charges.
Private lawyer Frank Mbeta applied to the court that Mary Woodworth should be summoned, and got his bid. The truth is that it is not only Mary Woodworth who has been summoned; it is all the children she looks after.
Not only that. Her passport has been taken by security forces at Mulanje.
All this is questionable because the Supreme Court already ruled that the land belonged to Woodworth and her aunt Lisnet Gremu.
But the government of President Bingu wa Mutharika, knowing that the individual who wanted to grab the land from innocent children and lost- shamefully so (because the courts in Malawi are so independent and make us all proud)- still plotted to take the land from Fomo, woodworth and the innocent children.
It gave the land to Dave Kanyoza, a business associate of Mulli.
It is so simple to 'read' these people. All they want is that Malawians should forget this injustice perpetrated by a selfish state, and that, over time- probably when Mary Woodworth will be dead- the Mullis will still grab the land.
It is a plan so wicked and evil the individuals involved must be worse the Adolf Hitler and other men who will never be forgotten for the atrocities they committed here (on earth).
Now, Woodworth fears for her life. Fortunately, the British Embassy is providing her with consular support and security, to shield her from the fangs of evil, useless, shameless men of the ruling party.
But Woodworth has not given up. Woodworth will not give up. After all, her orphanage reaches out to over 5,000 children. With its 13 centres covering over 80 villages in Mulanje district, a lot of children now have hope, and know that tomorrow is there for them.
Confirmed reports indicate that President Bingu wa Mutharika wants the land in question because he plans to build 'The Malawi Institute of Climatology and Earth Sciences' in 2012. The President promised Mulli the same, and Mulli pledged to donate part of the children's land. The land does not belong to him, it belongs to Mary Woodworth. But Mary Woodworth, be so loving, saw it fit to use it for charitable causes: giving hope to innocent children now orphaned by no want of their own. No cause of their own.
But this government can be so persistently cruel it still wants the land. This is not new. The current administration has been disregarding court decisions because it believes that it will always get its way.
It is a government poor on human rights record, sick at media freedom, and shameless at suppressing dissent.
Intellectual discourse, too, has been up for a beating by President Bingu wa Mutharika's administration. The irony is that all the hullabaloo about 'Academic Freedom' started when this strange man, the so-called Professor Bingu wa Mutharika, was minister responsible for Higher Education.
Already, Peter Mutharika has shown how much he can mess this country up if given a chance.
He failed to resolve the 'Academic Freedom' issue.
And the people spoke in Rumphi Central Constituency in September 2011. There, the ruling DPP lost like a misguided youth.
People wanted to teach the DPP a lesson. A lesson that, even though the late Moses Chirambo was DPP MP for the area, it is not automatic that constituents will always be gullible and vote for failures.
You say the DPP can learn? No.
The land issue in Mulanje gives us insight into this strange stubbornness in the corridors of DPP.
A kind of stubbornness that prompts the President to get his younger brother out of the Education Ministry he so messed up, for that of Minister of Foreign Affairs- apparently to clear Bingu wa Mutharika's mess. A mess born when he deported British Ambassador to Malawi, Fergus Cochraine-Dyet!
But Mutharika, the Peter, has been hitting on rocks. So far, as in the Ministry of Education, his days have been sad and lonely, with no achievements to point at.
But the DPP still does not learn.
That is why it has gone full throttle in its attempts to grab land from innocent, orphaned, and vulnerable children in Mulanje.
Some of the efforts government has made include attempts to resurface thrown-out charges.
Here we go:
Last month, government officials turned the Mulanje Magistrates' Court into a hall of scandal when- on Wednesday, November 30, 2011- they presented charges against Mary Woodworth- which charges were discharged in the year 2010.
This shaming of Malawian courts by the government of Malawi and DPP cronies came to the fore when Woodworth's lawyer, Patric Mpaka, used his legal skills to get the better of opposing lawyers by showing them the anomaly and act of deceit on their part.
In addition, Mpaka told all those who were representing the 'misguided' side that they did not have, and could not provide, a legitimate letter of consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Mpaka did not mince words when he informed the honourable court about the dishonourable act by the dishonourable people representing supposed honourable individuals who are out to grab innocent children's land that the paper-work used to drum the charges against Woodworth were used previously, and duly discharged by the same Magistrate, Tsoka Banda.
Mpaka realized also, after cross-examination, that the DPP issued consent to private practise lawyer, Noel Chalamanda, to prosecute the case scheduled (way back in 2010), and that the case was dismissed due to poor commitment by from the prosecution.
That dismissal gave Woodworth the chance to get a breather and go back to the United Kingdom to fundraise for her charity.
It is on her return that police officers have confiscated her passport and reopened the old case, this time with a different lawyer wearing the unfitting tag of state prosecutor. His name is Frank Pemba.
That is why, in his submission to the court, Mpaka labeled Pemba “an imposter”- especially for his blatant failure to produce produce certified consent from the DPP.
All these efforts, imagine, are aimed at grabbing land from innocent children.
Zachimalawi warns that- when all this is over- there is something that never overs! That is justice!
Let justice prevail. They hopefulness in the children prevail.
Zachimalawi wishes justice well.
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