LEVI PRO’S FREE MIND

The barbed wire covering the big part of Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa District can only do much in terms of restricting his physical movements. More so when, as one of the people living in a restricted area, a gate-pass is the only temporary way to the world beyond Dzaleka.

Fortunately, the barbed wire does nothing, if anything at all, to hinder Levi Pro’s wandering mind; a mind so fertile that one would not think he is only 20 years old.

Levi Pro, real name Levis Ndayishimiye, has, in the past three years, been one of young men who have shone during the Tumaini Festival, an annual celebration of culture and creativity that brings people from far and wide to Dzaleka.

“In life, one should have no limits,” says Levi Pro.

It is Friday, March 23, and Weekender is at Dzaleka Refugee camp.

As is the case sometimes— except when there are special occasions or people are having one or two drinks at any of the drinking joints at the camp— the scene is silent and still. Of course, some children, aged between seven and 15 years, create fun by the mere gesture of throwing dust in the air, or at each other.

Unknown to the fist-time visitor is the fact that there is a lot of activity— activities bordering on fun— in the mind of another young man who is, visibly, silent but silently active. In the mind, that is.

It is Levi Pro, the producer who has spent the better part of his life at Dzaleka, having come to the place many call home away from home in 2006. In this home away from home, Levi Pro has, in the past three weeks, been preparing for mock examinations. Before the year ends, in this home away from home, Levi Pro will sit examinations; not as Levi Pro, for that is a name associated with his trade as an artist, but as Levis Ndayishimiye.

I find him in the course of studies, which he combines with business because his guardians run a small grocery, saving other residents of the camp from the trouble of travelling a distance of between 300 and 400 metres to buy groceries, maize flour, rice, tomatoes, onions, fresh and dry fish and whatever tickles their fancy at the bustling market in the camp.

“I call it multi-tasking; studying, selling merchandise, producing music for choirs and individual artists, praising God, in my capacity as a Catholic, and helping children who show interest in the arts with the necessary knowledge,” says Levi Pro, who is fluent in Chichewa, English, French, among other languages.

He says this as we sit in his make-shift studio. It is dark inside. Blackouts have hit again.

“You see, as a producer, I get interrupted by power outages because, sometimes, they come just when you were about to save the work or when a brilliant idea has struck you and you are about to execute it. Sometimes, especially when you are working on deadlines, power outages can make you appear unreliable to people who seek your services. The thing is, I have no backup power,” Levi Pro says.

Well, I first heard of the name Levi Pro during the Tumaini Festival last year, although the soft-spoken artist has performed there three times— meaning, three years.

The artist has over 20 songs to his credit, including ‘Atakamapenzi’, ‘I am Born Again’, ‘Life ndi Yovuta’, ‘You Are The Reason Why’, ‘Anything I do’, ‘Ndinu Nokha God’, I Believe in Christ’, ‘Natakatuwe Pamoja [Ndikufuna Tikhale Pamodzi]’, among others.

He is a hip hop artist, which is not surprising because Levi Pro is a fan of American artist Eminem. But, to serve the interests of R&B lovers, the artist also delves into the same, making him a master of both.

“Since I started taking music seriously in 2014, I have been into hip hop. I have a brother, JB Extra, who is into reggae and dance hall. For the most part, I sing about God because I regard myself as born again, in the sense that I shed off my past and embraced Jesus Christ,” says Levi Pro, who feels at home when playing with instruments or none at all, when performing free style or as programmed by those responsible for organising an event.

He fits in all worlds, or so it seems, because, in his world— a world that sets physical limits despite its failure to arrest the mind— flexibility is the name of the game.

“I may say I am secular but I like the gospel of Jesus Christ. As I have said, I am born again,” he says.

He then delves into the issues of staying at Dzaleka, where the body’s freedom is, to some extent, limited but the mind is always free; so free that, even when wars are still ravaging one’s home country, the mind is always free to take the individual person back home, where the individual can revisit places that were, and are, dear to them.

But only in the mind.

“Of course, if you talk of life here [at Dzaleka], it is tough, especially when it comes to getting money; even when it comes to getting singers. But, then, life does not place a ceiling on our heads. One is free to do whatever they like; so long as they have life. So, I am free in as far as life is concerned. I am free to be creative. I am free to help others. And I am free to being helped.

“What do I mean by saying I am free to being helped? I mean, as an individual, I need things that I may not be able to get on my own. For example, I need a professional studio; a room with buffers, a nice computer, monitors, mid-piano, sound card, mixer, among other things,” says the 2018 Malawi School Certificate of Education candidate.

But, as he waits for a day the sun will shine on his life, a day that will transform his hopes to reality, the wheels of life continue to roll. As usual.

Talking of life, what is life, to Levi Pro?

“Life is a season. That is why I divide my time into seasons. I have a season for recording and producing songs for choirs and a season for producing songs for individual artists. When one realises that life is, simply put, a season, it becomes easy for them to divide the activities they spend much time doing into seasons. That is what I do. The only thing that has no season is any action that borders on reaching out to others, helping them. That is why I am always at the service of those around me. When they give me a task, like selling things in the grocery, I do them,” says Levi Pro.

So far, he has produced songs for 30 choirs, some of them have come from as far as Mponela in Dowa District.

MOVING ON: Levi Pro

In terms of individual artists, he had produced songs for JB Extra, Ranking, RED, among others.

From time to time, Levi Pro finds himself engaging those responsible for the camp on the need for a gate-pass, and that happens when artists have asked him to travel to their base to record songs or when exigencies of duty demand that he should venture out to look at life from the angle of a new comer.

“You see, sometimes, when I am producing songs for a group of six or more people, it becomes cheaper for me to travel to their base, because it is cost effective, in terms of transport costs, than for them to come here [at Dzaleka] because that means incurring more in transport costs [on their part],” says Levi Pro.

His hope is that, in his small way, even when surrounded by barbed wire, he can contribute to the economy of Malawi— the country he calls home away from home.

“What I can say is that, once artists are supported financially, technically and otherwise, they can propel the economy. The arts industry is part of the economy, in the sense that there is the possibility of generating income, creating employment, among other things. There is no ceiling as to how much the arts industry can contribute to the economy. All we, artists, need is support,” says Levi Pro.

At that point, one of the residents at Dzaleka knocks at the counter of the grocery— which is connected to houses in the place Levi Pro calls home—from outside.

“I am coming,” says Levi Pro.

That is what it means to be of service to humanity. One has to combine business with service, especially because helping out has no demarcated seasons.

Women land with ‘A Grafted Tree and Other Stories’

Again, women have abandoned their monologue.

After taking to books to express themselves following the re-advent of multiparty politics in 2003, it has been relatively quiet in the creative department of women, especially when it comes to publishing works collectively.

No more; perhaps because women have realised that speaking to oneself is akin to speaking on top of one’s voice on a windy day. The voice will, most likely, be swallowed up by the winds, leaving the speaker wondering as to whether the message has landed home or not.

Winds may not be such a good medium of communication.

A book, on the other hand, is.

Why? “Because people are able to articulate issues and there are no fears about information getting lost because [when you publish] it [the message] is in permanent form,” says Sambalikagwa Mvona, Malawi Writers (Mawu) Union President.

With 13 books to his credit— and counting— Mvona is not speaking from a position of ignorance. He has been there. He knows the book publishing landscape in Malawi like the palm of his right hand. He is right-handed, after all.

And, so, Mvona— Cultural Fund of Malawi through Hivos and others who value the arts— asked women to submit short stories for inclusion in an anthology. Those who were successful attended workshops funded by the Cultural Support Scheme and Cultural Fund of Malawi.

A Grafted Tree and Other Stories: An Anthology of Women Writers in Malawi is the product of those efforts.

Mvona says the anthology is part of the efforts to revive story-telling in Malawi.

“For many years, story-telling has always been associated with women— grandmothers telling age-long stories to their grandchildren around a fire-place. Stories have been told of kalulu’s [hare] cleverness, of the forest creatures, napolo— that snake which triggers floods— competitive chimtali and mganda dances, the great tireless journeys to copper, diamond and gold mines surrounding our country and many more that knighted our great heroes.

“But, with time, such stories are sadly diminishing as more of such story-tellers are phasing out and others are increasingly migrating to urban centres. But women, because of their status, do not fall short of awe with stories that grip their bodies and sidestep their paths to success. This makes us believe that women are natural story-tellers no matter the conditions they are entangled in,” Mvona says in the introduction.

Demetrina Herman Banda opens the chapter in the anthology with her piece, ‘The Bargaining Chip’, a story that revolves around a girl called Chifatso Gamaliyele from Sangani, a rural district.

Through hard work and dedication, she finds herself at Kabula University. Being the Gamaliyeles’ only child and one of the education ‘survivors’ in an area where cases of school dropout and early marriages are rampant, she defies the odds to scale greater heights.

After sailing past stumbling blocks such as peer pressure, Chifatso faces a block more challenging than those she has faced before— a professor [Kazukuta], bent on establishing contact that may lead to romance with her, fails her in examinations. After failing the calculus, she has to know why she has failed and that means meeting the professor.

The story becomes intriguing at this point and forces one to read on so that they may understand how it ends.

‘Smooth Operator’, a story by Matilda Phiri, starts with a bad day for the protagonist, Ethel, after a thief steals her handbag in Limbe, Blantyre’s commercial centre.

She lost her mother to breast cancer while in university and goes on facing one form of challenge or another.

HEART OF STORY-TELLING— The village

In a way, ‘Smooth Operator’ is a story of love because, along the way, Ethel and Frank fall in love. In the mix of emotions, love and recklessness, she gets pregnant.

Coincidentally, Ethel’s sister, Linda, falls pregnant and it is Frank, too, who is responsible.

The protagonist cannot stomach it.

In ‘Destiny’, a story by Nancy Phiri, Destiny, a poor girl, young and helpless, is left shocked after learning that her fate and that of her sisters is to be decided by her uncle’s family.

“Destiny felt a pang of fear. They were gathered in her mother’s bedroom. Her uncle, his wife and the two remaining sisters. How could these people be so heartless? Planning her life as if she was a bag of potatoes. The cheek of it all in the deceased bedroom…” paragraph six of the story sums the gist of the matter.

But, as her name suggests, she is destined for greater things. She manages to attain an education and, finally, marries the man of her choice.

What is more? She even forgives those who wronged her on her way to success.

‘Napolo’, a story by Patience Chilinjala, starts with a persona promising to live by his words. What are the words? Writing a letter to the daughter who, apparently, was close to his heart.

After those words, as the author puts it, she breathes with ease as she watches him get in a boat.

“Carefully clutching his small bag that was tightly fit in his waist, he helped himself up on the port size of the boat. Oars in the hand, he pushed the boat further from the shore,” reads part of the story.

It turns out that the father is involved in fishy business and the daughter is bent on finding out.

There are many other stories, including ‘The Night Owls’ by Dalitsani Lucy Anselmo, ‘Nanyoni’s Fate’ by Thokozani Kasiya, ‘Revenge Has A Bitter Taste’ by Fiddy Lundu, ‘Giselle’ by Natasha Munde, ‘The Eclipse’ by Victoria Kalaundi, ‘The World is Round’ by Mwayi Sambalikagwa Mvona.

Other stories are ‘Guilty’ by Grace Sharra, ‘Murderer of the Village’ by Roseby Gadama, ‘A Grafted Tree’ by Tikondwe Kaphagawani-Chimkowola, ‘The Landlady’ by Clara Honester Chikuni, ‘Tainted’ by Charlene Matekenya, ‘My Mother’s Daughter’ by Maurlin Madukani, ‘Chongo’ by Edith Kalawo, ‘Moments of Life’ by Mercy Pindani, ‘That Girl Is You’ by Precious Nihorowa, ‘For Francis Soul’ by Alinafe Olivia Gundo and ‘Rumours’ by Norah Mervis Lungu.

The only blip in the anthology could be that there is no colouring of language, and those wishing to add some words to their vocabulary, or be surprised by the weaving of words, will be disappointed.

Otherwise, the stories are full of themes, giving readers a chance to, at least, get a piece from the cake that is creative writing.      

So, while, in other spheres of life, the talk is about women empowerment through the door of politics— as Malawians prepare for the 2019 Tripartite Elections, namely Local Government, parliamentary and presidential elections— Mawu seems bent on sending home the message that women can also dominate the arts.

This point will be emphasised today, during the launch of A Grafted Tree and Other Stories: An Anthology of Women Writers in Malawi at Jacaranda Cultural Centre.

If a bunch of books is evidence of readiness, then Mawu is ready— for books upon books graced Mvona’s Blantyre office when Weekender visited it on Tuesday. The books are ready for launch, not just at Jacaranda but in people’s hearts— so long as they connect to the stories.

Twenty-one stories litter the book with their myriad themes.

Bakili Muluzi Still Hates Sam Mpasu

Even after the winds of death swept across Mudi in Blantyre, taking with them diplomat, author and politician Sam Mpasu– leaving Malawi's landscape dry and one soul less – the term forgiveness still does not exist in Malawi's president Bakili Muluzi's his vocabularly, especially when it comes to Mpasu [sorry for the long paragraph].
Mpasu, in case some do not know, fought for multi-party democracy in Malawi, after joining the underground movement that, later, after the Catholic bishops had paved the road with that famous Pastoral Letter– in which they condemned the excesses of power and appealed for sanity, spiritual or otherwise– took on the name United Democratic Front (UDF).

RESTING IN PEACE– Mpasu
Mpasu was one of the people who settled for Muluzi as party leader, even though Muluzi was an outsider of sorts in the UDF. Well, Muluzi rode his luck and the rest is history. History that stops at Muluzi's unsuccessful  attempts to vie for limitless terms of office and, when it became clear to him that that was not going to happen, third term. Again, in vain.
At the heart of those who resisted Muluzi's undemocratic overtures is Mpasu, who– as Speaker of the National Assembly Muluzi was re-positioning to extend his extend his term beyond the constitutionally sanctioned two, five-year terms– connived with UDF insiders to frustrate Muluzi.
No wonder,  Muluzi appointed Mpasu Minister of Trade and Industry at the height of calls for Muluzi to contest in the 2004 presidential election for the third-term. Mpasu openly defied Muluzi by refusing to take up the post.
Deadlock.
Public broadcaster went on overdrive, accusing Mpasu of being full of himself. How dare he challenge the president? Around this question traditional leaders were castigating Mpasu,. along with political analysts with questionable credentials.
Mpasu, facing political winds from all directions on the campus, finally succumbed to pressure and accepted to 'pick up' the post of Minister of Trade and Industry. During Muluzi's time, it was called the Ministry of Trade and Industry; it is Malawi's third Republican president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, who declared that the ministry should be called that of Industry and Trade, to reflect his renewed focus on industrialisation.
 By appointing Mpasu Cabinet minister, Muluzi hoped to work behind the scenes to bring in someone [to the position of Speaker of Parliament] who would lick his boots. Someone who would be game to the idea of Muluzi running for a third term.
But, somehow, thanks to condemnation from Catholic bishops, political commentators and UDF insiders who were working behind the scenes to frustrate Muluzi, sanity prevailed. Muluzi was defeated and, in a bout of panic and shame in equal measure, he announced– rather reluctantly– that he would not stand again.
And, in a fit of shameless abandon, Muluzi abandoned the truth and started peddling lies. Whatelse could he do, when he was caught pants down trying to rape the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi?
Muluzi started lying, in broad day-light and sometimes at night, that it was UDF supporters who were drumming up support for a third term; continuing, rather shamelessly, that he had nothing to do with the third-term campaign.
Of course, this was a lie and Muluzi knew it.
Muluzi wanted a third-term. He wanted it badly. So that, at his behest, those who opposed it were tortured. A democrat-turned-animal on the loose.
Malawi's democracy was in silent crisis.
Examples, of people who were tortured, abound. Mark Mezalume, who once dined with the National Democratic Alliance of Brown Mpinganjira – a political chameleon who was once Malawi Congress Party [during the one party regime everyone was a member], once UDF, once People's Party, once National Democrat Alliance, now Democratic Progressive Party– was harked at Clock Tower in Blantyre during demonstrations against the third-term bid.
The hackers, sent, of course, by the so-called democratic UDF, hacked Mezalume, rendering one of his eyes dysfunctional. He had to undergo an operation.
Surprisingly, Mezalume later joined the UDF. Oh, forgiveness at best.
But the fact is that he will never have his eye back – in its original form–although he did suffer a change of heart.

'HOME'– Mpasu
Anyway, all these points serve to show that Muluzi loved the idea of the third term with his whole heart, and was ready to punish those who were against it. One of those who were against it is the man Mpasu; a man who stood for the truth no matter how painful. So long as he did not suffer the pain himself, of course. 
And Muluzi has never forgiven Mpasu for that, even as Mpasu lies peacefully, but breathless anyway, under the red soils of Khuzi Village, Senior Chief Kwataine, in Ntcheu District.
That is why Muluzi– well-known by his fans as 'Oyenda m'maliro [funeral-monger]', a moniker he loves so much that he would pay anything to have that moniker preserved– did not attend Mpasu's funeral [and burial] in Ntcheu on Sunday, February 19, 2018.
Muluzi is still angry.
And Muluzi does not want to forgive Mpasu.
Muluzi loves his third-term.
You see, thinking that the past was gone, and that he would rekindle his third-term dreams, Muluzi attempted to register in the 2009 presidential elections and, when the Malawi Electoral Commission made it clear that that would be impossible, since he had served the maximum of two five-year terms as Malawi's president, Muluzi went to the courts.
The courts, as expected, rebuffed Muluzi, saying he had ran his course. 
Shamefully, even without Mpasu playing the role of antagonist, Muluzi lost again.
He spends his days at BCA Hill drowning in the shame of his unsuccessful attempt to get a third-term he did not deserve.
He spends his days at BCA Hill hating on Mpasu, even as Mpasu rests peacefully, but breathless anyway, in the Ngoniland away from Lake Malawi.

Bakili Muluzi's headache

It is not often that confusion reins in former Malawi president Bakili Muluzi's house.
Not the kind of confusion that seems to be reigning after one of his self-acclaimed son, Francis, declared that he would contest as Member of Parliament in the 2019 Tripartite [Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential] Elections.
Now, there is nothing wrong when an individual declares that he or she wants to vie for public office. Indeed, as a self-confessed "democrat", the former president pretty well knows this.
The problem, though, is that Francis, who is often seen standing behind Muluzi's other son, Atupele, has declared that he wants to contest on the ticket of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Which is surprising because, to begin with, the former president, like those who ventured into politics during the one party regime, started his political journey in the MCP. But, in a twist of events, Muluzi joined those who were agitating for multiparty politics in 1993, stirring the political waters when the United Democratic Front (UDF) was an underground movement.
In so doing, Muluzi started spewing venom at the MCP, discrediting it and its leadership in public. At every available opportunity, he could scandalise its leadership.
Of course, Muluzi formed a 'strange' political relationship with the MCP in 2009, when the courts made it clear that he could not contest as president in the general elections of that year, having served two five-year terms between 1994 and 2004.
Caught between a limitless sea and hard rock, Muluzi dined with MCP presidential candidate John Tembo by telling the electorate to vote for the MCP.
Of course, Tembo, speaking on Zodiak Broadcasting Station a week ago, denied ever being in a political alliance with the UDF or Muluzi in 2009.
But, if Muluzi's public pronouncements on the MCP are anything to go by, it does not make sense for his son Francis to contest on an MCP ticket in next year's elections.
Francis wants to contest in Blantyre-Kabula Constituency.
Secondly, it does not make sense for Francis to contest on an MCP ticket when Atupele, his other brother, is the leader of the former ruling UDF. 
It is like there is confusion in the family and the centre cannot hold.
But, then, this is democracy. People have a right to contest in public positions on whichever ticket tickles their fancy.
Just that, in the case of Francis, his choice is Muluzi's headache.

MISA Malawi concerned with attack of MBC reporters by MCP supporters

Statement for immediate release
The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Malawi) would like to condemn the action of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) supporters for attacking reporters from Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) who had been assigned to take aerial visuals of City Centre in the Capital Lilongwe on Sunday, January 28.

Reports indicate that MBC crew Prince Donda and Elias Chauluka were taking aerial visuals of the City Centre using a drone when MCP supporters attacked the crew on suspicion that they were filming an MCP National Executive (NEC) meeting which was allegedly under way at the MCP offices in the area.

The crew managed to escape without injuries but the drone is apparently with the MCP supporters.

Lingadzi Police Station Public Relations Officer Foster Benjamin confirmed the development to MISA Malawi Monday, January 29 saying the law enforcers were overpowered when they tried to retrieve the drone. He said the police are still investigating the matter.

MISA Malawi would like to remind people that the ‘media has a right to report within Malawi and abroad and to be accorded the fullest possible facilities for access to information.’ We believe taking footage of the City Centre or even coverage of the MCP meeting is no exception.

The MBC crew clearly failed to do their work because of the conduct of the MCP supporters.

The supporters created a hostile atmosphere for the journalists to undertake their assignment. The conduct of the MCP supporters was not only an interference with the work of the media but also a threat to the lives of the crew.

Efforts to speak to MCP officials proved futile.

We would however like to call upon MCP authorities and leadership to arrange for the return of the drone and ensure that the matter is investigated and the culprits disciplined. MCP should also take measures to prevent any future attack on the media.

Attacking reporters and treating them as criminals is barbaric and retrogressive. MISA Malawi would like to caution the general public against any form of attack on journalists in their line of duty. Journalists have a responsibility to report and inform Malawians on developments in the country. Any form of attack on journalists is an infringement on not just the media’s right to gather and report but also citizens’ right to know.

In the same vein we would like to call upon all media outlets and practitioners to be professional and impartial in their work. Only a professional media sector can safe guard our nascent democracy and facilitate socio-economic development of our country.

Signed
Teresa Ndanga
Chairperson, MISA Malawi

Catherine Kawawa’s paycheck

The hope, for the most part, is that money flows naturally. I mean, if one is creative enough to compose songs, they must, surely, have sticky pockets that can attract money from all over the place.

It follows, therefore, that, because people think that nothing is out of the reach of artists— who, traditionally, are considered the lynchpin of everything creative— artists who cry foul over exploitation are sometimes regarded as unreasonable.

This line of thinking could, perhaps, be to blame for creating a tableau of bliss in the creative industry, when the truth is that this is not always the case.

Which is why people have to work hard— sometimes sweating blood— to get a fat cheque in the creative industry.

Maybe gospel artist Catherine Kawawa had a real picture of the situation when she decided to dedicate her life to God through music.

After all, she did not just start from the top, but had to start from the ground, working with this artist or that. I am talking of artists who were relatively established the time she decided to venture into the music industry. Even when she did not participate in events as the headliner— getting, instead, satisfied by any role relatively established artists could throw at her— those in the audience could not escape the impact of her contribution in their lives.

I say so without fear of contradiction because, once or twice, I happened to be part of the audience when Kawawa backed Favoured Martha at one point in time; before I happened to be where Maggie Pangani was having a performance and Kawawa had to, as I knew better, back her.

Surely, both cases qualified for those moments when people lead from the back, stealing the show from those who attract all the cameras because they are the main actors.

Which was not bad because, if she were someone else, Catherine, [who at the time of making her foray into music had a close relationship with money, having served as payroll officer at G4S] would have let the sadness that clouded  her life after her father’s [Mr Kananji] death in 1999 distract her from her goals.

You know how, sometimes, people are taken aback when they lose those they care for.

But Catherine, surely, encouraged by the light that is Jesus Christ, moved on with life.

In her faith, she started backing the likes of Favoured Martha and Maggie Pangani while learning the ropes.

And, then, boom! She rushed to the studio, where she started recording the album Afuna Iwe.

The album went to the market, tasting the waters I should say. Maybe weeks went; no real income.

A month. The money not coming.

Which is contrary to the perceptions of some people, who feel, as I said earlier, that artists can do anything— even when what they have to do is out of their power.

Take, for example, someone who releases an album. They expect to get something because, in the end, they eat and drink and hope and dream. Like us.

And sometimes the money does not come as expected; or when we want it.

Catherine waited.

And, then, boom! She started selling CDs of the album Afuna Iwe. She kept on hoping for the best; for a sunny day.

And, then, as she said [herself] on January 20 2013, when she was 34, she wanted to shed the tears of joy when she counted money she had in her hands and discovered that it amounted to K40, 000. The first chunk of money from her first album.

Her efforts had paid off.

No wonder, it was a happy moment; moment of relief, for there is more work ahead.

Her happiness lied in the fact that, with patience, she had waited and waited, until she saw the burden of anxiety laid down forever, under the ‘heavy’ weight of a bunch of notes amounting to K40, 000.

And K40, 000 was a lot of money then!

Thom Chiumia!

This man, Thom Chiumia, has always courted controversy, right from the time he was young.

It seems people really do not know who Thom Chiumia, the face of Nyasa Times is.

Well, Thom Chiumia has finally 'revealed' to us who he is: a suspected defiler.

What a shame, especially that Thom Chiumia has, for a long time, stood, or pretended to stand, as the bastion of sanity.

Only to shame himself and his relatives by indulging in an abominable act.

Today, the name Thom Chiumia will forever be associated with criminality. I mean, now that the man Thom Chiumia, who stays in the United Kingdom, has been exposed.

How do you defile an under-age girl, when we are in the prism of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence?

Kauluka kadzatera [no matter how far a bird flies, it lands, somehow.

Look at Thom Chiumia of Nyasa Times!

Michesi peaceful but gender-based violence bites

Once, on March 10 1991, Michesi Mountain stirred into destructive wakefulness, causing mayhem and casting long shadows of despair as flush floods destroyed what Phalombe District residents had worked so hard to build in 27 years of Malawi’s independence.

The incident, whose impact was trumpeted by a rock avalanche, hit the limelight both locally and internationally. Who could ignore once vibrant villages lying in ruins, haunted by deaths, injuries and the spectre of helpless and hopeless families?

The March 10 1991 event can as well be described as a ‘loud’ crisis.

Today, Michesi still looms large, albeit depleted of the forest cover that once made it shelter for bio-diversity but there is s ‘silent’ crisis ravaging the seemingly undisturbed community.

Go to Mkhulambe Trading Centre, some two or three kilometres away from Michesi Mountain, and the peaceable atmosphere will mislead you into believing that all is well.

It is only when one talks to Traditional Authority Mkhulambe that they realise the gravity of one, silent and neglected problem.

After all, 1991 is such a long way back. Children have been born, post-Phalombe disaster children who have no idea, let alone memories, about what happened then. In fact, Michesi Primary School is full of learners whose present bears no blemishes of the past.

At the Mkhulambe Trading Centre, a bustling market, replete with about three drinking joints, betrays the picture of an area that once lay in ruins. One stretch of dusty road actually takes one to Michesi Mountain, the starting point of the 1991 disaster, all the way to Phalombe Central Business District – or Zero Point– without passing through Chiringa and Migowi centres.

Michesi Mountain has become the passage to Phalombe Zero Point, where all life begins. The district’s main public health facility, namely Phalombe Health Centre, is there. One commercial bank close to the District Health Office serves as an indication that the culture of saving is entrenching itself in Phalombe. The branch of one food chain store offers residents a modern shopping experience, not to mention the many shops. A Malawi Police Service Station is there, protecting the lawful citizen from jungle-suitable behaviour.

During both day and night, life comes to life at Phalombe Zero Point.

However, as the rest of Phalombe moves on, silent crises damage the fabric of society in Mkhulambe’s area.

“Cases of early marriages and gender-based violence are real. We also face the problem of high school dropout rates but we are working on that. The problem is that some girls and women have been suffering silently,” says Mkhulambe, an ambassador for girls’ education in Phalombe District.

Mkhulambe was there when water, self-driven and utterly destructive, swept through the area in 1991. After all, Michesi River, which served as one of the outlets for the flush floods, runs peacefully now, a stone-throw away from her residence at Mkhulambe Trading Centre.

Just that it is not clear whether her choice of residence— her house is located behind a Salvation Army church building made of red bricks — is intentional; that, maybe, the church building is in front of her house to shield her from evil forces such as flush floods.

For the time being, things seem to be working— but only as far as flush floods as concerned, for other challenges have silently crept in. Mkhulambe says her subjects now face another serious problem that may, if not addressed, even threaten to take away the gains made since 1991.

“Gender-based violence should not be tolerated. Some women are dying is silence. I think early marriages are one of the factors to blame for increased cases of gender-based violence. We have a role to ensure that this done not happen by sending our girls to school,” Mkhulambe adds.

Indeed, gender-based violence and school dropout rates were two of the issues that gained currency during a meeting Umodzi Youth Organisation (Uyo) organised at Mkhulambe Trading Centre two weeks ago.

Uyo, which is running the one-year ‘Stand Together in Fighting Violence Against Women and Girls’ Project in Phalombe, thanks to financial support from Amplify Change, enlightened 20 girls and women who have been watching silently as the vices of gender-based violence and early marriages eat through the fabric of society.

Phalombe Acting District Courts Administrator, Issa Salanje, and District Social Welfare Officer Emmerson Gama were handy— taking the 20 girls and women drawn from Mkhulambe’s area through topics such as right to education, right to life, freedom of association, human dignity and personal freedoms, among others.

Like Michesi River on March 10 1991, the floodgates were opened; just that these were the floodgates of knowledge, and not self-driven water whose results were utterly destructive.

Uyo Project Coordinator, Stella Masamba, observes that, apart from incidents of gender-based violence, cases of school dropout are rampant.

“Come to think of it, every year, 450 girls drop out of school in Traditional Authority Mkhulambe’s area. This is an alarming figure, especially because those who drop out of school opt for marriage. So, we had to come in a bid to reduce cases of gender-based violence. We have been doing this by addressing issues of harmful cultural beliefs and practices,” Masamba says.

Masamba is not speaking from the blues. During a Phalombe District Executive Committee meeting earlier this year, it was revealed that gender-based violence was one of the issues negatively affecting girls and women in Mkhulambe’s area.

It was further revealed that the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace was the only organisation working in the area— one organisation facing a hill of problems.

One of the women in the area, Ruth Mponda, observes that most women have been silent on gender-based violence because of lack of knowledge.

“All we needed was to have our eyes opened,” Mponda says.

Maybe, having had their eyes opened, the community members will pull the 13-year-old girl I found drinking opaque beer in one of the bars at Mkhulambe Trading Centre out of the trap, and take her back to school.

The future lies in girls like these.

Hot yesterday, quiet today: Wanted artists, project

Some artists stormed the music scene with pomp, but have since calmed down to the point of being anonymous. Some projects, too, face a similar challenge.  RICHARD CHIROMBO recounts some of the stories.

Munte Louis: Musician misunderstood!

His goal was to turn everything human into gold. In the end, however, he found that this quest for artificial perfection locked him into a barren world of misunderstanding. That is the story of musician Munte Louis.

“I don’t know why I am misunderstood. A good example of this misunderstanding is my song, ‘Usandimenye Mnzanga’, which people re-titled ‘Undibwezere Mavoti Anga’. That’s not what I intended the song to be; that song is not political,” Louis once told me.

Louis said people’s misconceptions might have granted the ruling elite reason to interpret the song as the musings of a man whose temper was tinted with the blood of partisan politics. 

“That is not the case, though, as, in ‘Usandimenye Mnzanga’, I retell the story of a farmer who sat under a peach tree, and started admiring his water melons and wondering why they (water melons) did not grow on trees. It was my way of playing around with an ideal world. A world in which human beings live in harmony with nature, and with each other. An orderly world,” Louis said, adding:

“In this ideal world, everything is in order. That is why a peach falls from the tree but does not injure the farmer, prompting him to praise the creator for letting water melons grow on the ground. That is why, as we read in the scriptures, God saw that everything was good in the beginning.”

But maybe these misunderstandings signify the difference between working with people’s sores and their souls. As a professional cobbler, Louis has been working on people’s shoes for the better part of his adult life, straightening wayward sores, without the slightest murmur from the lifeless shoes!

Louis has been satisfied in this cobbler world; a world that represents God’s ideal world because what you see is what the manufacturer created.

That, too, could be the folly of importing ‘ideal’ world scenarios into the world of human beings— a world where what is given out may be re-interpreted, misinterpreted, and, in some cases, distorted.

“May be it is difficult to work with people. People interpret issues their own way, selecting only what suits them. My song (Usandimenye Mnzanga) is not political at all. But people interpreted it their own way,” Louis said. 

On suggestions that he is not a natural musician, and that some people just picked him from the streets and took him to the studio to provide vocals for ‘Usandimenye Mnzanga’, Louis said there is no truth in such claims.

“For your own information, ‘Usandimenye Mnzanga’ is part of a 10 track album that includes songs such as the title track ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Nthawi ya Mango’, ‘Banja Langa Latha’, ‘A Neighbour’, ‘Dad’, Uchitsiru Wanga’, ‘Yesu Wandigwira Dzanja’, ‘Mkwati’. They [songs] address a number of issues that hinge on the human being, including love,” Louis said.

‘Tomorrow’ was a combination of efforts by Ma Hot Mavembe Band. The late Chuma Soko played the keyboards; Jack Kamwendo played the bass guitar; Dan Sibale was on the saxophone; with Dan Louis, Louisa Louis and Munte Louis offering the backing vocals.

The soft-spoken artist perfected his art at Apostolic Faith Mission Church in the early 1990s. He was a member of Mabvembe Choir, playing Acapella music. He, then, used this experience to compose songs that he took to the door steps of a number of would-be sponsors.

So promising was the future that, according to the artist from Traditional Authority Malemia in Nsanje, music distributor O.G. Issa pledged to purchase 30, 000 copies of his ‘Tomorrow’ album.

“I counted my fingers and the amount came to K600, 000 at the time. As fate would have it, however, the music distributor changed his mind at the last minute. It’s all because people, including the ruling elite, misinterpreted my lyrics,” Louis said.

The truth is that Louis said these things over three years ago. The future was promising.

Today, nothing, if anything, is heard of him in the music circles.

Is it a case of another hot artist growing cold feet and leaving music lovers in mid-air? If a decade passes without him coughing through another song again, it may well be the case.   

Elusive glory?

While artists such as Louis are yet to re-ignite their romance with music through the composition of new sounds, others, such as Wambali Mkandawire, are still in the limelight— but not for winning international awards that came in droves at one point in their lives.

It is not an exaggeration to say Malawians still remember how Mkandawire’s debut international album, ‘Zani Muwone’, put Malawi on the international map between 2002 and 2003.

The album, an eclectic mix of Malawian, Congolese and West African rhythms, saw Wambali being nominated for the Kora award in 2002. The year after, he won the Music Award for the Best African Artiste.

According to www.instinctafricaine.com, “Wambali Mkandawire was first introduced to Malawian traditional music and Congolese music by his grandparents who were working in Belgium Congo, where he was born. When he was eight years old, his grandparents returned to what was then Nyasaland.”

This notwithstanding, Wambali nurtured his talent in Malawi, starting with his stint with Pentagon Band in the late 1970s. The band later created a niche by fusing rock with traditional music. This was before he joined New Song, Youth for Christ Band, as one of the singers.

In 1988, Wambali recorded his first solo album with Krakatoa Music in Cape Town, South Africa. During the same time, he recorded and toured with ‘Friends First’, a South African music group.

On release of ‘Zani Muwone’ in 2002, Wambali was invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2002. 
 
In August 2002, Wambali was awarded the World Intellectual Property Organisation Award for Creativity, the first time this award was given to an African artiste.

Not that Wambali was the first to get international recognition. He is one of the few that include Dr Daniel Kachamba, who was recognised in Germany, where he went as a Mister but came back as a Doctor due to his prowess in music. That’s what music can do; turn locals into international celebrities.  

However, it has been over three years since Mkandawire won an international award; meaning that he has work to do to reclaim what is truly his.

Long road to completion

Well, the Blantyre Cultural Centre (BCC), formerly the French Cultural Centre (FCC), is not a musician, but events there affect musicians and other artists one way or another.

At the centre of controversy is the timeframe set aside for the BCC renovations project. The then Ministry of Tourism and Culture officials indicated, in writing, that the project would take two years.

First to question the rationale behind the time frame was the then Tourism and Culture Minister, Moses Kunkuyu, but observers thought his sentiments were political rhetoric.

“Two years? Why two years? I thought the place is small, and the renovation works could be completed within a reasonable time frame. Maybe this is a sign that we need to change the way we do things, not only in the arts but in tourism too. We should adopt the work ethic of efficiency in carrying out development projects. Taking two years to renovate the place could cost the government more,” Kunkuyu said at the time, adding:

“Are we not talking of renovating grass-thatched structures, windows and other things? Is it necessary to do that in two years? I thought it was possible to do it within, say, six months. That’s what I am thinking.”

Well, BCC renovations project started with promise. But the two years set for project completion ‘came’ some two years ago.

This is disadvantaging considering that BCC is centrally-located and people from various parts of Blantyre find it convenient to get to the place.

In addition, BCC normally offers lower rates since it was bought to further the cause of artists in the country.

At first, K200 million was set aside for the project, but, the project is one of Cashgate victims, which means officials had to source funds from elsewhere, and that led to delays.

INTERVENTIONS THAT ARE NEEDED IN CONTRIBUTION OF THE MEDIA TO THE CONSULTATION, FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION STAGES OF THE POLICY CYCLE IN THE MALAWIAN CONTEXT WRITTEN BY RICHARD CHIROMBO

INTERVENTIONS THAT ARE NEEDED IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MEDIA TO THE CONSULTATION, FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION STAGES OF THE POLICY CYCLE IN THE MALAWIAN CONTEXT  

The media play a critical role in national development, but this role has often suffered setbacks in the Malawian context due to the alienation of the media in the consultation, formulation and implementation stages of the policy cycle. An analysis of the situation reveals that this is because the media are left out at the conception, or problem identification, necessitating a paradigm shift that entails engaging the media from the conception, or problem identification, to the implementation stages if the media are to play an active role in the policy formulation and implementation stages so that their contributions are incorporated in national development goals.

A policy is a decision implying impending or intended action (Bauer and Gergen, 1968: 21). In analysing policies, two aspects are generally considered the most significant, namely, process (policy making) and content. According to Bauer and Gergen, the mass media are among the external groups which influence the policy process at its various stages. These stages include problem identification (articulation), policy recommendation (aggregation), policy decision (adoption), policy implementation, policy evaluation, and policy resolution or change (Fischer, 1991). Lambeth (1978) indicates that the functions of the media in the policy process include anticipating problems in advance of public officials, alerting the public to problems on the basis of official warnings,  informing the public of the stakes the competing groups had in solving problems, keeping various groups and the public abreast of competing proposals, contributing to the content of policy, deciding the tempo of decision making, helping lawmakers decide how to vote, alerting the public to how policies are administered, evaluating policy effectiveness, and stimulating policy reviews (Lambeth,1978 :12).

However, while the policy makers acknowledge that the mass media serve a number of functions within the context of government policy making (Olengurumwa, n.d.), the media are often left out of the conception, or problem identification, stage, as a recent policy development in Malawi attest. The Democratic Progressive Party administration, through the Malawi Communications Communication Authority has recently formulated a draft Communications Act (Broadcasting/Content Services) Regulations 2015 without engaging the media industry from the onset (Mpaka, 2015). According to Malawi News, the government is proposing a slew of provisions on how public, private and community broadcasting should operate. A clear indication that the media industry was not consulted from the onset is raised by Media Institute of Southern Africa-Malawi Chapter chairperson, Thom Khanje, who is quoted as saying thus: “This document has a huge bearing on our democracy and government should be as transparent as possible with it. It should ensure that all areas of concern are debated on thoroughly and recommendations adopted.”

Therefore, it is apparent that the media are not involved in the policy conception, or formulation, process necessitating the need for more inclusiveness in the policy development process in Malawi. In this case, inclusiveness in policy making entails that players in the industry should be involved from the onset in the identification of a need, which, informally, implies a probe on that which should be attended to or resolved when something is missing, wrong or not working right, and action must be taken to deal with the troubling situation (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 3). Sometimes the word need is substituted with words such as problem, gap, deficiency, discrepancy, issue or concern (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 12). According to Altschuld and Kumar, a probe is done when a discrepancy is perceived— activities are not taking place in the way we think they should. Formally, need is the measurable gap between two conditions—“what is” (the current status or state) and “what should be” (the desired status or state”. Therefore, decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem or an opportunity (Robbins and Langton, 2003: 408). They describe a problem as a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state, requiring consideration of alternative courses of action. The two conditions must be measured and the discrepancy between them determined. Not doing so means that a need has not been directly identified. Inherent in needs is the idea that players must go beyond discrepancies to rectify factors causing needs (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 3). Therefore, the media industry should be engaged in policy formation interventions from the onset for it to contribute positively towards the policy formulation and implementation process.

However, the continued exclusion of the media at the issue or problem identification stage runs counter to principles of democracy since countries that have embraced egalitarianism— which entails that all citizens of a state should be accorded equal political, social, economic, and civil rights and privileges (Kurian, 2002: 105) — need to prioritise inclusion in policy development, and Malawi is no exception. Experience has shown that involvement of individuals conversant with their areas of focus may contribute positively towards attaining goals due to their cumulative knowledge, or literacy, in a particular context, in this case media. Hence literate thinking is viewed as the ability to think and reason like a literate person within a particular society, literally learning as socially based experiences (Langer, 1991: 17). The media could, therefore, contribute positively towards the attainment of policy goals once they see themselves as part of the process. It is, therefore, acknowledged that “The free press plays a critical role in the formation of sound public policy. The press produces a forum in which policy ideas and initiatives are tested and formed in the arena of public opinion” (Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility, 2015).

It is only when the media are involved that they may not feel marginalised during the policy implementation stage, especially after experience has shown that if a decision maker faces a conflict between selecting a problem that is important to an organisation and one that is important to the decision maker, self interest tends to win out (Robbins and Langton, 2003: 411), implying that if communities of interest, in this case the media, are not involved from the beginning, or do not show interest from the start, they are more likely to lose out as policy makers enforce decisions that work to their advantage. Again, it has been proven that “groups tend to jump prematurely to solutions before identifying and prioritising needs or delving into what underlies them” (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 4). But, according to Altschuld and Kumar, needs, not solutions, have to be the concern, and groups must be kept on target, thinking first about needs. Otherwise, they warn, poor or unfitting solutions could be implemented at considerable cost of time, energy and fiscal resources. Secondly, exclusion of the media in policy formulation may lead to failure to address gaps, as it has been proven that it is possible for policy makers to mistake mere investigations in one or two conditions with needs assessment (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 4) especially when, in some instances, need is inferred or sensed— “Tell us what you think is needed” (a solution approach) — instead of “Help us to delineate discrepancies targeted for action”. Needs sensing is cheaper, quicker, and easier to conduct, but at best it is only about implied gaps. While of value, it falls short of what we see as a needs assessment (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 4). Thorough needs assessments are, therefore, important because they have an impact on what organisations do and how they change. Therefore, needs assessments must go beyond the technical aspects of procedures, which, although important, are far from enough (Altschuld and Kumar, 2010: 8).

This notwithstanding, some challenges abound in the policy making process because the press does not show interest. For example, “the press rarely follows the policy process to its conclusion. Rather, it leaves the issue at the doorstep of public officials. By the time a political issue reaches the stages of policy formulation and implementation, the press has moved on to another issue” (Burns, Peltason, Cronin, Magleby and O’brien, 2002: 238). According to Burns et al, when policies are being formulated and implemented, decision makers are at their most impressionable, yet the press has little impact at this stage. Therefore, lack of press attention to how policies are implemented explains in part why citizens know less about how bureaucrats go about their business.

In conclusion, the media can play a more defined and pronounced role in the development and implementation of policies but, in the current set up, this is not the case because the media are excluded from policy formulation process. The media are, therefore, playing a limited role in the policy implementation process, and their impact is minimal, though the situation can be reversed once policy makers become more inclusive and the media take a keen interest in policy issues.

REFERENCES

Altschuld, J.W., and Kumar, D.D. (2010). Needs Assessment: An Overview. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Bauer, R. A., and Gergen, K. J. (Eds.). (1968). The study of policy formation. New York: Free Press.

Burns, J.M., Peltason, J.W., Cronin, T.E., Magleby, D.B., and O’brien, D.M. (2002). Government by The People: Basic Version. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Fischer, J.R. (1991). Functions of the mass media in the policy process. Canadian Journal of Communication, 16(1). Retrieved from http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/589/495.

Kurian, G. (2002). Dictionary of World Politics. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.

Lambeth, E. B. (1978). Perceived influence of the press on energy policy making. Journalism Quarterly, 55(1), 11-18, 72. Quoted in Fischer, J.R. (1991). Functions of the mass media in the policy process. Canadian Journal of Communication.

Langer, J.A. (1991). Literacy and schooling: A sociocognitive approach. In E. H. Hiebert (Ed.). Literacy for a Diverse Society: Perspectives, Practices, and Policies (pp. 17). New York: Teachers College Press.

Media and public policy: putting policy in the news agenda. (n.d.). Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.cmfr-phil.org/flagship-programs/other-programs/special-programs/media-and-public-policy/Media and Public Policy on July 14, 2015.

Mpaka, C. (2015, July 11-17). DPP plans crackdown on electronic media. Malawi News, pp.1, 3.

Olengurumwa, O. (u.d.). The role of the media in public policy. Retrieved from http://www.nationalbook.org/ on July 14, 2015.

Robbins, S.P., and Langton, N. (2003). Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Application.  New Jersey: Prentice Hall.