The Joyce Banda Administration: A Bunch of Hypocrites

 

...Joyce Banda  has started falling over her own words

Malawi's accidental president, Joyce Ntila Banda, is, today, an epitome of everything that goes wrong in Malawian society.

From a woman who rose from nowhere- if baking traditional cakes (Zigumu), mandasi, and zitumbuwa is to be considered as nothing less than the ashes- to become Malawi's president at the stroke of death (which death saw former president, Malawi's fallen visionary leader, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, die on April 5, this year (oh, how long it seems now), Malawians can hardly believe what they are hearing from this woman.

Mrs. Banda has, from nowhere, become the vindictive, vengeful, I-Care-for-Myself woman people always heard she was. This time, though, the people do not need to be told how vindictive, how pompous  how vengeful, how self-serving this woman is. They will get it from her, a woman who cannot even hold the level of hewr voice when speaking in public.

A woman whose sense of speech is that of a head teacher who disciplines pupils by scolding them with hot water!

Need examples of Mrs. Banda's hypocrisy, in the first place? Here we go.

Last year, Malawians were an angry lot. Angry at the rate Mutharika's administration was going. Among other things, the Mutharika administration attempted, and in real time managed, to subvent the press. This muzzling of press freedom was clear in the way the government introduced bills in Parliament, one of which went to the extent of giving the Information Minister- that gullible human being, male or female, who yaps untruths to the nation before their own children and dependents- powers to ban a publication, or publications, whose printings were deemed anathema by the big-berried non-human being called The Government.

Along with this shameless carding of shame came more shames. One of these shames, shamefully, pertains to the adverts (read, government adverts) ban imposed on Nation Publications Limited, one of Malawi's independent newspapers.

The economy was another shame, looking at the way fuel disappeared from pump stations. Basic commodities, including sugar, became so scarce it was threatening. What a shame that was, having no sugar in retail outlets that had never run out of sugar before (that is, after Malawi gained independence from Britain in 1964).

Never, in the history of the country, did public furry run as high as the sky- Mulanje Mountain's peak of Sapitwa (unreachable point) being part of the physical features that sank so low during that time of record lows.

All these miseries were worsened by the misery of a woman who, by chance and Mutharika's zeal to sell himself as an old man who was, at least, gender-sensitive, was ostracised by the Powers-that-Be because of something as petty as differences in opinion on political matters. We may add that it is also because of her ambitions then.

Mutharika has hand-picked Mrs. Banda to be his running mate during the 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. The both stood on a Democratic Progressive Party ticket.

But, before long, that old syndrome of an unknown political disease suffered by Malawi's democratic presidents (  Malawi's first president, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda excluded because he had no Vice-President. But Bakili Muluzi, who became Malawi's first democratic president after the Referendum of 1993, and the multiparty elections of 1994, and Bingu wa Mutharika, who took over in 2004, after Muluzi had run his mile of two, five-year terms, ostracised the very Vice-Presidents they, themselves, had chosen under no duress in the later part of their reign. During Muluzi's era, the unwitting victim was Vice-President Justin Chimera Malewezi, who was mocked by Muluzi simply because he had problems with his kidney. Muluzi also called Malewezi 'Madeya' - maize or rice husks- when he handpicked Mutharika to be the United Democratic torch-bearer during the 2004 elections. In turn, when his dream of becoming Malawi's president materialised, Mutharika ostracised his Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha, to the extent of framing up treason charges against him, thanks to the 'wise and dynamic' Attorney Generalship of one Ralph Kasambara, the man behind the 'Constructive Referendum' speak ).

While Chilumpha was ostracised during Mutharika's first five-year term, Mutharika (as expected) hand-picked Mrs. Banda to be his running mate in 2009, only to start ostracising her barely two years into his second five-year term. The bone of contention was the DPP Presidency in 2014, the year Malawians will line up again, to elect the Head of State and Government.

Mutharika wanted his brother, Prof. Peter Mutharika, while Mrs. Banda had her sights set on the same position.

So, along with Vice-President Khumbo Kachali, Banda and Kachali started feeling the hit in the DPP, and were subsequently booted from the party at a kangaroo meeting held at one of the party's zealots in Lilongwe.

The charge: Mrs. Banda and Kachali were busy putting in place parallel party structures in their bid to 'beat' Peter to the 'throne'.

That is how the two ended up forming the People's Party, a party which, by the stroke of death on April 5, became the ruling party through the back door. Suffice it to say Malawi's electoral system is that of 'First-Past-The-Post. The country's system is not representative. It is not Parliamentary. It is presidential.

So, the party the president belongs to becomes the ruling party. It becomes the party of the people despite the people not voting for it.

Just like that.

And, so, the DPP became the ruling party in 2005, after Mutharika dumped it during the Anti-Corruption Day held on 5 February 2005 in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. This was the first time an individual entered into government (in this case, Mutharika being elected on the UDF ticket in 2004) in order to form a political (as he later formed the DPP, which became the ruling party instead of the UDF). 

Normally, the tendency is for people to form political parties in order to get into government.

But Mutharika cannot be faulted for doing what he did. Fault the electoral system.

The same with Mrs. Banda. She cannot be faulted for hauling her People's Party into government. Unless the laws are reviewed and ammended, there will never be any form of insurance that will shield Malawians from this practice of In-Government-Unelected political parties deciding the destiny of Malawians.

However, we are interested in the days of Mrs. Banda as Vice-President; those days when the nation was sympathising with her due to the purported mis-treatment. During those days, Mrs. Banda supported any cause that seemed to relay what people had in mind.

She supported the July 20 demonstrations that saw 20 lives disappear- like vapour after the marriage of sun's rays and the sea. She also supported many other public causes.

Today, however, Mrs. Banda is against the demonstrations slated for January next year, calling them useless, unwaranted, and uncalled for. 

Her administration has, shamelessly, warned activist John Kapito- the executive director for the Consumers Association of Malawi, and former chairperson of the Malawi Human Rights Commissionj- against going ahead with plans to hold anti-government protests over poor economic policies and a deteriorating economic situation that has left consumers' pockets more tattered than they would if they were attacked by vicious rats.”

Riled by this, and President Mrs. Banda and her Vice, Khumbo Kachali's extravance, through their intensive local and foreign trips, the consumers’ body has vowed to press ahead with plans to mobilise people to stage a mass consumer protest that has, since, received the backing of UDF 2014 Presidential candidate, Atupele Muluzi, the Council for Non-Governmental Organisations in Malawi, the Public Affairs Committee, among other bodies.

Cama executive director John Kapito announced that the mass strike is likely to take place in January 2013.

But Banda, through government spokesperson and Minister of Information and Civic Education Moses Kunkuyu has said, "while the Banda administration will “forever respect freedom of expression in all its forms, the protests are signs of patriotism and irresponsibility”

Banda's government has, instead, asked Malawians to "fully reflect on the journey that the Nation has gone through between May 2009 to date and do a comparative analysis of the period between 2009 elections to April 5, 2012 and the period from April 7, 2012 to date.”

In their lop-sided sense of things taking  turn for the better, Kunkuyu says “Any Malawian with some sense of responsibility and honesty will realize that things have taken a turn for the better since the current administration took over the affairs of our country.”

This, to say the truth, is a modern form of nonsense called hypocrisy.

Let Malawians match against greedy politicians led by Mrs. Banda, people who are plundering national resources in the name of charity (for example, Mrs. Banda's distribution of flower to people when the World Food Organisation is doing the same, having received 20, 000 metric tonnes from the Strategic Grain Reserves, and other resources being mobilised. These efforts have, however, been hampered by a shortfall of US$26 million.

Why can't Mrs. Banda channel her resources to these people of good will, instead of distributing 600 50 Kg bags of maize worth K1.2 million at the cost of (including fuel and allowances for her government officials) K5 million?

Where is the common sense here?

Was charity this expensive?

The truth is that Mrs. Banda and her Orange political zealots are hypocrites bent at milking scarce national resources.

Shame!

The shame of our time. 

MZUZU ARTISTS IN AN ARTISTIC AFRICAN NATIVITY PROJECT

The Mzuzu project is about "Telling the birth of Jesus Christ our SAVIOUR in our own AFRICAN VOICE: After all, when He was born He himself experienced our AFRO culture!

@ St Johns of God Hall
on 23 December, 2012

Written and directed by Manaseh Chisiza
Music Trained by Tionge Hango
Dances Trained by Kukaya dance troupe artist and other choreographers 

Its a corrabo: Oneness, Pamodzi, Kukaya, YIMnet and so many

President Joyce Banda To Address Malawians on Malawi Electoral Commission Saga

PRESS STATEMENT

The Malawi Government has followed with keen interest the

healthy debate on the oversight role that Right Honourable

Khumbo Kachali, Vice president of the Republic of Malawi

assumed at the Electoral Commissionin the recent cabinet

that Her Excellency the President appointed on 6

December 2012. The Government wishes to inform the

public that Her Excellency the President will address the

nation on the matter within the next few days. The Minister

of Information will keep the nation informed of further

developments on this matter.

Hon. Moses Kunkuyu Kalongashawa, MP

Minister of Information

13

th

December, 2012

MALAWI TO SEND A COMPANY TO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

PRESS STATEMENT

Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

Malawi will contribute at least a military company to the 4,000 member Southern African Development Community Peace keeping mission, Vice President Right Honourable Khumbo Kachali has announced.

The Vice President, who represented Her Excellency the President Mrs. Joyce Banda to the SADC extra ordinary meeting of the Heads of State held on Saturday, 08 December, 2012 at the Serena International Hotel, in Dar es salaam, Tanzania made the disclosure at the end of his visit to the Republic of Tanzania.

A military company is comprised of at least 100 to 150 soldiers.

“Malawi has always been committed to peace keeping in the region and beyond. The Malawi Defence Force perfomance has always been excellent is such missions, as such our commitment to peace keeping in the DR Congo is to continue the good work our men and women in uniform have been doing elsewhere,” said the Right Honourable Kachali.

The Vice President said the extra-ordinary meeting of the SADC Heads of State also tackled the issues surrounding peace and transition in Madagascar and the scheduled elections in Zimbabwe, where a roadmap on constitutional reforms had been agreed upon.

The SADC extra ordinary summit was also attended by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Her Excellency the President Mrs. Joyce Banda is the current Vice Chairperson of the Southern Africa Development Community.

On Sunday, the Vice President was among the SADC and East African Leaders that attended the main celebrations of the Tanzanian mainland 51^st anniversary at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam. The Vice President also attended an anniversary luncheon at the State House, in Dar es Salaam.

In the evening, Right Honourable Kachali addressed Malawians resident in Dar es Salaam at the High Commissioner’s residence. The Vice President asked Malawians to live peacefully and promote the image of the country.

About ‘National Bank Best University of Malawi Student Awards’

Every year since 1982, National Bank of Malawi presents Awards to the best student of each of the 15 faculties of the University of Malawi.  This annual event emphasizes National Bank’s commitment, as a corporate citizen, to invest in initiatives promoting academic excellence.

In 2012, the bank presented these Awards on Thursday, 6^th December 2012, at the Great Hall, Chancellor College in Zomba from 2.00 pm.

Presiding over the function was the Bank’s Chief Executive Office Mr. George Partridge.

Thirty outstanding students were given prizes worth K3 million. The bank also presented two projectors to The Polytechnic and two computers to Bunda College.

PRESIDENT JOYCE BANDA'S WORDS AT THE OFFICIAL LAYING OF A FOUNDATION STONE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF KACHASO-NKAYA RAILWAY

SPEECH BY

 HER EXCELLENCY MRS JOYCE BANDA

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

ON

THE OFFICIAL LAYING OF A FOUNDATION STONE

FOR

THE CONSTRUCTION OF KACHASO-NKAYA RAILWAY

AT

NENO

ON

WEDNESDAY, 6^TH DECEMBER, 2012

• Your Excellency Chief Justice Richard Banda, SC, (Rtd)

• Honourable Sidik Mia, M.P. Minister of Transport and Public Works,

• Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers

• Representatives of Vale Logistics Limited

• Representatives of Mota-Engil

• T.A. Saimon

• Traditional Authorities 

• Members of Parliament

• All Senior Government Officials Present Here

• Members of the Press

• Ladies and Gentlemen

It is with great pleasure that I stand here at Neno to preside over the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of

Kachaso to Nkaya railway.

The development of Malawi’s infrastructure is one of the five priority pillars of my Government’s Economic Recovery Plan. Projects such as the one we are celebrating today make it easy to understand why.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We know that for Malawi to grow and prosper we must increase our export earnings. That is why I have placed such a priority on diversifying and commercializing agriculture in Malawi. Food security is not enough, we must begin to earn income to put in the pockets of Malawians. The way we will do that is through exporting our agricultural products.

Tourism, is also a major source of export earnings around the world and contributes around 6 per cent to our GDP here in Malawi. In 2010 tourists spent 68 billion Kwacha and the sector accounts for around 163,000 jobs in Malawi;

We also know that Malawi has the potential to earn more through the export of natural resources and minerals. Mining already contributes 10% of GDP and accounts for 20% of export total export values and Malawi has a wide variety of mineral resources not yet exploited.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a landlocked country we will not be able to realize the benefits of all these industries if we are not well connected to our neighbors in Southern Africa, to the rest of our continent and to the world. We know that, for example, transportation costs constitute about 60 percent of the landed cost of goods in Malawi. If we are going to be competitive regionally and internationally we need to bring those costs down. We need to make it easier to import the goods Malawi needs and export those we wish to sell to global markets. And we need to make it easier for tourists, businessmen and investors to get to Malawi and travel within our great country.

That is why this project marks an important milestone in the development of Malawi’s infrastructure. It will entail the construction of a railway line through Chapananga in Chikhwawa to Nkaya in Balaka, a distance of 138 kilometers and rehabilitation of the existing railway line from Nkaya to Nayuchi at the border with Mozambique, a distance of 98 kilometers in Malawi.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The construction of this line has come about because of the needs of Vale mining company who are mining coal in Moatize in the Tete Province of Mozambique. Their aim is to export about 18 million tonnes of coal annually. Whilst the coal is being mined in Mozambique, the most efficient way to get it to the port of Nacala is through Southern Malawi. And so we reached an agreement for the building of this railway.

While the aim of the line is to help Vale to transport coal, we have made sure that Malawi benefits from the construction. The construction itself represents a $1 billion investment in Malawi over three years. The project is expected to employ about 4,500 workers at its peak, of which 70 per cent will be Malawians, that is over 3,000 new jobs. Once the railway is up and running the Malawi Government will earn 8 million US dollars per year from concession fees.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

But it is not enough that the government earns money from the line, it is important that it benefits the communities that it runs through. As well as creating jobs, the railway line will provide the region with improved transport links.

The railway line will pass through Chapananga in Chikhwawa, Nthache and Kanduku in Mwanza, Symon and Mlauli in Neno, and Nsamala in Balaka. We all know that the districts of Chikhwawa, Mwanza and Neno where the railway is passing were neglected and for a very long time known for their poverty and many areas had no reliable access roads let alone a railway line. The roads become virtually impassable during the rainy season and people from the surrounding areas where the railway is passing through are used to be cut-off from the rest of the other parts of the districts for a number of days if not weeks during rainy season.

Once the railway has been rehabilitated there will be provision for one passenger train for Malawi per day, helping to reconnect these districts to the rest of Malawi and beyond.  Stations will be constructed at Chapananga, Neno, Nkaya junction, Liwonde and Nayuchi and there will also be a number of stops at appropriate places.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The benefits to the area do not stop there. The new line will boost economic activity in the whole area. From increased investment in manufacturing and processing industries that will benefit from improved access to markets and reduced transport costs to enhanced potential for investment in trade and commerce activities such as retail outlets, shops, repairs and services in the railway vicinity.

Let me put some of the benefits of this new line in numbers. Two cargo trains a day will serve Malawi – adding up to a capacity of at least 5 million tons of cargo each year for exports and imports on the railway line.

It is expected that Malawi will be saving in excess 120 million US Dollars annually in transportation costs. This has the overall effect of reducing the transport costs of goods to and from Malawi by about 40 percent.

Once this project is finished, a train will only take 38 hours to travel between Nacala and Limbe at an average speed of 50 to 70 kilometres per hour compared to the present when it takes 5 to 7 days with the train travelling at 15 to 20 kilometres per hour.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I think we can all agree that these are impressive results. So let me at this stage give a vote of thanks and appreciation to Vale Logistics Limited for choosing to invest in Malawi and for the good cooperation it has with the Government of Malawi and the social responsibility it has demonstrated to the people along the project site. My Government will ensure that adequate support is given to Vale Logistics Limited and its contractors so that the people of Malawi benefit from this project.

May I also urge Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Government Supervisor to this Project and Mota-Engil, the contractor and the sub-contractors to carry out professional work as you have always done in previous projects.

And to the general public living along the railway construction sites, my appeal is that you should make sure that the railway is well taken care of at all times. Hon. Members of Parliament, Chiefs and responsible citizens of Malawi let us all work together to stop the malpractice of vandalism of our countries infrastructure.

Finally, I wish to welcome the strengthening of the ties between Malawi and Mozambique as a result of this project.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentleman

This project is only one of a number of planned improvements to Malawi’s infrastructure. As one of five pillars in my government’s Economic Recovery Plan, work is underway to improve Malawi’s transport infrastructure across the board, not just through improved rail links, but new and rehabilitated roads and better air links from Malawi.

These projects will take time to yield results, but even as they are being developed they will create much needed jobs in our country.

The same is true for Malawi’s economic recovery. The previous government left the economy in a terrible mess and it will take time to fix things. I have said before that things will get worse before they get better, but we must stay the course.

I am determined to do everything I can as President of this great Republic to support people in these tough times so that we can stay on the path to growth.

Where the devaluation has caused hardship my government will continue to fund public works programmes, cash transfers and school feeding to help those in need.

Where there are those at risk of hunger I will continue to ensure they get food.

And where there are those who previously feared to express their views or participate in democracy I will ensure that their rights are respected and their voices heard.

I am clear that in a little over one year’s time people will judge me not on what I have said but what I have done. The success or failure of important projects such as the great investment we are here to mark today will speak for themselves.

Projects such as this are not just an investment in one particular industry or one particular area, they are an investment in the future of Malawi.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your attention.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

President Joyce Banda to attend ground-breaking for a new Kachaso-Nkaya railway line, expected to create over 3000 jobs

STATE HOUSE

PRESS RELEASE

5^TH DECEMBER 2012

Her Excellency the President Mrs Joyce Banda will tomorrow the 6^th of December 2012 lay a Foundation stone of a railway line from Kachaso to Nkaya in Neno.

The Ceremony will take place at Valley Camp Site situated in Mkwinda Village, Traditional Authority Symon in Neno district.

The President is expected to arrive at 10:00am

The new railway represents a one billion dollar investment in Malawi’s infrastructure. The new line will run from Tete to Ncala in Mozambique passing through Malawi via Chapananga in Chikhwawa, Nthache and Kanduku in Mwanza, Simon and Mlauli in Neno and Nsamala in Balaka. This is one of several projects undertaken as part of the government’s economic recovery plan.

Speaking ahead of the event, Presidential Press Secretary Steven Nhlane said “This new railway line will boost Malawi’s economy by creating over 3000 much needed jobs for Malawians. Once the railway is built, it will boost the economy further, reducing transport costs and improving access to markets for Malawi’s exporters.”

Action on governance and human rights helps Malawi to secure €8.5 million from German Government

STATE HOUSE

PRESS RELEASE

4^TH DECEMBER 2012

Her Excellency the President Mrs Joyce Banda has welcomed the decision of the German government to release a total of €8.5 million (K3.65 billion)--€5 million of budget support that had previously been held back from Malawi and a further €3.5 million of funding from the Local Development Fund.

Announcing the decision in a letter to the President the German Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gudrun Kopp praised the President’s “courage and your determination to return Malawi to a positive democratic and economic development trajectory.”

Ms Kopp, who previously visited Malawi and met Her Excellency in August of this year went on to say that “as a result of the impressive progress that has been made in Malawi, the German government has decided to release, before the end of this year, an amount of 5.0 million euros from the budget support funds that had been held back.”

In particular Ms Kopp pointed to progress on human rights and good governance which are two of the fundamental prerequisites and principles of cooperation between the two countries. The Parliamentary Secretary of State cited progress such as the appointment of new director for Anti-corruption Bureau and the introduction of reforms to strengthen the independence of the National Audit Office.

In addition Germany will be releasing further funds amounting to 3.5 million euros from the Local Development Fund (LDF) now that important steps have been taken towards preparing for the local elections in 2014.

Commenting on the German Government’s decision, Her Excellency the President, Mrs Joyce Banda said:

“My job is to steer Malawi back on the course to economic recovery so that the lives of all Malawians can improve. This is a difficult and long task, but one that people all over Malawi have united around, so I am glad to have the support of our development partners on this journey.”

“I have said before that it may get more difficult before it gets better but we must stick to the course of our economic recovery, whilst at the same time restoring good governance and human rights, which underpin Malawi’s development.”

What Parliament's Rejection of Mr. Anderson George Kulugomba As Auditor General Means

The Malawi Parliament has pulled a fast one on President Joyce Banda by rejecting the appointment of Mr. Anderson George Kulugomba as the country's Auditor General for obvious reasons, one of which being that it is uncharacteristic of Members of Parliament to rebuff presidential appointments and, if ever this happens, it is only during those rare moments when acrimony rings high between the Executive arm of government and the Legislature.
In deed, the only time when Parliament became so vocal- to the point of becoming a nuisance- was during the first five-year term of the slain- according to the latest edition of Pride Magazine- Bingu wa Mutharika. But, even so, these cases were limited to his first term of office for obvious reasons.
President Mutharika- may his visionary soul rest in eternal peace- had, in that uncharacteristic term, pulled a fast one on the United Democratic Front (UDF), a political entity that catapulted him to the highest position in the land. The UDF had worked so hard, through its over-ambitious former chairperson and Head of State and Government Bakili Muluzi, to sell Mutharika- a relative unknown in Malawi's political circles then- to the masses.
Not that Mutharika was virtually unknown to the UDF. The former Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Secretary General, who at one time stood for the position of president on the United Party (a party Mutharika registered and owned) during the 1999 General Elections, only to emerge the worst loser as his name came last after vote counting, had driven all the way from Lusaka, Zambia, in 1993 to be part of the UDF Convention that elected Muluzi as presidential torch-bearer during the historic 1994 elections.
After Malawians had unanimously voted for multiparty democracy during the June Referendum of 1993, the spirits were high among Malawians, and this included both those who had their hands and feet here, as well as those in the diaspora. Bingu was one of the excited diaspora people.
So, he travelled to Malawi from Lusaka in those early days when the sky was not yet clear, if not too clear, for political manoeuvring. Apart from driving all the way from Lusaka, the slain- according to Pride Magazine, latest edition- Mutharika also helped concoct the UDF constitution- in much the same way as his brother, Peter, helped frame Malawi's post one-party constitution.
But all these efforts, it seems, were not enough to get the gangly Mutharika permanently registered in the minds and hearts of Malawians- in this case, the electorate.
So, Muluzi had problems selling Merchandise-Mutharika, people think. But Mutharika played his cards well, too, playing the dumb kid Muluzi thought he was.
Only for him (Mutharika) to dump the UDF on February 5, 2005 during the Anti-Corruption Day!
And that marked the genesis of bad blood between Mutharika and the UDF. 
And, so bad for Mutharika, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo joined the fray, giving Mutharika's minority government a tough time in Parliament.
If Malawians remember well, this is the era known for a bad-mouthing Parliament, time when Likoma Island Parliamentarian George Nga Ntafu could call legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (which Mutharika founded after dumping the UDF, for the first time in Malawi's history turning a party that did not contest in the 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections into a ruling party) "Agalu inu (You Dogs)".
Time when Tembo, somehow, became the play boy of the UDF and Muluzi politics, to the effect that he could rant in Parliament: "Section 65 first, (the National) budget second"! 
That is how the tendency of rejecting individuals appointed by the president started. It was one way of settling old political scores between Muluzi and Mutharika- and Tembo and Parliamentarians who toed a tough line against Mutharika's appointments mere pawns in the dirty political game.
Through such politics, Mary Nangwale did not live (during Muharika's regime) to see her dream of becoming the first female Inspector General of Police come to pass. There are many other people whose appointments were rejected by Parliament and this development, somehow, how the effect of putting MCP's Joseph Njobvuyalema- who was, then, the chairperson of the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament into the limelight, for bad or worse.
Today, some three years after Mutharika put such political acrimony to rest, when he thumped the opposition at their own game during the 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (a development political commentators have said was Malawians' act of revenge to the 'nasty' opposition), the rejection-game has resurfaced.
What, if one may ask, has gone awfully wrong for a female president whose acceptance rates were so high on April 7, 2012- the day she was sworn in as the President, following the untimely death of the slain- according to the latest edition of Pride Magazine- Mutharika on April 5.
No one will ever know what Mutharika was thinking that day, April 5, before that stranger death came, and took him away from the New State House, from Malawi, and from fishing- his greatest hobby. But, definitely, it was not about the possibility of his next public appointee getting rejected by the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament. That stage was past and gone, carried away by the electoral tide of 2009, a tide that swept the opposition's strangleholds (the people) away.
Today, Mutharika would be shaking at his Ndata Mausoleum to learn that that game has resurfaced. 
But this is not strange.
Mrs. Joyce Banda, Malawi's accidental president, has started riling Malawians.
She no longer listens.
She goes about, distributing maize to people she says have been hard hit by hunger instead of contributing such resources to the World Food Programme (which is in need of US$26 million- this is a shortfall, according to a World Food Programme report released on November 5 this year). In addition, this task falls under District Commissioners.
The other thing is that Mrs. Banda is globe-trotting, as if she were a house less woman out to find just where, exactly, she was born, and where her parents have been. She also travels extensively locally, raking millions in allowances in the name of charity. But, if we may ask, when has charity become this expensive?
Mrs. Joyce Banda herself has said she will not back down: "I cannot spend my days locked at the News State House or Sanjika because I have to observe the challenges Malawians are facing by myself. I will, therefore, not relent".
Now, people are saying Malawi has a President- accidental president, at that- who doesn't listen. Yet, Malawians did not vote for a President called Joyce Ntila Banda during the 2009 Presidential Elections. She was just a runningmate, grabbed from the bush of presidential politics by Mutharika himself.
Now this woman has gathered the guts to insult Malawians. She travels to the countryside to distribute 600 bags of maize (50 Kg) worth less than K3 million, but uses K12 million to get those expensive rallies going.
The reason she says she can't stop this is that she knows that earns millions of obscene allowances for herself and her members of the Cabinet. She knows that's the cash they will use for campaign come 2014. In fact, they have already started campaigning.
Parliamentarians- though largely tactless and faulty in their thinking- might have observed all these political obscenities and decided to act.
 Anderson George Kulugomba, well-qualified for the job of Auditor General, has just played into their card.
He is an innocent victim, all because there is a woman leader somewhere who doesn't listen. A woman leader who has been behind the government's decision to offer Alex Nampota- former Anti-Corruption Bureau director who was unceremoniously booted from his position- K70 million compensation simply because she, Mrs. Joyce Banda, wants her own boot-leaker to take that position. Shame. Shame on you Madam!
You can avoid all this. You have a choice.
"Resign," as Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director, John Kapito, has said time without number.
As the immediate former chairperson of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, Kapito knows what he is talking about.
He knows that you, Madam, have been violating the human rights of Malawians from morn till ev'n.
But this blatant abuse must stop. Because it is being perpetuated by a stranger to the position of president. A woman the electorate never voted for during the 2009 elections.
A president by chance.
Because you have, really, taken your chances.
To insult Malawians.
And ridicule the sanity of this great nation.
It is just unfortunate that Kulugomba has become the sacrificial lamb in a game whose culprit is a Madam President.
Oh, that Madam President has a name: Joyce Ntila Banda!
That name is not Anderson  George Kulugomba!
Never.  
                 

From Bill Warner: Bulletin of Christian Persecution October 30,2012 - November 30, 2012

October 30, 2012

Syria
The St. Gevorg church in Aleppo's Armenian-populated district of Nor Kyugh was set ablaze on Monday, reported Tert.am, quoting a representative of the local Armenian prelacy.

Speaking to the online paper, the spokesman, Zhirayr Reisian, confirmed that the church had become a target of rebels and that it had almost been reduced to ashes. Reisian also said that the Mesrobian Armenian school adjacent to the church has been seriously damaged, too.

Egypt 
Yesterday Muslim Salafis assaulted Christians after Sunday mass, angry that Christians from neighboring villages who have no churches attend mass in the village of Tala. The pastor of St Georges Church Father Cheroubim Chehab could not go out of church for hours after mass.

Eyewitnesses reported that as Christians left the church, they found a huge mob of mostly young Salafi Muslims waiting for them, armed with batons. The assault lead to 5 Copts being hospitalized after suffering broken limbs, and the torching of two cars which transported the congregation from the other villages.

October 31, 2012
Syria
An elderly man, the last Christian who was in the centre of Homs, was killed after the civilian population was evacuated due to widespread fighting.

Pakistan (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A Christian Pastor arrested under blasphemy in Sanghla Hill town in Punjab province of Pakistan on October 13, 2012, was denied bail in a court hearing on October 30, 2012.

November 2, 2012 
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan increases charges against church leader in Kazakhstan jail.

November 4, 2012
Kenya
Suspected Muslim extremists hurled a grenade onto the roof of the Utawala Interdenominational Church, killing a police chaplain and injuring at least 11 others. The church, which is located inside a police compound in Garissa, serves police officers stationed at the compound as well as their families.

November 7, 2012
Egypt (h/t to JihadWatch)
About a hundred of Muslim extremists wielding sticks and rods seized land near the S. Mina Church in the centre of Cairo. With police standing idly by, the Islamists occupied the parcel of land for more than a day and put up a sign bearing the words 'Al-Rahma Mosque'.

November 8, 2012
Pakistan
The rape and murder of Pakistan's Christian children by Raymond Ibrahim.

November 10, 2012
Syria (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
The historic Arabic Evangelical Church of Aleppo, in the Jdeideh district (the old town), was mined with explosives and blown up "by armed men, for pure sectarian hatred."

November 12, 2012
Sweden
Iranian Christian Reza Jebbari faces imminent deportation from Sweden, despite the possibility that his return to Iran could lead to his imprisonment or death. Jebbari is a former Muslim who converted to Christianity during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2010.

November 13, 2012
Tanzania
Dozens of Christian worship places have been destroyed by Islamic extremists in Tanzania and church leaders are fleeing its heavily Muslim island of Zanzibar, as the persecution of Christians spreads throughout East Africa.

November 15, 2012
Pakistan
A Pakistani Christian policeman has received death threats for helping a Christian girl accused of blasphemy.

November 16, 2012
Nigeria (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has expressed fears for Christians in northern Nigeria after a family was killed in Kaduna State this week. Gunmen opened fire on the home of Yakubu Kayit in Madauchi-Zonkwa. There were reportedly five family members in the house when the gunmen set it ablaze, killing everyone inside.

Somalia (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Islamic extremists from Somalia's rebel Al-Shabaab militants behead a Christian in Somalia's coastal city of Barawa, accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said.
More HERE.

November 18, 2012
Syria
Christians in Syria remained in the crossfire Sunday, November 18, as rebels captured up to 30 percent of the heavily Islamic nation. Amid the chaos, up to 50,000 mainly Christian refugees are without aid because they are afraid to register themselves with the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, added Voordewind, speaking from Lebanon.

November 19, 2 012
Sudan (h/t to thereligionofpeace )
The Sudanese government has stepped up bombing of its own non-Arab civilians in Christian areas of Sudan's South Kordofan state the past month, killing a 1-year-old baby and wounding others.

Since South Sudan split from Sudan in a referendum last year, ethnic Nuba peoples in Sudan's South Kordofan state believe the government's goal of squashing Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLA-N) rebels carries an increasingly evident goal of ridding the area of non-Arab peoples and Christianity.

Sudan
As politicians wrangle ahead of an early December deadline over the still-disputed status of the oil-rich region of Abyei, straddling the border of Sudan and South Sudan, local church leaders appeal for help in the face of a potential humanitarian crisis. While arguments over nationality drag on, thousands of people face near-starvation in villages devastated by the conflict - particularly since May 2011 when a combination of northern militias, led by tanks and 5,000 Sudanese Army troops, destroyed roughly 90 percent of Abyei town.

Iran
British Christian legislators expressed concern Monday, November 19, about the "serious and growing persecution and discrimination" of Iranian Christians and said at least dozens of believers remain detained amid a crackdown on Christian converts in Iran.

November 20, 2012 
Syria
A bomb exploded near a Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo and scores of people were injured and many were killed, the exact number is not known. The bomb damaged the Al Kalima school and the Syrian French Hospital, as well as a nursing home. This is the third attack in four weeks in the New Assyrian Quarter in Aleppo.

November 22, 2012
Nigeria
A rumour that a Christian man blasphemed against Islam has sparked a riot in the northern Nigeria town of Bichi, police have said. Residents said four people were killed and shops were looted.

Egypt (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Time was running out Thursday, November 22, for an abducted Christian Eritrean man in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after his kidnappers told him to pay $25,000 or face "organ harvesting" and be killed, he and Christian rights activists said.

November 24, 2012
Indonesia (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A mob numbering in the hundreds and grouped under the banner of the Islamic Organizations Communication Forum (FKOI) descended on two churches in West Sumatra. Those in the crowd threatened to use force to stop the Christian congregations from building additional structures in their compounds. More HERE.

November 25, 2012
Mali (h/t to JihadWatch)
Three Congolese citizens were arrested in Timbuktu after refusing to listen to an Islamic sermon because they are Catholic, a local government official told AFP. "They were thrown into one of the Islamists' prisons in Timbuktu," he said.

Nigeria (h/t to AtlasShrugs)
Two suicide attacks on a church in an army barracks in the northern Nigerian town of Jaji on Sunday left eleven people dead and 30 injured, the army said. More HERE.

November 28, 2012
Egypt
An Egyptian court sentenced in absentia seven Egyptian Christians to death for making and showing a film on Mohammed's life.

November 29, 2012
Phillipines (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Police is searching for two motorcycle gunmen who shot a Christian student and his Muslim girlfriend shortly after they stepped out of a motel in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Police said the attack had killed the 21-year old man while his girlfriend remains in serious condition.

Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan continues to fine and raid people meeting to discuss their faith and pray together. In Tashkent Region a Protestant was fined 100 times the minimum monthly wage for allegedly illegally distributing religious literature, and books including Bibles and New Testaments were been ordered to be destroyed,

November 30, 2012
Iran
Jailed Iranian pastor Behnam Irani is facing serious health problems and may not survive the remaining five years of his prison term on "trumped-up charges" of "crimes against national security."

The Song of Sweet Vanity

There is a nation declining, and the people entrusted with the task of letting it rise are busy telling women at public rallies to either sit down, sing a bit, or reduce the dancing tempo.
Lost in that act, they forget that their land of Four Lakes is sliding to positions- be it social, economic, and otherwise- unknown.
They watch, as other nations get the Land of the Four Lakes' static waters. They get them, and call them their own.
Too flabbergasted. Too sleepy and tactless, they watch helplessly. Issuing this one vain threat, and, when it fails, another.
But these are not threats. They are waves of vanity.
That is why so many things have become part of the vanity.
The economy: Vanity.
Policy direction: Vanity.
Social status: Vanity.
Culture: Vanity.
Principles: So non-existent they are vanity.
Political inclination: Not clear.
This state of vanity makes the people on top of the window tell the women to sit down.
They tell them to stand up.
Or, walk a bit.
And, then, run.
The rulers and the ruled have become vanity.

Bob Marley Foundation Indicates Desire to Perform at 50th Anniversary of the OAU

The Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mr. Erastus Mwencha met with Mrs. Rita Marley, the Chairwoman of Bob Marley Foundation  and Dr. Desta Meghoo, Africa’s International Media Summit 2009 (AIMS2009) Coordinator and liaison to the African Union for the Diaspora African Forum, and members of Diaspora Africa Forum on November 29.

Mrs. Marley briefed Mr. Mwencha about the request of the Foundation for a performance during the 50^th Anniversary of the OAU, which is supposed to take place in May 2013. She stressed the importance of the performance for the youth in Africa.

Dr. Desta Meghoo said that the Diaspora African Forum invites and encourages the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union, in its capacity as an important region of the continent

Mr. Mwencha said that the Chairperson of African Union Commission (AUC) Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will be very excited with Mrs. Marley’s visit.

He highlighted, in the meeting that the AUC wants to use the 50^th Anniversary as a platform to deliberate on key issues such as “where we are [as Africans] and where we should be”. He also said that music is a common platform that brings people together.

Mr. Mwencha praised the late Bob Marley for his contribution towards uplifting the consciousness of Africans on the continent as well as those in the Diaspora. “It will be better to bring Africans in Diaspora to see their roots” added the AUC Deputy Chairperson. 

The meeting was attended by some members of Diaspora African Forum.

Note for Editors:

The Bob Marley Foundation Ltd. USA is a not for profit 501 (C) (3) charitable organization founded by the Mrs. Rita Marley O.D. and the Marley family in honor of Robert (Bob) Nesta Marley,  to fulfill his comprehensive vision of social development through advocacy for social change