Bingu Cannot Resign

As pressure piles on President Bingu wa Mutharika, and calls grow ever more loud for him to resign, the truth remains that the 'guy' cannot resign- he simply does not have the word 'resignation' in his vocabulary.
Need examples? His July 6, 2011 Indepencence-Day Speech in Malawi's Northern Region City of Mzuzu, where he claimed that contrary to criticism that his second term is the 'worst', things are all rosy in Malawi.
"My second term is the best ever," he said.
This he said knowing fully well that the country has never been in so painful a fuel crisis, so deep a forex shortage hole, and so grav-deep low citizens molare this passes for Malawi's saddest moment.
The wrangle between University of Malawi lecturers and the University Council continues, with no solution in sight.
The Democratic Progressive Party remains stuck in the attitudes of autocracy as, on the other hand, Mutharika attempts to influence the judiciary to toe the Executive's line of thinking.
That is why Mutharika lamented the proliferation of court injunctions during the swearing in of two High Court Judges and Justice Dr. Jane Ansah less than a week ago.
This is, at best, sad and regretable.
Surely, Bingu is enjoying himself and finds no sense in resigning from enjoyment!

Congratulations

On Malawi's 47th Anniversary of independence from Britain.

President Bingu wa Mutharika is a Confused Confusionist!

Malawi's President, Bingu wa Mutharika, behaves like a transmitter: his life revolves around sending messages.
Mixed messages.
Every day, Mutharika plans, plots and sets about sending messages that confuse more than settle people's minds, expectations, hopes.
Just such a routine of action is a recipe for disaster, self-doubt, collective doubt, and more- and Malawi, the current play-ground for Mutharika, has fallen into such a trap.
A trap of uncertainty.
A trap of pessimism.
A trap of slight-footedness.
The trap is horrow in character: no confidence, no self-belief, no hope, no eagerness, no room for wishes.
Simply put: No room to maneuver.
What does it mean, when human beings are left with no room to maneuver by a fellow human being, duly elected?
Citizens never grow and, therefore, progress.
Their nation, unless they do something, gets stuck in the mud of poverty. On the development front, things simply stall.
And this, exactly, is the precarious situation Malawi finds herself in. And it is all courtesy of President Ngwazi Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika.
He has brought this nation this far; this far, now that we realise, in this ditch of national horrowness.

How did it all begin

A man came from the outskirts of Machinga, somewhere beyond the Western side of Machinga Hills. (That is, if you are coming from Liwonde Barrage, heading towards Machinga Boma, Zomba or Blantyre. Whatever you like).
There, beyond the Western side of the Machinga Hills, are places and trading centres so mouthful at their mention: Ntaja, Namwera.
And villages, too; so mouthful at the mention, one needs a full meal (and that means Nsima) to complete the naming task.
But Kapoloma is so a 'mouth-less' word to mention; no heavier on the lips.
From this land, Kapoloma; and this village, Kapoloma, one Bakili Erickson Muluzi was once born.
Which Muluzi was once the mighty Secretary General of the equally-once mighty Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Surely, in those days when the MCP equalled 'The Government', Kamuzu was 'The Government', also, and all of us- at least those who were there- where Kamuzu's property.
Here, now long gone but not forgotten, are the days when nobody was a 'he' or 'she'- almost each and everyone lost the previlege of being attached to, or in a way associated, with these pronouns- we were all 'property', Kamuzu's property!
But times came, also, when all 'property' became less-unfortunate: in which case Kamuzu- the Mighty Lion, Father-and-Founder of the Malawi Nation, 'Nkhoswe Nambala Wani'- addressed the living as 'My People'.
The 'living' meant not only the living (those who paid tax, and contributed, forcibly at that, towards MCP membership cards; but those about-to-live (those whose application for Malawian Citizenship was being processed in the womb. These, therefore, did not enjoy the status of 'citizens'- they were uteruses!), too.
That is why pregnant mothers paid money on behalf of those 'fortunate-enough' to be on the waiting list for Malawian citizenship! Parents who failed were denied the 'right' to medicine, market entrance, among others.
In other words, non party-card contributors simply existed to live- a form of 'constructive resignation'. With no access to the market, and thus no food, how does one live?
Simply put, 'rights' did not exist then; people 'earned' what they got, and the life they lived.
That is why Malawi was, in a way, and in thinking, a bit self-reliant. No hand outs. Youths worked for themselves.
At school (primary schools), they slashed grass, they cleared the sorroundings, they took care of the place.
Such was the spirit.
The leaders thought people were happy; but the people were complaining. Always looking for an escape route.
No wonder, TEBA in South Africa provided an escape route.
The migodis (mines) of Zimbabwe provided another free route to 'freedom'.
That is, if poor pay in a foreign land is freedom.
That is, if waiting until now to start registering and getting access to the TEBA money (read, benefuts) is freedom.
That is, if dying before 'testing' a penny of the benefits is freedom!
But, at least, the South African government has done something: remembering the Malawian people who laboured and toiled in those hot, air-deprived mines, building the bricks (cities) of civilization in that little, slow process of getting value out of Gaia, even Mother Earth.Some Malawians, including my grandfather Simon Chirombo, got stuck there (in South Africa)- marrying a new wife, and bearing children at the expense of those left back home.
There are those (people) who turned their backs on Malawi and never came back, and those who went, and brought the wealth back home. The faithful citizens of the Republic of Malawi.
Some were freeing political suppression; some, and even more, economic poverty.
But the repressive MCP regime played a hand in both incitances: it signed an agreement with the South African government, that is one; two, it was driving the rule of terror in this country and, therefore, forced some of the people abroad.
We know Jack Mapanje, Atati Mpakati, among others- they became prisoners of conscience.
In a way, the man from Kapoloma- Bakili Erickson Muluzi- played a role in this. As MCP General Secretary, the forced payment of money towards party cards fell under his dormain.
He also fell into the trap of praising Kamuzu so much. He was part of the chorus in the song 'Zonse Zimene M'zaKamuzu Banda'- a song that reverberated across Malawi, a song that created that situation where those in power were largely deified.
Kamuzu had the formula to develop Malawi; it was his cohorts that used suppression, in his name, to press the message of development home.
Muluzi, who has never apologised for his role in the MCP regime, knows pretty well that he contributed towards repression in Malawi, and that can be marked as 'mistake Number One', among the many other mistakes.

Enters Mistake Number Two

But Muluzi also committed Mistake Number Two- a mistake still haunting himself and Malawians today.
In choosing Mutharika, at the expense of die-hard United Democratic Front (UDF) members, he made Mistake Number Two and dug his own political grave.
Mistake Number Two has a name; this name, surprisingly, is not Mistake Number Two. It is Bingu wa Mutharika.
And the character of Bingu wa Mutharika is changing so fast; faster than the pace of development in Malawi- a member of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), African Union, and (as part of the Global Community) the United Nations.
Mutharika has, all of a sudden, changed from Bingu wa Mutharika to Ngwazi, then Professor. Yet Mutharika has not gone back top class to earn the Professorship, he has not carried out any research. In fact, he has no single student.
But he is turning things outside down, upsetting norms by becoming the World's First Professor Without Students! And by adding names that are not on his academic certificates.
No teacher at Dedza Secondary School woulod recognise Ngwazi Professor Bingu wa Mutharika. This is not the man, character, they knew then- in the 1960s or there-about.
While Mutharika is busy changing fast, Malawi remains still- a member of Sadc and Comesa and AU and UN, and other organisations.
But,still, will fault you for starting with Sadc and Comesa in talking about organisations and blocks Malawi is member to. Such people say such a decision is blind, as it forgets to mention local organisations Malawi is 'member' to.
Such jokers say, firstly, Malawi is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the ruling party Mutharika formed when he back-footed the UDF, that Yellow-coloured brain-child of Muluzi. Like the DPP, UDF has some blue stripes in its party colours, too.
They all rose from the mighty river called Malawi Congress Party, the multi-coloured Green, Black, and Red (replete with a black cock in the middle of that river, a cock in the depth of that river) that was Malawi's undisputed ruler from 1964 until the curtains were too old and tattered to sustain its cover anymore in 1994.
Muluzi committed Mistake Number Two (in other words, Muluzi- Malawi second President after Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda- committed 'Bingu wa Mutharika Two' between 2003 and 2004. Seeing that his bid for an unconstitutional Third Term bid failed miserably, and noting that the likes of Brown Mpinganjira, Justin Malewezi, Cassim Chilumpha, Sam Mpasu (who, as Speaker of the National Assembly, made sure that Muluzi's overtures hit a blank wall everytime he tried to play it unconstitutional on his terms of office) played a role in his failure to rape the constitution of the Republic of Malawi, Muluzi opted for the unchartered waters.
He hand-picked Bingu wa Mutharika for the UDF Presidency.
In so doing, he forgot the likes of Harry Thomson.
The late Davis Kapito, former Southern Region UDF Governor, joined Muluzi in mocking opponents. Other party members were called chuff (madeya).It was Malawi's saddest moment.
But no sadder than the fuel shortages currently plaguing the nation. No worse than the electricity blackouts. The donor pull-outs. The closure of the University of Malawi (read, constituent Colleges namely Chancellor College and the Polytechnic) has never gone this long, three months. And lecturers still want assurances on academic freedom despite the University Council's announcement that the two colleges reopen on July 3, 2011.
Things have never been sadder than this.
Moses Dossi-the former Sports Minister who prides himself in being the only Minister, or one of the few ministers, never to have 'ololadi' (earned worth unworthly, corruptly). That is his excuse for walking on foot when, just some seven years ago, he was being driven in a Merc.
How things change- tried to stand up against Bingu at the UDF Convention held at Comesa Hall in Blantyre (lso known as the Kwacha International Conference Centre) but came out with nothing but less-than-charitable votes.
What is 'One Vote' in a democracy?
It means no choice because, it is likely, it is the vote one cast for himself!
It is also a shame as it means that democracy was never allowed to take its cause, that, likely, people (delegates) were intimidated.
That is what happened at the UDF Convention: delegates came to rubber-stump Muluzi's choice of Mutharika. People never came to express choice,but Dossi still wanted to show that he had the will.
In the process, he legitimised an illegitimate process. Outsiders got the impression that there was choice, that delegates had the right to choose between Mutharika and Dossi.
What choice, when Muluzi bankroled the entire meeting?
When the UDF Young Democrats were so felocious they accommodated no choice in their narrow vocabularly of democracy?
When delegates' responsibility is to reinforce conformity other than manifest principles, what choice there is?
So people voted for Mutharika at the UDF Convention, and, this being Africa- where ruling parties rig elections in so many ways than one: monopoly over State-run media, intimidation of political opponents, cash-wielding ruling parties against starving opposition parties, leader owns party syndrome, fraud criteria in appointing Electoral Body officials (apart from Commissioners, who come from political parties and ae chosen by them, the Electoral Commission Chairperson is elected by the Head of State), among other means- Mutharika won the 2004 elections.

Tough Ride

His first term was a curse, dominated by the opposition.
In a way, as people are coming to realise now, Malawi was ruled by opposition parties! That is how things were, between 2004 and 2009. By default, or not, the opposition MCP and UDF ruled Malawi, the first country to witness such a scenario.
Why UDF in opposition when its candidate, Mutharika, won the Presidential elections in 2004? Mutharika dumped the party on February 5, 2005 (two days after my Birthday) over allegations of corruption.
"The UDF has been frustrating my Zero-tolerant on Corruption drive; they want me to stop the Anti-Corruption Bureau from prosecuting its officials. No, I will continue my drive against corruption," Mutharika said.
That was surprising, coming before he announced his resignation from the UDF party.
But the next statement was more surprising: he announced that, with immediate effect from February 5, 2005 he was no longer a member of the UDF!
For the upteenth time, people learnt from Mutharika that gone were the days when people formed opposition parties outside government, with the aim of getting into government; it was now possible, his action testified, to get into government to form a political party!
Another first from the never-tiring Mutharika.
That First Term was a time of misery for him. At one time, the opposition wanted him impeached.
The opposition's leader in Parliament, John Zenus Ungapake Tembo (who happens to be my member of parliament, for Dedza South) even said the opposition would not pass the 2007/08 National Budget unless one other thing that came into the lime light- the law on crossing the flow- was envoked.
The truth is party that was a scapegoat, the opposition wanted Bingu impeached and were just using the loophole on crossing the floor to down Mutharika.
Civil Society Organisations tried their best, by, among other means, organising vigils at the New State House- then, the house of Parliament, and a place where Mutharika kept his public beds, and slept, and ate free food, bankrolled by the tax payer.
In May 2009, however- when another chance came, and people went to the polls to elect Head of State and Government and MPs- Mutharika ammassed the greatest number of votes in Malawi history, and got more MPs than he had anticipated.
Mutharika rode on this new-found popularity to show the hyena in his true-self.
He turned loose, showing his true colours.
Now, the Polytechnic and Chancellor College- which he ordered closed through the University Council- are technically closed. The Council announced their opening a couple of weeks ago, students have gone back to school (on July 3, 2011), but the lecturers say they will not teach.
The are fighting a battle, the battle of Academic Freedom.
They are on the battle ground, fighting for intellectual discourse against a man who sits on top of a hill, and believes that his every word will work wonders.
It all started when the Inspector General of Police, Peter Mukhito, summoned a Political Science lecturer at Chanco, as Chancellor College is known. Dr. Blessings Chinsinga did nothing wrong; he merely gave a classroom example on how revolutions are bred.
Egypt being torn under the spirit of people power and people-led revolution was a perfect example of the present, and so Chinsinga alluded to it. This is time, early 2011, when the Arab World rose from its deep slumber, and turned against its tee-pot dictators.
No wonder, the phenomenon has come to be called the 'Arab Awakening' by Aljazeera and others international radio stations.
The people who were revolting did nothing wrong, in the eyes of their governments (that is why some leaders relinguished their positions). But Chinsinga, in the eyes of Mukhito and Mutharika, was wrong to give a mere example.
But Chinsinga did not go onto the streets bearing a cup of dissatisfaction; he merely explained things as they were.
Chanco lecturers were incensed, and wanted an apology from Mukhito.
The apology did not come, which raised some moral questions: If Mukhito apologised, the whole Inspector General, couldn't this affect Police officers' molare?
What would be the effect on national security.
Choosing the right thing was tough.
Speaking about that unknown right thing would surely be catastrophic.
And, so, Mukhito kept quiet.
It is Mutharika who fanned the flames when, during the graduation ceremony of new police recruits in Blantyre, he announced:
"Mukhito will not apologise. I repeat, I case some of you do not listen, Mukhito will not apologise. He is one of the best Inspector Generals Malawi has ever had," said Mutharika.
And that was it.
I was at Chancellor College, outside the Main Lecturer Room, when Mutharika said this. I was there to interview Dr. Pierson Ntata, an Associate Lecturer, on one of the hottest issues at the moment.
But before the interview, I took some time out, and went to the Main Lecturer Room to see what was on the Notice Board.
In fact, I was reading a Memo written by the Vice Principal Dr. Emmanuel Fabiano. It was addresing the issue of Academic Freedom.
It said that academic freedom was guaranteed but had limits, and urged the lecturers to observe the limits.
At that moment, Dr. Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula got out of the Main Lecturer Room and passed me by.
A few weeks ago, Mutharika made a National Address, and addressed the Academic Freedom issue.
However, while extending an olive branch and asking for room for reconciliation, he still blamed Dr. Chinsinga and Kabwila-Kapasula, the head of the Chanco Lecturers' union.
He called them confusionists.
For what?
Fighting for academic freedom?
Mutharika has made many more statements in which he extends an olive branch while attacking the very people he is reaching out to. What kind of President is that?
Now, he had ordered the re-opening of Chanco and Poly- because he is Chancellor of the University of Malawi.
But the University of Malawi Council still maintains the firing of the Chancellor College Staff Union President, Jessie Kabwila-Kapasula, General Secretary Franz Amin, Associate Lecturer Garton Kamchedzera, and Associate Lecturer Dr. Blessings Chinsinga.
And the other lecturers know that it is immoral to return to class when their representatives- people who speak not their opinion, but merely reflect what the consunsus is- have been fired and are bing sustained by court injunctions is immoral.
They can, it follows, not return to class.
It is undertandable that University students are the victims in all this, especially that they have gone back to school after a three-months Mukhito Holiday.
At Chanco, the lecturers wanted Academic Freedom assurances and students agreed.
At Poly, the lecturers wanted assurances on this too, joined their Chanco colleagues in pressing for the same, and later agreed- in a vote- to go back to school. 29 said no to lecturing, 33 were of the contrary opinion.
The majority won, and the lecturers- as Polytechnic Academic Staff on Welfare Acting General Secretary Simbarashe Mungoshi and his President said- agreed to go back to the classroom 'with protests".
But another surprising factor came into play. Polytechnic students, feeling short-changed that they missed lessons for two whopping weeks, would not bulge. They wondered whether, withing two weeks, the Academic Freedom the lecturers wanted was guaranteed.
They started protesting, refusing to go back into class.
One lecturer was beaten in broad day light for simply trying to go to his office.
It was a situation pregnant with danger, and the University Council simply went for the only way out: closure of the school.
Now the students are back, the lecturers do not want to go back to class.
Who is to blame: the lecturers? Students? University of Malawi Council, which is under Mutharika, too?
The answer is non of the above.
Mutharika- who has power to tell the Unirvesity of Malawi Council to reverse its decision to fire Kabwila-Kapasula, Kamchedzera, Chinsinga, and Amin- is to blame.
He thought he was confusing the Malawi nation, but he has ended up confusing himself.
President Ngwazi Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika is a confused confusionist; he is the confused confusionist in all this.
And, at his behest, Malawian children are suffering.
He has no biological children in the university himself; he is free.
Free from all this sadness and darkness.

Peter Tatchell's Take on Heterosexual, Same-Sex Marriage

...Gay marriage is conformist but it is also a human right- Peter Tatchell
...I may disagree with marriage, but I will fight for your right to do it
The ban on same-sex marriage is discriminatory. Gay and straight couples must be free to choose the same legal bonds

BY PETER TATCHELL

New York's legalisation of gay marriage is symptomatic of a global trend. From South Africa to Canada, Argentina, Portugal and beyond, same-sex marriage is becoming a fact of life and law.

Marriage equality is now the focus of many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) campaigns worldwide. It is fast becoming the litmus test in the battle for equality.

How ironic. At the very moment that heterosexual couples are deserting marriage in droves, lesbian and gay couples are rushing to embrace it.

Straight partners are falling out of love with matrimony. Provisional statistics for England and Wales show that the number of marriages in 2009 was the lowest since they were first calculated in 1862. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/mar0311.pdf

Far from weakening or undermining marriage, as homophobes claim, many same-sex couples seem hell-bent on shoring up an institution that is, for many heterosexuals, failing, discredited and irrelevant.

While the push for same-sex marriage is an issue of equality, which I support, it also signifies the rising conservatism of the LGBT community and a loss of radical vision. It reeks of assimilationism and conformism with the straight status quo.

As we celebrate Gay Pride in London this Saturday, with calls for marriage equality, the sceptical, questioning attitudes of the early lesbian and gay liberation pioneers will be almost entirely absent.

Marriage has a long history of sexism and patriarchy; being originally devised to ensure the male sexual control of women and the inheritance of property through the male line, from father to son. Even the language of marriage is misogynistic. An alternative meaning for the word husband is 'to manage', which sums up the relationship between men and women in many marriages, past and present. Traditionally, the father of the bride gives away his daughter to her husband-to-be, symbolising the passing of women from one man to another. For all these reasons, I am not a great fan of marriage.

Indeed, I have proposed a new, more egalitarian and flexible system of relationship recognition and rights - what I have called a Civil Commitment Pact (CCP). http://tiny.cc/s85tj

Under this CCP system, which seeks to recognise all relationships of mutual care and commitment, an individual could nominate any 'significant other' person in their life as their next of kin and beneficiary. In the case of a couple, they would be able to select from a menu of rights and responsibilities to create a CCP that is tailor-made to their particular circumstances and needs; thereby accommodating the wide range and diversity of modern relationships.

Speaking personally, I would not want to get married. I agree with the feminist critique. However, as a human rights campaigner, I strongly and actively defend the right of others to marry, if they wish.

Moreover, the ban on same-sex marriage is homophobic discrimination. All discrimination is wrong and should be opposed. Since marriage exists, it ought to be open to everyone.

For these reasons, despite my reservations about the institution of marriage, I am coordinating the Equal Love campaign - www.equallove.org.uk - which seeks to end sexual orientation discrimination in both civil marriage and civil partnership law. It is a simple issue: equality for all.

Under current UK legislation, gay couples are banned from civil marriages and heterosexual couples are banned from civil partnerships. The homophobia of the ban on same-sex civil marriages is compounded by the heterophobia of the ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships. Two wrongs don't make a right. Arbitrarily excluding straight couples from civil partnerships is just as reprehensible as denying gay partners access to civil marriage.

Imagine the outcry if the government banned black couples from getting married and offered them civil partnerships instead. Most people would condemn separate laws for black and white people as racism and apartheid, like the legislation that once existed in South Africa.

Well, in Britain today, black couples are not banned from marriage but gay couples are. Legally, this is a form of sexual apartheid - one law for gay couples and another law for heterosexual partners. In a democratic society, we should all be equal before the law.

To challenge this discrimination, eight British couples - four gay and four heterosexual - filed a joint legal application to the European Court of Human Rights on 2 February, seeking to overturn the twin bans on gay civil marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships. http://tiny.cc/4qx66

We are confident that the European Court will eventually rule in our favour. But we'd much prefer the government to bring forward legislation of its own free will, to put right an obvious inequality.

The British people are ready for change, with a clear majority in favour of allowing same-sex partners to marry. A Populus poll for the Times newspaper in June 2009 found that 61% of the public believe that: "Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships." Only 33% disagreed. http://tiny.cc/ipsqv

The deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and London Mayor Boris Johnson back marriage equality, as do the leaders of Labour and the Greens, respectively Ed Miliband and Caroline Lucas. Only David Cameron is holding out against same-sex marriage rights. What is he afraid of?

Update on University of Malawi Impasse on Academic Freedom

STATEMENT BY CHANCELLOR COLLEGE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION (CCASU) ONTHE COLLAPSE OF DIALOGUE WITH UNIVERSITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE IMPASSE ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM

2NDJULY, 2011

Impossing structures, vacant rooms: Academic buildings without students spell gloom on the future of a nation-state, and Malawi is no exception

CCASU and other academic members of staff at Chancellor College regret to report that the dialoguethat commenced on Thursday 30thJune, 2011 between a Task Force of the Council of the Universityof Malawi and its representatives collapsed on Saturday 2ndJuly, 2011.

Academic freedom under threat

In the first round of the dialogue with the Task Force which was on 30thJune, 2011, CCASU firmly reiterated that its membership is keen as it has always been to resume classes as early as 16thFebruary, 2011 when they stopped teaching out of legitimate fears as confirmed by the CourtsUpon moderate dialogue, the Task Force undertook to inform Council to take concrete actions toaddress the initial causes of the fears on the part of academic members of staff and students. The key initial causes of the fears and the ensuing impasse were:

 the deployment and presence of spies/intelligence in Colleges by Government;
 the summoning and interrogation of academic members of staff over the contents of lectures;and
 the suspicion and deliberate disinformation calculated to intimidate staff; bring into disreputeor interfere with the legitimate pursuits of academic members of staff. CCASU also emphasised that the purported dismissal of the four academic members of staff is afurther gross violation of academic freedom and a blatant affront to Unionism, which is protectedunder the labour laws of Malawi.
CCASU underlined that the purported dismissals should berescinded before lectures could resume.It was agreed in the meeting upon CCASU’s suggestions that among the actions Council would haveto take before the College re-opens were:
 liaising with the relevant government departments regarding the deployment of intelligenceand use of spies in the College, and the occasions when the Police would be allowed intocollege campus;
writing to lecturers and CCASU rescinding decisions such as suspension of salaries andbenefits;
 the withdrawal of forms compelling lecturers to resume teaching; and
 instruct its lawyers to work with CCASU’s lawyers to draw up relevant consent orderswithdrawing the respective court orders , and Council’s judicial review and appeals.
The Task Force indicated during the meeting that it would have to consult with the University Councilon the issue of the purported dismissals because it was not covered in its mandate.
It was agreed that in the pendency of fulfilment of the above conditions the University Registrarwould issue an agreed statement “advising students to await an announcement on the date ofreopening the College.”Further, it was the common understanding of the parties to the dialogue that some of the issues thathave arisen in the course of the impasse would be resolved in the long run with the continuedinvolvement of all parties.
Having met in Lilongwe with full Council of the University, the Task Force convened a furthermeeting with representatives of CCASU on 2ndJuly, 2011 in Zomba, where they disowned theagreements made on 30thJune, 2011 regarding the concrete actions that would result in theresumption of classes.

The Task Force also reported the following decisions as taken by Council:

 That the purported dismissal of the four academic members of staff would stand and befurther pursued in the Court.
 That Council would proceed to call students and provide all the necessary security andsupport to ensure that classes resume on 4thJuly, 2011.
 That the College would be reopened notwithstanding that the conditions stated above have notbeen fulfilled by Council as undertaken during the first round of dialogue.
CCASU informed the Task Force that in the light of the above positions taken by Council, itsmembership will not resume teaching if students report for classes before the above conditions havebeen fulfilled.

Dr. JESSIE KABWILA-KAPASULA
Acting President, CCASU

Impossing building, empty rooms

Malawi National Women's Team Cosana Performance Unsurprising

Don't tell me about the Malawi National Women's Football Team's humiliating 8-2 loss to this year's Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) hosts, Zimbabwe.

Happening, as it did, in the presence of Fifa President, Sepp Blatter and Zimbabwean President, the very Comrade Robert Mugabe, what else can the nation say?

Apart from feeling the dizzying effect of that loss, what else can we say?

That where were DD Sunshine players? Players who have become 'torturers' of Blantyre-11 and other women's football teams turning regulation-time victims with their 'fellow' victims?

That where is our women's soccer heading to?

No. It is no time for questions.

After all, Technical Director Jack Chamangwana fore-saw it.

That is why he told Malawians well in advance to supress their hopes- those who had any.

"We know that we are going to Zimbabwe to learn. Expect no miracles," Chamangwana told Zachimalawi six hours before departure for Zimbabwe.

The hopes were thus down.

But it was depressing to hear Malawi Broadcasting Corporation's Mphatso Mwamadi file a report back home, a report that informed us that the Malawi National Women's Netball Team was attacked by thugs just some ten-minutes' drive into Zimbabwe.

This happened after passing the Nyamapanda Border Post.

But this, too, is no excuse.

The team went to the 2011 Zimbabwe Cosafa Tournament to lose!

Linda Kasenda, who scored for Malawi in the 19th and 23rd minute, did well to tell the world (by scoring) that netting two goals is the measure of our hopelessness.

If, in Malawi, hopelessness be rated two goals, what else can we achieve if we become abit hopeful?

Four goals, perhaps. Or six.

And that is terror to other teams, that is demolition.

Why Don't You Check Nyasatoday at www.nyasatoday.com

Forth edition of hardcover magazine out.

Third Edition had this coverpage (below):

Barter the Useless Malawi National Netball Team with Rabbits!

Never, in the history of Malawi netball, has the National Netball team lost to England by a margin of 32 goals.
But it happened on Monday.

The mighty, great, inspirational Mary Waya: No force of ill-will will erase her successful mark on the Malawian netball scene

The name of the battle of skills and height is the 2011 World Netball Championship.
The name of the battle-field is Singapore, the setting for that great novel called 'King Rat', by the equally great writer in the name James Clavel.
After the end of four quarters on Monday, the Malawi National Netball Team fell 'victims' to England by 65 baskets to 33.
The result is a shame to the Malawi nation; not the result, rather, but the margin.
This never happened during the sweet, good, old days of Mary Waya, Peace Chawinga, Silvia Mtetemera,and others.
That is why these netballers, and many others of their generation, will remain hidden in our hearts, to come alive through our smiles, when all this- like their impressive careers- comes to an end.
Waya, Mtetemera, Chawinga still have the legs to carry on on the netball court. But some stubborn, useless, rabbit-legged, up-coming netballers have put their feet down, saying they will never welcome these greats in their squad.
A few weeks ago, at the intervention of the Ministry of Sports, Waya- one of the veteran netballers- was recalled.
Like a lover of netball and patriotic citizen, Waya obliged and went into camp.
That was good news.
But these squirel netballers, small as the index finger in netball skills and competence, and more useless than the smelling waters of Mudi River in Blantyre, turned their backs on Waya.
They became rude- these useless, foul-smelling netballers- forcing Waya out of camp.
Waya is big. She has been there- both in life, and on the netball court.
She knows non-verbal clues, and knows what it means when a young netballer- of between 21 and 29 years- turns her over-sized, black nose to the right hand when a veteran netballer of repute and unmatched skills is passing by the left side of you.

The great, irreplaceable Mary Waya: let all her young netballer haters go hang on Mulanje Mountain

So, Waya went home.
Zachimalawi feels like she made the right, and wrong decision.
She should not have let these squirel netballers- useless as the waters of flue- push her out by action, or intent of such action.
She should have been there to show these useless netballers that they were not there when her and others were moulding the bricks of what we now call Malawi's orthodox netball game.
They were busy sucking milk from their mothers, mothers who were not allowed to eat eggs while pregnant then.
Waya was also right.
You don't leave where you are not wanted!
Especially when you are the only human being among squirels.
These under-aged, useless netballers behaved worse than squirels.
You will never see the squirel-young bite their mum.
Never.
All that remains is to dissolve this Malawi National Netball team, send all the small-legged players who behaved like squirels home, and dissolve the national team.
This team should not receive any more funding.
Let the useless, unappreciative players contribute funds and form their own national team.
The Wayas, Chawingas and Mtetemeras will then continue with the good netball game, to paste smiles on our lips with their wonderful display once again.
These people lost to England, yes; but they lost respectably.
That is the difference between a squirel-human-being, and a human being.
Mwawi Kumwenda is not among the useless, under-aged but visibly-old netball players, though- and we will be glad to have her in the Malawi National Netball Team of human beings.
As it is now, barter these misbehaving, self-over-rated players with squirels, and let the communal spirit that has sustained Malawi all along- that spirit powered by unity and obedience- visit us once more.
We also ask the mighty Mbona to punish these ill-mannered kids.
Let the team come home, also. It has failed miserably in both performance and discipline.

Nick Griffin to be mocked at Gay Pride

...Satirical placard ridicules "Queen of Fascism"
...Call for gays to oppose the BNP

London - 1 July 2011

Far right British National Party leader Nick Griffin will be satirised and mocked at London's Gay Pride parade this Saturday, 2 July.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will march at the front of the parade with a placard featuring a doctored image of Nick Griffin with blue eye shadow, red lipstick and pink swastika earrings, captioned with the words: "Nick Griffin, Queen of Fascism. Homophobe. No to BNP."

"Griffin and the BNP are tin-pot fascists who deserve to be mocked and ridiculed. I'm satirising Griffin to debunk his grand political pretensions and to skewer his claim to respectability and legitimacy. He's a joke and my placard reflects that," said Mr Tatchell.

Mr Tatchell is a Patron of Pride London and helped organise Britain's first ever Gay Pride march in 1972. Last July, he confronted the BNP leader face-to-face over his bigotry. See this BBC news report and video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOx9vTqUL10

"Griffin has a long history of homophobia (see examples below). His party is notorious for its racism, anti-Semitism, holocaust denial and Islamophobia. A disturbing number of past and present BNP members have criminal convictions for violence," added Mr Tatchell.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party
"Some BNP activists have been involved in gay-bashing attacks.

"LGBT people should stand together united with other minorities to defend our communities against the BNP and its right-wing spawn, the English Defence League.

"Former far right National Front leader Martin Webster claims that he had a homosexual relationship with Griffin many years ago, as reported in the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. Griffin denies the relationship. If it was true, Griffin's homophobia would be evidence of hypocrisy. See this report in The Times:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6887304.ece
"Although the BNP has publicly ditched some of its most bigoted policies, many critics believe this make-over is just an astute public relations exercise designed to con people who were put off by its neo-Nazi image. They say the BNP hasn't changed at all; it has just got more professional and media savvy.

"As part of this spin and PR drive, many of the BNP's most homophobic outbursts have been deleted from its website.

"The BNP has fought previous general elections on a pledge to outlaw homosexuality, jail gay people and to bring back Section 28. It has described Aids as 'nature taking revenge' on gay men.

"Soon after the neo-Nazi bombing of a gay bar in London in 1999, which killed three people and maimed dozens more, Nick Griffin seemed to excuse and endorse the homophobic hatred that inspired the terrorist atrocity. He attacked lesbian and gay people for 'flaunting their perversion' and claimed that 'so many ordinary people find these creatures so repulsive'. Source: Stranger things have happened, Nick Griffin, Spearhead (BNP magazine), June 1999.

"According to Griffin, homosexuality is 'form of behavioural deviancy' and 'not a valid lifestyle choice'. He erroneously claimed the BNP speaks for 'the majority of the population' who, he says, believe 'homosexuality is wrong' and that same-sex behaviour 'needs to be pushed humanely but firmly back into the closet'. Griffin warns that if gays continue to 'press their aims further' there will be an 'almighty backlash' which will result in the imprisonment of all homosexuals. Source: Putting the record straight, Nick Griffin, Identity (BNP Magazine), December 2003.

The BNP's website alleged that: "Sexually-transmitted diseases are no joke. Thanks to them, the average life-expectancy of a gay man is now 40, compared to 71 for all men": http://www.bnp.org.uk/articles/traditional_values.html

Claiming that the "gay rights lobby target school children," the BNP opposed gay equality reforms like the repeal of Section 28 and the abolition of the unequal age of consent. It has also condemned and ridiculed LGBT History Month: http://www.bnp.org.uk/articles/lgbt_month.htm

Griffin is not alone. Mark Collett, former chairman of the Young BNP and senior party official, described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots" and said the idea of homosexuality was a "sickening thought": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party

Those Times, Now Gone, When MCP Was The Malawi Government

But the cock, though still active at dawn,has now been decapacitated. It is a circle that will, as circles do, repeat itself. But people do not learn, it seems, and continue to make similar mistakes- believing that their day, and only their day, will last.

Malawian Music Awards A Fluke

Just like that.
Starting with organisation; poor.
It seems like the organisers just wanted to use the event as a money spinner, and failed at that.
Next time you are organising the awards, make it a bridal shower activity in one of your many friends' vegetable gardens!
Don't use the name Malawi in vain; it is such an honourable name.
If anything, the Malawian Music Awards have just shown that there are many useless things people can do in Malawi, one of which is to attend such a poorly organised event.
Imagine, the organisers got K33,000 for their vanity-attempt!
Actually, one of the people manning the door was heard saying: "Apa ndiye tagwa nayotu; tidyapo apa?"

Malawi Braces for Black-Outs Till December

The outlook on life is already 'dark' in Malawi; the spirits very low.
It has been a long time since problems moved in 'groups' of one; collectivity is their new name.
Packed like sardines in the Malawi-Problems-Catalogue are:
Fuel shortages.
Forex crises.
Human rights imprisonment.
Poverty escalation.
Political impasses.
Off target International Monetary Fund programmes.
Negative outlooks and sentiments from the Common Approach to Budgetary Support group of development partners.
Uncertainty over the chances of getting K21 billion donor aid and grants.
I all fairness, these solo players in the catalogue were supposed to be 'enough' for the single, warm heart that is the Malawian.
Not at all.
Adding on to this pile of problems is this week's announcement by the country's generator and distributor of electric energy.
Malawi's sole electricity supplier- the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi- Escom, announced yesterday that Malawi was going into a period of fully-fledged black outs as works on Nkula Falls and Tedzani commence.
Escom's Director of Generation, Darper Chapalapata, said yesterday there would be six hours of black outs everyday starting from Wednesday (yesterday).
In line with his words, blackouts started yesterday.
Chapalapata said the six-hour black outs will take place from 04:00p.m. to 10:00 p.m. everyday.
"This will happen until December 31, 2011. We want everything to be okay by that date, and expect no further interruptions to electricity supply during the rainy season," said Chapalapata.
The spirits, already down by the myriad of challenges outlined above, cannot get any lower.
This is the first time in Malawi's power generation history to have six-hour black outs running over a period of six whopping months.
Already, people are complaining that they will be missing Big Brother Amplified Live Eviction shows since they take place from 07:00 p.m.. This is despite the fact that most Digital Satellite Television payers have footed their bills with Multi-Choice Malawi hoping that they would have full-time entertainment.
Lomwe is still in the Big Brother Amplified House as Malawi's remaining representative. The other country representative, Felicia Susan Ngoma, was evicted on Sunday and arrives home today.
The other casualty is President Bingu wa Mutharika himself, since most citizens will now miss his speeches traditionally rebroadcast in the 'Presidential Daily' programme broadcast in the evening.
Malawi Broadcasting Viewers will also miss MBC News at 8 (live). THis means that MBC-TV should reduce the amount of money before news/mid news/after news advertisers pay for slots from between K48, 000 to K52, 000 now, to less than K40,000 since- during the entire period of the blackouts- most viewers (except those with generators) will be watching the live news programmes.
Video and live television showrooms will also be hit by the eletricity black outs' problem; so will bar owners with no generators.
It seems that Escom has opted for the 04:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. duration to shelve heavy industries from making equally heavy losses, a move likely to be lauded by the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
However, industries that employ people on night shifts have to face up to the reality that, if they run no generators, their production will stall from 06:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day, giving foreign competitors an edge over them, and threatening Malawi's export capacity since production targets are likely to be missed, more than met.
More likely, people will be blaming the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for this, and Mutharika for many other things.
The truth is that Malawi's electricity generation system needs an overhaul.
Finance Minister Ken Kandodo knows this pretty well, and announced during this year's Budget Statement that a World Bank project worth US$500 million will help solve the country's problems.
The black outs are coming in because, during the next six months of maintenance works at Malawi's hydro-electric power stations in the Lower Shire, generation capacity will be reduced by 40 per cent.
Already, the country faces high demand for electric power, and has so far failed to meet the same.
It is hoped, however, that with Malawi Growth and Development Strategy pinning its focus on improved energy delivery, the span for blackouts may well be short.
What with Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority's liberalisation of the energy sector?
Just that, for a long tme to come, Escom will remain a key player in the electricity generation sector- it's strong feet being the investments in power generation machines in the Lower Shire.
And its long time experience in dispersing both darkness and light.

www.zachimalawi.webs.com

www.zachimalawi.webs.com

Coming to Malawi?

Bring diesel and petrol in containers with you.

Otherwise, you will get stuck at the airport.

No fuel here.

It is Malawi's most visible crisis.

More visible than the forex shortage problem because the rural woman and man does not care about forex.

A Dedication to O'brien Nazombe: Multi-Talented

Talented people never 'pass away', they 'pass on'.
On Monday this week, Malawi lost one of her most talented sons.
A poet of sorts, promoter of local music, and playwright of repute, O'brien Nazombe triumphed over everything he touched, and only lost to the touch of meningitis during the morning of Monday morning this week.
Meningitis, and, therefore, death, has claimed the mighty, gentle heart of Nazombe because they (meningitis and, therefore, death) never got to be touched by his skillful hands; indeed, they got no chance to be surfed by his productive brains.
If they did, they would have appreciated the gem of his mind and left him to us: our hearts to touch with his fingerless-but-sensual poetry; our memories to scratch through his impeccable selection of vernacular words, and; our appreciation to spur by his careful selection of modern Malawi music.
And, if meningitis and death this truth beheld, they would have left O'brien to us, to be with him past the 40 years that have become the boundary between O'brien Nazombe and us.
But, as reality has it, we stand and sit here- on this portion of the globe named Malawi- thinking about the great man we have lost, and the gap his departure has created in our minds and hearts.
O'brien Nazombe lives no more.
But he has not 'passed away'; he has 'passed on'.
The faithless pass away. The hopeful pass on.
O'brien Nazombe was hopeful because he was religious.
And, therefore, he has passed on.
To wait for us on the other side of the veil.
To give us hope that, where we go from here, is a place of gems and talented people. The people who, on this earth trod, and left a mark.
This mark, or these marks, keep us going, trying to cover part of the shoes that will never be filled because those who paid tenancy to them had bigger toes than us.
These 'toes' are the contributions they made to the world; the selfless heart they possessed, the things they knew and, with us, shared; the love they never withheld from those who knew them, and those who knew them not.
The 'toes' are their indispensable skills; their immense knowledge; their willingness to learn by, first, hearing, then, listening, and, lastly, contributing towards which ever topic it was.
O'brien Nazombe was a great listener.
And an actionman there-after.
Hearing. Listening. Acting.
Empathy was his greatest tool in life.
He acted, always- but only after listening and getting the other side of the story. It could not be always a story; even an issue. O'brien was there to listen.
Here, the man we are gathered here for; the man who has invited us to this dusty downship of Machinjiri; the man who does not 'want' to look us in the eye,as if we never knew each other, as if we never knew his voice, as if we may not recognise his voice in the confusion of a thunderous day or night, lies O'brien Nazombe.
The man who was, and is not.
The man who will not be Malawian. Anymore.
He may be dead, a reality that may force some of us to think of O'brien Nazombe in the past tense, to think of him as if he were a past that we can scrape away,at will; but he is part of the future, our future, now.
From today we will hope, and wish, and crave to be with him some day.
To see his body in glory-splendour once again.
The path he has taken is a common path; the way of all the earth.
A path we all shall take one day.
Others will take it (the path) as 'pass-aways'; lucky are those, like O'brien Nazombe, who become 'pass-oners'.
Knowing O'brien Nazombe
I was young then, in the mid 1990s, when the likes of Billy Banda- now Executive Director for the Malawi Human Rights Watch- and O'brien Nazombe were acting in that great Malawi Broadcasting Corporation play 'Timkanena', literally translated as 'We told you so'.
In it, loads of advice were churned out to the ears that cared to listen, learn, and act positively. The main message was about youths and HIV and AIDS.
O'brien Nazombe was part of this great play. At a time HIV and AIDS were wrecking havoc in Malawi, when ARVs were being sold at exorbitant prices (in fact, it is President Bingu wa Mutharika who is responsible for this sickness, forgetting faster than the human memory's capacity, that Malawians have forgotten how expensive the life-prolonging drugs were before 2004), and HIV and AIDS were terms that induced the worst fears in Malawians, O'brien's role in arresting the spread of the virus can not be overlooked.
Of course, he and Billy Banda, Milton Thole- and many others in that inspirational play- were paid for doing this; but they did it with passion, and love, and lots of skill.
Because they loved us even more; us who, today, cry on top of this mountain called present-day life, they became advocates of positive behaviour.
Oh, O'brien!
The O'brien, our own Nazombe, born on 3 February- like me- but in 1971; a decade before I was to be.
Forty years?
You were young.
But inspirational.
In 40 years, you did what ten individuals may achieve with difficulty in 40 years.
And you have passed on, knowing, that you fought a good battle- the battle for self-awareness. The battle for social and economic, even intellectual, change.
And today you have closed your eyes. On us.
And turned your back, on us.
Because we will miss you even more.
How do I know O'brien Nazombe, as the sub-heading proclaims?
Well, I knew O'brien before he knew me.
Through his voice. Inspirational in plays, poetry, and radio presentation.
And through his hands, the works of his hands- as a playwright, his name formed part of the credits in such plays as 'Mzeru N'kupangwa' radio play on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation- that great radio station with all these kids: Joy FM, FM 101 Power, Zodiak Broadcasting Station, Radio Maria, Calvary Family Radio, Dzimwe Community Radio Station, Transworld Radio, ABC Radio, Radio Alinafe, Nkhotakota Community Radio Station, MIJ FM, Capital 102.5 FM, among others.
But it was on 15 March 2011 that I fixed that voice onto a human frame, even the personality of O'brien Nazombe the Great himself.
I was sitting at the lounge of Joy 89.6 FM- the radio station he has been working, first on part-time basis in 2004, and as a full-time presenter in October 2008- when O'brien Nazombe came, and sat close to me.
Without being prompted, he looked at me, and greeted me.
One of the members of staff at Joy 89.6 FM then mentioned my name, and tried to explain what I did. But O'brien cut him short, saying he knew me- not by frame of body, but by frame of mind- through By-lines in local newspapers.
Like me, who knew him by voice and not physical frame, he knew me by frame of mind, and by the abstract hand that talks of tangible things without being there.
That is the meaning of newspaper, magazine, newsletter writing and radio broadcasting: being there, without being present. In other words, the chance to be there without being seen, the opportunity to be, without.
It is a philosophy so simple to understand; and, at the same time, so complex to behold. The good thing is that it is all possible.
Now, on the Joy 89.6 FM lounge, we talked about many things: poetry, playwriting.
I told him I had a collection of 20 Chichewa poems, and 20 English poems. The collections are kept at home, in raw form.
He told me to bring him some, to recite them and give him some.
He promised to 'judge' them for me; to gauge their strengths and weaknesses.
To polish them up with the brush of his mind.
Gone
Today, June 28, 2011, O'brien Nazombe is being raid to rest in Machinjiri Township, Blantyre.
Today, a chapter is closing on one of Malawi's most talented sons.
Today, O'brien is bidding the Joy 89.6 FM studios bye.
But he will live on, in our minds.
He will propel our hopes, that with him we shall meet.
A thousand years from now.
And our wishes, that there is a talented world beyond the blueless sky.
A wonderful world beyond the colour of our fantancies.
Somewhere beyond the blueless sky.
The colourless sky.
Many people have spoken. My friend Blessings Cheleuka, one of the people who worked closely with O'brien, and learned a lot from him, his selfless heart, has heaped praises on the man who deserve them. These are not plastic praises; they come from the heart that appreciates the greatness of this man who is making us cry, and at the same time celebrate: O'brien Nazombe, the father of two, survived by a wife Eliza.
Even Henry Haukeya, he who knows better about this great son from the Warm Heart of Africa- Malawi, has professed that, in O'brien Nazombe, Malawi had a man so full of talent and others.
That is why he shared what he knew. Because he loved all of us.
Evelyn Pangani, one of the presenters at Joy 89.6 FM, even dedicated a poem to O'brien Nazombe on the 'People's Radio Station', as Joy self-proclaims.
If this proclamation be not true, at least the truth be, that O'brien Nazombe was a man of the people.
That is why the listener liked 'Patsinde' his brain-child programme in which local poets flourished. He was also presenting a Rhumba Music programme; a local music programme that unearthed hundreds, too.
Other programmes, such as 'Gospel Top 20', he gave to others: the likes of Cheleuka.
He was selfless.
As one of the leaders at the Poetry Association of Malawi, he was also instrumental in raising the status of poetry in Malawi.
As if to keep up with the local poetry spirit, his main foods were local: nkhwani otendera (pumpkin leaves spiced up with ground-and-cooked (ground) nuts.
He loved sweet beer (thobwa), too.
During Chichewa poetry recitals at the WareHouse in Blantyre, he never forgot to bring roast maize and sweet beer for free distribution.
Sharing, and always sharing. That was O'brien Nazombe for you, the son born to a Ngoni woman from Ntcheu, and Lhomwe man from Phalombe.
That is a show of unity. That Malawians, no matter where they come from, are one.
No wonder, he integrated easily with everyone in society. Always happy. Always smiling. Ever open-minded.
This man O'brien Nazombe.
It is through Patsinde that people started paying to feast on poetry. For the first time, The WareHouse could be full with gate-paying poetry enthusiasts.
Good of you, O'brien Nazombe- even though you hear me no more,now.
Poet Gospel Kazako was left devoid of words after hearing of O'brien Nazombe's passing on.
He said: "I am sad, so sad. We have lost talent. Words cannot describe our loss."
Kazako even revealed that O'brien Nazombe extended an invitation to him so many times. O'brien Nazombe wanted Kazako to feature in 'Patsinde' programme.
But, as Gospel Kazako explained, his tight schedules never permitted him to do so.
"But (O'brien) Nazombe was patient. He never got angry at me".
It is too late for you to feature in one of the programmes now Gospel' I mean, with O'brien Nazombe directing things, posing the questions, fanning the conversation.
It is too late to confirm your participation now.
Words fly so slow now,. to get where O'brien Nazombe has gone to.
He doesn't listen any more. O'brien Nazombe.
So sad that O'brien Nazombe has gone without judging my poetry works.
Gone before judging me.
Gone before brushing my handwork with his mind.
It is too early, at 40; this 'morning' of your life.
O'brien Nazombe.
Renowned Poet,Stanley Onjezani Kenani, also Remembers the Departed O'brien Nazombe

Trust Me, Bingu

Friday, June 24, 2011:President Bingu wa Mutharika did not only speak, he dug deep into his heart, and pured his all in that emotional Friday address.
In deed, Muharika might have dug too deep into his supposedly mighty heart it was no surprise he nearly choked on his own words.
His was an attempt at restoring citizenry confidence in his administration; as he put it, the confidence and trust he enjoyed in the morning of his administration.
This trust propelled him on during an era when Malawian opposition parties took turns in taking deep dives into the pool of self-abandon and experimented at people welfare- neglect- yes, when the Malawi Congress Party, United Democratic Front, and others, tested the sweet fruits of power abuse, and lost the confidence of Malawians at that.
It was a time then, between 2004 and 2009, when civil society organisations could ride on the parachute of their anger, and experiment with partisan politics meddling. They called it a 'nationa- interest' campaign, and, in so many ways, they were justified in criticising opposition politicians and adopting the vigil route of self-expression to drive the point home: Malawians wanted the nationa budget first, impeachment of Mutharika came last in their minds.
Somehow, the national budgets passed, and only because Mutharika rode on the national sympathy horse.
People thought Mutharika would be good with more MPs, and gave him the votes, and the people, on May 20, 2009.
First mistake.
Because Mutharika went straight to 'waist', when he had never been known to be 'bad' or 'worse'.
His personality induced a feeling of national surprise.
Today, riding at the back of more numbers in Parliament, Mutharika has become the bad-boy people never wanted at the dawn of multiparty democracy in 1994. A year earlier, in June 1993, the people had said 'no, to the one party regime and dictatorship.
Some of these people- the voters of 1994- are long dead in a country where life expectancy for the majority is projected at less than 40 years. Some are alive, and feeling helpless because May 2014, the month and year Malawians next have eletions, is so far away.
Far away because the pain of fuel shortages, foreign exchange crisis, a man-made constitutional crisis borne out of the enactment of freedom-anathemic laws, and a national femine of trust, transparency, and confidence in national leadership are more burdensome than high hopes may ever carry.
Just in a nick of time, Mutharika has spearheaded a battle against intellectual discourse, human freedoms, and, if the truth be told, the systematic murder of the hope that carries the Malawian people forward in times of adversity and gloom.
When the world gets dark and the only place with a little light, faint light that glimmers in an enormous hole of darkness, is the human heart. The Malawian's heart.
All these issues are no laughing matter, and the Malawian people are very afraid to see the man they so trusted go solo in this game of national politics, a game whose playing cards are people's souls, national security, economic emancipation and social change.
So far, the human soul is weak, economic emancipation long-coming, the concept of national security has been turned upside-down because the people that were mearnt to be protected have become the enemies- enemies of a mighty state.
What happens when a President trumples upon citizens' rights, including the right to hold peaceful demonstrations? What is it when a 'whole' President, weighting over 69 kgs, wants his own people- some of hem weighting 20 kgs- to pay collateral before staging 'peaceful' demonstrations?
It is called 'National Security' turned against its 'benefactors'.
So many things are heading towards unanticipated places and destinations.
But, that Friday afternoon, Mutharika managed to over-look all these issues to speak from his heart.
When he speaks like that, people know that he has been touched by something. The only problem is that Mutharika seems to think that his pain is 'national', and overrides all other national pains.
That is the problem.
That is why, one may summise, he offers olive trees while offending others even more.
He did likewise when he announced the re-opening of Chancellor College and The Polytechnic- constituent colleges of the University of Malawi closed after Inspector General of Police, Peter Mukhito, summoned Associate Lecturer Dr. Blessings Chinsinga over an example he gave within the class-compounds of Chancellor College in Zomba.
He asked lecturers to return to class while attacking staff welfare and union leaders.
And he left crucial issues unresolved. Those four lecturers who were fired by the University of Malawi Council remained fired. Mukhito remained unapologetic. Mutharika remained offensive and dictatorial.
And the issue, because the real issues- including the Commission of Enquiry Mutharika established to come up with the definition of academic freedom, and reasons for the current lecturers and Council stand off- remains unresolved.
All this shows, sadly, that Mutharika does not want Malawian University students to go back to school. He wants to blame lecturers for the University's continued closure when he had deliberately left issues unresolved.
Because Mutharika has no biological children studying with the University of Malawi, because he feels he is more important that he can stop the university calendar at any time, and because he doesn't real care for the ordinary Malawian parent who has a ward at one of the closed constituent colleges, he smiles every night before he goes to sleep.
And smiles every morning before he takes free breakfast.
He smiles at how powerful he has become.
Sad.
Even if Mutharika had biological children of school-going age, they would not be at the University of Malawi; if anything, the United States of America and United Kingdom would be the 'best' destinations.
That is why he smiles, and doesn't see sense in resigning for having failed Malawians.
As one Billy Banda, who executely directs Malawi Human Rights Watch, put it, "Mutharika should resign".
But that, too, does not ring in his mind.
He is so development-minded that he wants human freedoms, which he, in his egoistic thinking, feels are impeding on national social-economic development scraped from Constitutional provisions. He forgets that these are the spirit of the Constitution; that these are in the spirit of the Constitution.
What rang in his mind, that Friday afternoon, was the beating of his pains, and not the echoes of the collective pains of Malawians as fuel dries up in the vehicles that move the nation, forex gets more scarce than gold, mand human freedoms disappear at the whim of political appeasement.
His pains, as it were, are three: fuel shortage, forex shortage, and devaluing the national currency, the Kwacha.
He said fuel shortages have become a problem because private individuals and companies run the tanks that gives wheels to the nation. Otherwise, he enthused, fuel shortages are not a 'problem' because they are "normal". They are "normal" because even the United States of America, oil-producing Nigeria, and oil-dependent Britain also suffer from fuel shortages.
Because Petroleum Importers Limited is constituted by private individuals and companies, these folks are not interested in keeping fuel in reservours as that is costly and leaves money waiting at the fuel pump station, he said. That is why a 'normal' fuel shortage has become a crisis.
Malawi, he then promised, will solve this problem by establishing the National Oil Company of Malawi.
And, as if to show how one-minded and stubborn he is, Mutharika said the establishment of the new entity was a progressive step at defying the International Monetary Fund, which has long-advocated for private hands' ownership of such facilities, ownership Mutharika feels is catastrophic in the long run.
When there is no fuel, do people blame the petroleum importers? No.
That is his logic.
After all, petroleum importers are not voted in, during internationally-observed elections, by the public. If anything, their money 'votes' them into this sort of strategic business.
Secondly, the economist-statesman tackled the issue of forex shortage. He blamed it on the IMF again, saying because the institution advised government to stop banking forex with the Reserve Bank of Malawi- and, instead, leave the money in Authorised Dealer Banks' coffers- government followed such advice and is now in trouble.
In trouble bacause the hard-earned forex has gone into private hands, and there is no forex on which government can plan. Social services suffer in such cases, Mutharika said.
That is why forex shortages have become a problem as opposed to the norm they were supposed to be.
Only that Mutharika fell short of describing how he planned to defy the IMF on this.
But, naturally, this issue (forex shortage) led the president to the issue of devaluing the Kwacha.
Because government took heed to IMF proposal to bank with the 'commercial' bankers, and because, somehow, the bankers sold the forex to private individuals and businesses, the same were now colluding with the IMF to force government to devaluate the Kwacha so they could make quick bucks.
"These business people bought the forex when the Kwacha was trading at (Kwacha) 142 to one United States Dollar. Now they are colluding with the IMF and want us to peg the Kwacha at (Kwacha)182 so that they may realise more profit. If we do that, they will buy the U.S. Dollars again, and collide with the IMF to force us to devalue the national currency again. I can't devalue the Kwacha without assurances on what we will do with poor Malawians likely to suffer from that decision," said Mutharika.
So, Mutharika cares for the poor people only when they are likely to be affected by inflationally measures, and not when their future lies in limbo because he *(Mutharika) does not see sense in re-opening the university corridors for the sons and daughters of resource-constrained Malawians?
Mutharika stumped this plastic concern with the suppression of his own tears, his apparent chocking and falling over his own abstract voice.
If a voice develops legs so physical they trap the president's voice, why can't all these national concerns form a physical web to touch the president's eyelid, and wake him up from his deep slumber?
The nation weeps, he smiles.
He diginifies his secret, silent smiles with unpopular bills.
And pretends, all the while, to be in the shoes of the ordinary Malawian.
Shoes now occupied by fuel shortages, forex crisis and the muzzling of intellectual discourse.
Without shoes, and with as tough a road as present Malawi, will the ordinary citizen make it to 2014 bare-footed, bare-chested, bare-hearted, and stripped of hope?

Nyerere...

Yaluma jombooo!

Mulanje Porters Race on

...slated for Saturday, July 9, 2011
The 2011 annual Mount Mulanje Porters Race has become one of the most important events in Malawi, atracting people from other parts of the world.
On Saturday, 9 July 2011, the Mulanje Porters Race comes back to bring us together- people from across the length and bredth of the world.
The Porters Race is quickly turning into a sister-crowd puller the the world-acclaimed 'Lake of Stars'.

As they say, sports is a universal language that has three sure endings: victory, draw, or loss.
Just that, with the Mulanje Porters Race, drawing is neither here nor there.
You either win, or lose.
No two ways about it.
Come and be part of the event.

Mulanje Porters Race on

...slated for Saturday, July 9, 2011
The 2011 annual Mount Mulanje Porters Race has become one of the most important events in Malawi, atracting people from other parts of the world.
On Saturday, 9 July 2011, the Mulanje Porters Race comes back to bring us together- people from across the length and bredth of the world.
The Porters Race is quickly turning into a sister-crowd puller the the world-acclaimed 'Lake of Stars'.

As they say, sports is a universal language that has three sure endings: victory, draw, or loss.
Just that, with the Mulanje Porters Race, drawing is neither here nor there.
You either win, or lose.
No two ways about it.
Come and be part of the event.

Malawi's Living Hero

Heroes are not supposed to be dead, always.

Hon. Henry Duncan Phoya: Ruling Democratic Progressive Party's Legal Advisor, and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament's Chairperson


Henry Duncan Phoya has openly criticised decisions being made by President Bingu wa Mutharika, and ruling Democratic Progressive Party Member of Parliament's tendency to rubberstamp 'bad' laws.

Be courageuos Gladys Tembo, Kezzie Msukwa of Chitipa East, Jerome Waluza of Mchinji South, Jean Sendeza of Lilongwe South East and Donton Mkandawire, other members of the Legal Affairs Committee; stand for the truth, always.