Confused People

I am coming from Machinjiri Township, located on the outskirts of Blantyre city.
People are talking of the President's health. People ae concerned with what they are hearing from various media outlets. People are sad.
What interested me most is an argument some chips traders had.
Two of the seven guys put stumped their feet down, claiming that Vice-President Joyce Banda is not elligible to take over the presidency from Bingu wa Mutharika because "she comes from a different political party (People's Party)" and not the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
But Malawi Law Society president, John Gift Makhwawa, has already responded to that. Mwakhwawa says "it doesn't matter which political party the Vice-President comes from, so log as she is the Vice-President, she is mandated by law to take over in cases of incapacitation on the part of the President".
The other five chips' sellers also stood  their ground, too, saying Banda is poised tio become Republican President because the Constitution of Malawi says so.
This just depicts the levels of confusion in the country, and highlights the need to conduct civic education and enlighten the citizenry on what, exactly, should be the case, using the Constitution as the basis.

Looking Beyond Bingu wa Mutharika: Joyce Banda's Two Headaches

After the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Bright Msaka, officially announces that President Bingu wa Mutharika is dead this noon (in less than 10 minutes' time), the burden will shift to Vice-President, and President-designate Joyce Banda.
From nowhere. there will be a shift of, not only power, but headaches from the late Mutharika to Banda, wife to former Chief Justice Richard Banda.
Before he died, Mutharika had headaches, some of which include the decision of whether to devalue the Malawi Kwacha (as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials have asked), or perish in the lonesome, prodigal economic way.
The rural masses are against devaluation. For example, during Capital FM's 'Mau Akumudzi' programme- produced and presented by the accomplished Timothy Kateta- Thursday evening this week, constituents from business magnet, Felton Mulli's constituency in Southern Malawi, decried government's decision to devalue the local currency by 10 percent in August 2011.
That decision sent commodity prices flying in all directions.
The constituents were unanimous in their riles against devaluation, asking the governing authorities not bend to IMF and World Bank implorations to take he Kwacha down the slope again.
"I would even appreciate it if the government le the Kwacha appreciate. In the village here, we are buying sugar at K500, instead of K214, said one of the constituents who identified herself as Esther.
Now, Joyce Banda will have to decide whether to devalue or perish.
If she devalues the Malawi Kwacha, she will face the wrath of Malawians while pleasing the Bretonwoods institutions. So, commodity prices will rise, but that will be cushioned by donor inflows.
That is Banda's first headache.
The second headache, and this one applies to Malawians, too.
In 2004, President Bingu wa Mutharika took over from Bakili Muluzi on he United Democratic Front (UDF).
Unexpectedly, Mutharika dumped the UDF to form his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In so doing, he made history for himself and Malawi. He became the first African president to "go into governmet in order to form a political paty" instead of the norm when "you form a political party in order to go into government" as former National Assembly Speake, Sam Mpasu, says.
In 2009, Mutharika has the opportunity to legitimise the 'reign' of the DPP through the polls, and he did so "overwhelmingly"- becoming, according to Malawi Electoral Commission records, the first President in Democratic Malawi to whip fellow Presidential contenders by over half a million votes.
So, the DPP has been 'legitimately' ruling since May 2009.
But the DPP, just like the UDF on February 5, 2005 (when Mutharika dished the UDF during an Anti-Corruption commemoration day in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe) now faces the unexpected: the prospect of being booted out of  power to pave way for Joyce Banda and, in effect, her People's Party (PP).
Malawi, again, will be in the news. The PP will become the second political party in democratic Malawi and Africa to go into 'power' without passing thrugh the ballot.
The headache for Banda is: Will she take the PP with her, and make it Malawi's unelected ruling party, or she will leave the PP out of governing politics up until May 2014?
But that, going into government as an independent President,   will irk PP followers, whom will take her as ungrateful.
These are the two immediate headaches for Banda.

Official Announcement on Mutharika's Death 12 p.m.

The Government of the Republic of Malawi, over-taken by the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, will officially announce 'news' of the 78-year-old's death at noon (in 26 minutes time).
The announcement will be made by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Bright Msaka, on State-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.
The nation of Malawi, now at a stand-still, waits with abated breath.
Mutharika is dead; Mutharika lives no more.
His death comes two years after he wedded Callista, following the death of his wife Ethel Zvauya Mutharika.

Still No Official Communication on Mutharika's Death

From doctors to senior government officials the message is one: President Bingu wa Mutharika lives no more.
The problem is that this is not official.
The world-acclaimed British Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters, among other media, are all awash with reports that the President has died in South Africa.
Some government, and medical, officials claim the President died in Malawi when he took ill following a cardiac arrest. They say he was taken to South Africa dead.
But all these reports remain unconfirmed, and Mutharika's death a hard-rumour.
Meanwhile, anticipation and anxiety has gripped Malawi.
Under provisions of the Republican Constitution, Vice-President Joyce Banda is expected to take over.
Mutharika's death comes as a blow to his younger brother, Peter, who was touted as the next president.
His dreams now lie scattered and, may be, may never be realised.
A dark crowd now hovers over Malawi.
The President is dead.
Something has hapened to Malawi.
Something unexpected. 
Banda, for three years considered a lame-duck Vice-President, will now be in control.

Poem: Heavy Air

By Richard Chirombo
There is an air now; it is so quiet it scares goodness away-
Smoothering bumpy tempers.
Even the sunshine; so feeble it has this shy smile.
The trees in the land, that heap of clay by the lake, shake so doubtfully they attract the half-empty eye
The birds sing at long, dead air intervals:
Waiting for the sun,
Waiting for the moon that runs.
It is so  strange,
There is an enormous hole in the choral cords.

The air,
Passing by the sandless throat,
Makes this whizzing, shake-some brush,
So heavy a brush it is so tiresomely-difficult to say:
The truth.

It is far away where the sweet-nothings dwell
And those closeby hide the trouble in their smiles,
Nobody fels the truth,
No one sings the truth.

This thing about the land:
The water so bluishly black-
Anticipation so great in the mind-
Smoothering our beaming hearts,
In this, so-called a breathful train,
That succumbs to the endless winds.

Malawi is Fine, Nobody is 'Unalive'

This is in response to all the inquiries on the situation in Malawi from followers far and wide.
The truth is that Malawi is fine.
All the people that matter are fine, and here- guiding the Malawi people.
There is absolutely no bad news in Malawi.
There is, absolutely, no death of anyone who matters in the public psyche.
Of course, one of the public figures is going to South Africa right now for further treatment.
But know, our friends, that Malawi is okay, and our leaders are with us- taking care of our social-economic needs.
No known public figure is in a comma in Malawi. The reason is simple: All Malawians that matter can make A or B out of the situation in Malawi. All the people are in control of their senses.
Just to say, also, that we have all the medicines that matter in hospitals, and that the situation is not as bad as portrayed.
Tobacco sales also continue at the Auction Floors, raising hopes that the much-needed forex will be 'harvested' and help propel our economy to greater heights.
The International Monetary Fund people were here last week, and on Friday asked Malawian authorities to either devalue the Kwacha, or dance up to the beats of uncertainty.
As it is, that is the situation in Malawi. Desregard the other reports.
If anything, Zachimalawi will surely be there to inform you.

Malawi has a new Deputy UNDP Resident Representative

Lilongwe 5 April 2012— The new UNDP-Malawi Deputy Resident Representative (Programmes) Ms. Naomi Kitahara aims at ensuring clear and effective delivery of programmes with concrete results in Malawi.

Ms. Kitahara, a Japanese national started her duties on Monday April 2, 2012. She previously worked with the UNDP Mozambique Country Office as Deputy Resident Representative (Programmes) from 2007 to early 2012. 

She takes over from Mr. Ram Shankar, who held the same position from 2009 until December last year when he completed his contract.

Before joining UNDP Mozambique, Ms. Kitahara worked with the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) from 2006-2007 on a peace building and reconciliation programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She started her career in the United Nations when she joined the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zambia as Programme Officer for Reproductive Health. She then held the Programme Specialist position in UNFPA Headquarters in New York in the Asia-Pacific division.

From 2004-2006, Ms. Kitahara worked for UNDP South Africa Country Office as Deputy Resident Representative.

In 2010-2011, she was also chairperson of the UN Inter-Agency Programme Management Team for the implementation of joint programmes and development of the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in the Delivering as One initiative in Mozambique.

While with UNDP Mozambique, Ms. Kitahara says one of her achievements was the increase in programme delivery by 40 percent, pushing the programme delivery from 16 to 23 million US dollars.

This was an indication of increased capacities of the Country Office and Implementing Partners, particularly in Results Based Management (RBM) and resources mobilized for programme delivery.

“I would like to see clear and effective delivery of programmes to respond to the challenges Malawi is facing today in the area of sustainable development,” said Ms. Kitahara.

Ms. Kitahara holds an MBA from the University of Warwick and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She is married with two children and loves playing a piano and cooking for families during her free time.

Calm at Poly

After Monday's skirmishes between Polytechnic students and Southern region police, Tuesday came and went- peacefully.
Students from the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi threw stones at police officers on Monday this week, and the officers responded by throwing tear-gas canisters. No compromise was reached.
But, thanks darkness, when night came, it was all over.
Peace descended upon Masauko-Chipembere Highway. Which peace has continued to flourish this day.

Thanks, Magnetic Island Artist Edward Blum

Tendering Malawi's Natural Resources

 The unkempt grass stirs restlessly in the background, as the multi-directional winds produce snaky noise in the after-math of their collision with tree-leaves. Sometimes, a careless mouse will be seen to loiter around, playing into the path of a hungry snake. If the mouse gets eaten; nobody cares, it was not known to the Blantyre City Assembly (BCA). If the snake suffers at the murderous heel of man; nobody cares, it trespassed on BCA’s land.

In an ideal situation, the place where mice now come and go, and snakes play attack-and-hide under dry, brown leaves, was not supposed to degenerate into this state of nobody’s land  because, when lawlessness dominates where control was supposed to be the norm, it becomes nothing short of systematic failure.

This is the state on Njamba Freedom Park (NFP). On paper, the park belongs to BCA but, in effect, belongs to the trees, the ants, mice, snakes, birds, and rabbits. These natural features literally take care of NFP- fertilizing it with their dung, and, in the absence of piped water from BCA and water drops from the skies, supporting organic life with their waste waters.

NFP, home to a wide range of animals and supposed recreation centre for Blantyre city residents, is in a neglected form of sorts, and serves as a reminder that, for all BCA best efforts, the place remains underdeveloped.

Year in, year out, BCA’s Department of Parks and Wildlife has been singing one song: the song of promise to, among other things, improve the environment at the Park and make it as close to nature as it could be. It is a song whose chorus remains the May 1989 visit by head of the worldwide Catholic Church, Pope John Paul 11.

Hopes were raised, then, that Njamba- being the choice place where upon the Catholic Church’s head trod- could become a place of world tourism attraction. Councilor Luke Jumbe, one of the famous Blantyre city fathers in the 1990s, had grand plans for the park, just like the people who succeeded him. But nothing really materializes for NFP.  

Sand miners go about their business, drawing sand from the small river that cuts through the park- yet, both sand and river they do not own. They make no attempt to pay anything on the assumption that- looking at the neglect manifested in the withering grass, brown-leafed trees, and the human mongering- Njamba is nobody’s land.

And, quiet recently, others have gotten into this habit of parking vehicles in the park’s grounds, trampling upon the unwatered grass left to fend for itself by the City fathers who only care for their children, the people in the city, and not the natural resources that literally bring fresh air to the land.

However, BCA chief executive officer, Ted Nandolo, says time is ripe in reverse the deteriorating standards of NFP.

“We have big plans for all aspects of city development. We can develop our parks into revenue-generating sites. Our development budget for 2011/2012, amounting to K473, 855, 309, has provisions for infrastructure, environmental, maintenance and education programmes,” Nandolo says.

If not for the sake of Blantyre residents, at least the city authorities will do it for their own good. In November last year, BCA established the Directorate of Commerce, Trade and Industry headed by Dennis Chinseu.

The Directorate is not a cash-cow because, in the first place, it is not a cow per se. But Blantyre city has facilities whose revenue-generating capacities resemble the productive capacities of a cow.

“We are looking at things like city rates, recreation fees, and city parking fees as some of the ways of generating revenue,” Chinseu, who hastens that parks fall under this category, says.

Chinseu says this is the reason BCA wants to exploit all possible avenues of revenue, including such activities as business licencing, collection of property rates and recreation fees in all of the assembly’s parks.

“With this, we hope to be able to supplement the funds we get from property rates. 90 percent of the funds we generate come from property rates,’ Chinseu said.

As the City fathers reposition themselves to ‘fish’ from more ponds, apart from the deep waters of property rates, Blantyre residents can look west and find solace. There is a place, some 9 km west of Blantyre Central Business District, called Michiru Hill. The hill plays host to Michiru Conservation Park.

The park is home to a variety of wildlife, making it a tourist destination of magnanimous experiences and never-fading memories. Just that, as Senior Park and Wildlife Assistant Gracious Changani would have it, not many people seem to be aware of this place. 

But, each passing day, Changani looks at the Branchystegia woodland, reptiles, birds, and a variety of mammals. Common among the mammals are hyenas, who are so fortunate to have a cave named after them. The ‘Hyena Caves, made of granite, are believed to have formed some 50 million years ago.

Studies suggest that, 50 million years ago, Michiru Conservation Park was not a park; it was a valley. Somehow, the stones fell from the mountains, and filled the valley below. In the process, new homes were formed and found, and new animals became proud owners of these ‘homes’. At Michiru, the homes can be anything: caves, trees, stones, running water- anything that can sustain life.

Today, Michiru Conservation Park is a place so naturally demarcated (without human intervention) that pythons craw the days away in the upper part of the park, rock hyraxes have made the middle part nothing but their abode, while the lower layers, so carefully punctuated by caves, are the domain of the nocturnal hyenas.

“Michiru Conservation Park is a very beautiful place. Malawians should visit this place and appreciate the beauty,” Changani says.

But, in a way, Michiru also suffers from human ills. But, unlike the neglect that has characterized life at Njamba, its greatest challenge is poaching.   

The bad thing about poaching is that it is against good intentions. After all, all parks and conservation sites are like legislation: founded upon the principle of mutual love, care, and concession.

Which leaves one wondering: Why can’t Malawians appreciate this common sense, and leave nature to be what it was meant to be? How can people in authority fail to do their part, and expect nature to flourish?

After all, there is a thin line between poaching and neglect; they both border on neglect.

But, even against people and authorities’ best efforts, Malawi continues to reel under a myriad of challenges in the quest to take care of its botanic resources, and improve on the variety of the botanic endowments it has.

Take, for instance, the case of equipment. Malawi does not have a multi-purpose laboratory necessary to examine the chemical composition of most of its botanic resources, a development that transpired into little knowledge about the wide variety of botanic life endemic to the country.

This, in effect, renders the country vulnerable to theft of its would-be botanic patents as people posing as tourists would easily siphon indigenous knowledge from a friendly but unsuspecting people which may later be patented in their name, leaving Malawi perpetually stuck in the woods of poverty.

While people like Prof. James Seyani have tried, through the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi, to do their best, the lack of a state-of-the-art, all encompassing laboratory is hindering efforts to examine all of the country’s botanic resources and deter business-minded visitors from profiteering from the country’s botanic resources.

Of course, plans are under way to establish one such laboratory, but it may be a time.

What is needed, in its absence, is the need for Malawians not to publicize indigenous knowledge to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands- people who may end up protecting our own botanic resources using patent laws.

Reason:  Traditional knowledge is becoming a billion-Dollar phenomenon around the world and needs to be safeguarded. This is true for Malawians who go to such countries as South Africa to sell herbal concoctions and other traditional medicine.

It would become easy for such people to pass out the knit-gritty details pertaining to the prowess of their medicine, in the process exposing Malawi to theft of its invaluable botanical resources.

Just such a thing happened in Chipata , Zambia, two years ago. A European national was bewildered by a plant that acted as an anesthetic and was being used by local people when removing teeth using the traditional hand method. Perplexed, he asked the locals how the herb worked, and where it could be found- knowledge he later took back home. He has, since, patented the plant and its chemical components.

People, including Zambians, now find their own concoction- now out of their hands and control, anyway- in up market London shops.

The use of botanical resources stolen from African countries and, later, registered as protected patents has raised moral questions over the moral responsibility of pharmaceutical companies, who happen to be the major customers and beneficiaries to such fraudulent deals.

These companies cough millions of Euros to get the nod to use the stolen patents ,a trend that also leads way to exorbitant drug prices as the pharmaceutical companies seek to off-set some of the costs incurred in production of such products.

So, the theft of this knowledge could be disastrous for Malawi, a country- if not the only one in the world- to have no comprehensive analysis of its botanical resources.

It is like wishing away your own cash, really; and, then, asking for a third hand to bail you out of biting poverty.

Jumbe Faction Refuses to Speak on Atupele Arrest

Bad blood may be thicker than yellow.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) faction led by Friday Jumbe has refused to speak on Atupele Muluzi, the arrested son to former State President and UDF national chairperson Bakili.
Jumbe told Zachimalawi on Friday he could only speak "competently" on the issue once Atupele writes a report to the "UDF presidency" on what has actually happened.
"Without that report from him, the party cannot be in a position to speak out on the issue," Jumbe said.
"You know that the UDF has so many members; millions and millions of members, in fact. It will, therefore, be strange to be commenting on issues to do with each and every member in the absence of any report. It will be like commenting on hearsay," Jumbe added.
Jumbe said, however, that "it is unfortunate that Malawi is sliding back into dictatorship, and, as the UDF, we will not allow the country to go to the dogs".
The former governing UDF is split in factions, with Jumbe, Humphreys Mvula, among others, belonging to the Jumbe camp. On the other hand is Atupele, whose faction includes such UDF figures as Kennedy Makwangwala, Ibrahim Matola, and UDF members in Parliament.
But UDF Leader of the House (in Parliament), Matola has urged all party factions to unite, "and get rid of the rot in our democracy".
Atupele was arrested for "inciting" violence and defying Lilongwe District Commissioner office's 'order' not to address a political rally in a week the Public Affairs Committee made headlines for asking President Bingu wa Mutharika to either resign if he fails to rectify Malawi's current challenges, or call for a referendum after 90 days.
But Mutharika, addressing a meeting during Thursday's World Water Day event in Mangochi, has said he is not game to resigning.
"Bingu does not run away from responsibility," Mutharika said, to the dismay of PAC officials out to oust him.

DRUG CERTIFICATION AND QUALITY CONTROL IN MALAWI

LILONGWE, 15TH MARCH 2012
The Ministry of Health and the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board would like to inform the general public and all District Health Officers that the drugs under the kit system or any other drugs that are currently being distributed to Government and CHAM facilities have been tested and certified to be of high quality, efficacious and safe.
Since the development partners came to support the Ministry of Health by procuring drugs on its behalf that are in kit form, several issues have risen surrounding the efficacy, safety and quality of the drugs. As a matter of standard practice and following the policy, mandate and the responsibility entrusted in the office of the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board, all drugs that are used in the health facilities in the country are tested for quality before distribution. This is always a routine process that has to be undertaken by the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health facilities are required to receive and administer drugs that have only been certified by the responsible institution in the country.
The Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board and the Ministry of Health would like therefore to inform the general public that it is the responsibility of the Malawi Government to ensure that Malawians are not using substandard drugs and any drugs and supplies that have been found to have by passed the quality control process will be confiscated and an appropriate legal action will be undertaken to the importers and dispensers. In this regard, the Ministry of Health would like to assure the general public that all drugs distributed to health facilities have passed a rigorous quality control process.
Meanwhile, the distribution of the drugs will continue and the Ministry welcomes all the concerns and feedback that would improve the availability and reduce misuse of the drugs in public hospitals.

Henry Chimbali
Public Relations Officer
Ministry of Health

Aaron Glyn Sosola
Acting Registrar
Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board

Today's Fact

The Public Affairs Committee (Pac), a quasi-religious organisation in Malawi (which should not be confused with the Public Affairs Committee of Parliament), has no mandate to call for President Bingu wa Mutharika's resignation.
Pac has given Mutharika two month to 'deliver, or resign'.
Quite an outrageous call, this.
Mutharika was elected by the Malawian people.
Twenty-zero-four brought Mutharika, through a popular vote, to power.
But his May 2009 win was overwhelming. He won overwhelmingly.
Pac, on the contrary, has never contested in an election. It has no people. It has no government. No national flag. No national anthem.
Pac has nothing but a bloated ego.

Malawi: A Police State?

Over-weight, obese, and fierce-looking police officers, long used to circumventing the distance between their offices and the loo, on Wednesday thronged the boulevard leading up to Limbe Roman Catholic Cathedral in Blantyre.
It's not President Bingu wa Mutharika they were after, or out to protect; no, the President made no public outing this particular day. Malawi's President was home and dry at the New State House, the 200-roomed Presidential abode, in Malawi's capital city, Lilongwe.
The police were out on a strange mission: following the tail of President Bingu wa Mutharika's words on March 5 this year.
The President, addressing people in his home district of Thyolo, warned that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) were up to some nasty act bordering on, not only simple mischief but, treason.
Mutharika said, to the surprise of all and sundry, that CSOs were planning a coup. He said some development partners, out to influence regime change, were funning, fanning, and funding the CSOs so they could carry out a violent attack on his duly-elected government.
Incidentally, the quasi-religious group, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), announced that it would hold a meeting from March 14 to 15 this week.
In his speech, the President did not mention PAC, only saying that the CSOs would carry out the coup on March 14. It never came to pass.
Other government officials said Mutharika meant March 28.
However, as if out to wave an imaginary fly, police officers were out on the streets on a mission: to stop a coup at Limbe Roman Catholic Cathedral.
Initially, PAC has wanted to hold its meeting at the sumptuous Sunbird Mount Soche Hotel; only for the hotel to cancel the booking, ostensibly after bowing down to pressure from government agents.
But PAC was not about to be stopped. It booked another venue, this time the spacious Limbe Cathedral Hall.
Now, Catholics are no novices to Malawian politics.
In 1993, at the height of the fight against one-party regime, they penned a letter, the famous Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter.
The letter called for political change at a time of rising political temperatures. At a time when the one-party regime was so intoxicated with power, it saw nothing but death outside the ruling corridors.
But things did change, after the Bishops sacrificial act. Their lives were in danger, but, still, they pressed on with their mission of fostering political change in Malawi.
It came as no surprise, therefore, that officials at Limbe Cathedral accepted PAC's request for space- of course, at a fee.
The meeting started today, as planned- but not at Mount Soche Hotel, as planned.
That's where the police officers rushed to today.
They were armed to the teeth. Zachimalawi got a little 'foolish', and tried to get a picture of the obese-looking, over-weight police officers, and got the just rewards: The camera, a digital Olympus, is nursing 'injuries' at Green Foto Studio in Blantyre Central Business District.
The camera was grabbed, batteries and USB card removed. It was then thrown to the ground.
The Camera repairman tells Zachimalawi it (the camera) has suffered a broken lens' motor.
But, even without the pictures, we can all imagine how an obese individual, let alone police officer, looks like!
Malawi has become more of a police, than democratic, state.

MISA Malawi statement on ruling DPP’s threats on Critical Media Outlets

For immediate release

Monday, 12th March, 2012

The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is
disturbed with repeated threats from the ruling Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) top brass on media outlets deemed to be critical of President
Bingu wa Mutharika’s government policies.

Barely two days after State House issued a statement warning the media and
civil society organizations against ‘insulting’ the country’s leadership,
DPP Director of Youth, Frank Mwenefumbo, has called on all government
departments and the civil service to stop buying, reading and advertising
in newspapers critical of the DPP led government.

Mwenefumbo, who is also DPP Regional Governor for the north, made the call
during a presidential launch of the construction of Zomba-Blantyre road in
the old Capital Zomba, Southern Malawi, on Sunday, March 11.

Taking a direct swipe at one of the country’s main print media outlet,
Nation Publications Limited (NPL), publishers of The Nation, Weekend
Nation, Nation On Sunday and Fuko newspapers, Mwenifumbo said: “newspapers
have been writing bad things about the DPP and our President instead of
reporting on good things. (So) if I see DPP loyalists, be it a (cabinet)
minister or a Chief Executive, reading The Nation, we will suspect them;
you should stop that forthwith…If I see the Nation newspaper in your
offices (of government departments) we will suspect you. Stop buying it.
Stop advertising in it! If you want adverts, you can do that on the
internet.”

Government issued a similar ban on advertising in Nation Newspapers in
March, 2010.

We find the recent order to stop advertising in NPL as well as threats on
journalists in general very strange and retrogressive for Malawi’s nascent
democracy. Attacks on the media and civil society and human rights
defenders in general are attacks on democracy and should not be condoned.

Media outlets are part and parcel of any democratic state worth the name
and have a watch dog role in any such society. Malawians are also rational
and capable of deciding what media outlet to read and listen to. It is sad
and retrogressive that any individual should decide for Malawians which
media outlets to read.

MISA Malawi maintains its position that through numerous broadcast
programmes and published articles on health, agriculture, business,
politics, culture, entertainment, economy, youth development, sports, good
governance and rural development among others, the media in Malawi have
immensely contributed to political stability, unity, development and
economic growth and this validates the fact that the government and the
media have worked as partners and should continue to do so.
We note that government has its preferences when it comes to choosing
which media organizations to advertise with. It is a known fact, however,
that advertising is the life blood of every vibrant private media
institution and we fear that the DPP’s directive will cripple the
operations of such media outlets and our nascent democracy in the process.

We repeat our stand that democracy is about empowering citizens to take
ownership of their own growth and development objectives, harmonizing them
with national aspirations after interacting and engaging with differing
views. This noble activity is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution
of Malawi and is facilitated, on a daily basis, by the media.

His Excellency the State President openly swore to defend the Constitution
and has in the past openly supported media development activities as part
and parcel of his development agenda.

MISA Malawi is, therefore, requesting President Mutharika to personally
distance himself from threats issued by DPP cadres on the media in the
country and the Constitution he swore to defend.

MISA Malawi expects the State President to ensure that his administration
remains the guarantor of media development and press freedom in Malawi as
enshrined in the Malawi Constitution.

As we have indicated in the past, we would like to assure government that
MISA Malawi does not condone biased reporting and neither does it
encourage irresponsible journalism.

We are optimistic that His Excellency the State President and other top
government officials, will take note of our appeal and if there are some
concerns, they can be channeled through relevant media bodies for
mediation. We believe this will help to clear the impression that Malawi
government is taking systematic steps aimed at suffocating the media,
thereby strangling our young democracy in the process.

Signed

Anthony Kasunda

CHAIRPERSON, MISA MALAWI

Bingu is an Elephant- Sidik Mia

Public Works Minister, Sidik Mia, has described President Bingu wa Mutharika as an 'elephant' that invades a village, and keeps on moving forward, despite facing a horde of barking dogs.
This is an apparent reference to Mutharika's detractors. They include civil society organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations, the news media, among others, according to a Press Statement signed by State House spokesperson, Albert Mungomo.
Mia, speaking on Sunday during the inauguration ceremony of the Blantyre-Zomba Road attended by Mutharika, said Mutharika would keep on working for the goodness of Malawi, despite all the detractors.
"As we approach 2014, the President will keep on inaugurating one road or another. The opposition will have nothing to inaugurate.
"In fact, these people will keep on barking like dogs. You know what happens when an elephant leaves the wild and invades a village: dogs will bark and bark. But the elephants remains unperturbed and goes on doing its business.
"The most astonishing thing is that the barking dogs do not bite the elephant; they just bark and bark, and do nothing else. President Mutharika will keep on inaugurating roads and development projects while his detractors are wasting time barking," Mia said.
The President has since named the road the John Chilembwe Highway.

Waiting for Nothing

It has been a while since the ordinary man and woman in Malawi lost hope that things would, at least for the next two years, be okay.
Now, indications are that government officials have also lost something, something unknown, something strong: touch.
As the ordinary Malawian thinks of what tomorrow may be like, a tomorrow premised on the shaky foundations of micro-economic instability, a predictable, but stinging, development partners' rumpus, rising commodity prices (and, now, erratic rains) the rulers are also troubled in their hearts.
It seems like the leaders have finally realised that they have lost touch with grassroots' communities, and are no more wiser than the first-time visitor to Malawi.
It is one thing to grow up in a foreign country, acquire education there, and come to be one of the citizens of the host country; and quite another thing to grow up in a foreign land, learn new ways, come back home to serve your country, only to realise that you have lost touch with your roots.
It, really, is a tragedy, though not tragic enough.
But there is nothing more tragic than this: You go to a foreign land, learn to eat their way, drink their way, throw-up there way, and behave their way. But, then, you realise that you love your country more that the host country, and that, no matter what it takes, and how long it takes, you will still go back home, serve your country, and die with honour. Someday.
That must be love. Love like what Malawi's President, Ngwazi Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika, had (or, rather, claimed to have)when he decided to come back to Malawi, his home country, in the early 1990s. For your own information, in 1992, Mutharika drove from Lusaka in Zambia to Blantyre.
Why? He wanted to attend the United Democratic Front's (UDF)(then, a pressure group) convention. So bad for him, he was not elected. His name was not even mentioned by any of the delegates. They might have thought, as some opposition leaders have claimed at one point or another, that he was from Angola because of the prefix 'wa' in his full name.
So, Mutharika's association with the former governing UDF did not start in 1998, 0r 1999 (which culminated in Mutharika's dissolution of his brief-case United Party (PP)to join the UDF); it was a long-drawn affair (his dissolution of the PP).
Mutharika played soccer (and, I hear, netball) on the pitches and courts of Dedza Secondary School in those years when the colonialism-scent was still all over Malawi's three-coloured robe.
That was a time when to be in Dedza was tough; (when to) pass through Dedza was tough; and (when) to stay in Dedza was tough.
Tough not because Dedza, the Central Region district, was (and still is) the abode of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president, John Tembo. Nobody doubts that Tembo, popularly known as JZU, was a strongman during the MCP regime. Nobody says 'No' to assertions that he was more close to the Founder of the Malawi Nation, Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. He was.
But some people attribute to Tembo some things he, probably, never knew. And blame Tembo for things he, probably, never did. Some accuse Tembo of plotting things he never (even) dreamed of. And some say he harboured ambitions to succeed Kamuzu.
But no one claims to have entered Tembo's heart.
(And I say this not because JZU is my Member of Parliament and has been ever since I was born. Not that Tembo has always been MP for Dedza South, or Dedza Central- whatever it is, and it used to be-. The veteran polician has, on more than three occasions,contributed towards Malawi's development without being MP. Most people get this wrong. It could be malice, I don't know. For example, Tembo was never MP the whole time he served as Reserve Bank Governor. And there are other positions he served in without being MP. I think it will be interesting to write something about the people who served as MPs in Tembo's constituency,while the 'real' MP served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, and how they felt (the fear, whatever) serving in the position of a man so close to Malawi's first president).
The point is that Dedza was not 'tough' because of Tembo. It was tough because of the weather.
Dedza is mostly cold.
Dedza is mostly cool.
Dedza is uncomfortably English.
Dedza is Western.
That is why most white settlers liked the district, and settled there, establishing Bembeke Roman Catholic Cathedral, tourist attraction centres, agriculture development initiatives, among other impressive structures.
But no one knows why people drawn from the length and breadth of Malawi liked Dedza so much, when it came to education.
It could be that the people of Dedza are warm; that they (the, mostly, Ngoni people- and Chewas, too) of Dedza are the Warm Blood that Pumps the Warm Heart of Africa.
President Bingu wa Mutharika went to Dedza Secondary School.
Some say Sam Mpasu went to Dedza Secondary School.
A thousand other top government officials trace their education background to Dedza, too.
How good is Dedza, after all, to produce enough beans to feed the whole country.
How great is Dedza, that its peaches, late season mangoes, big-as-a-pumpkin-tomatoes, and many other farm products, come from Dedza.
Dedza feeds Malawi in food.
Dedza fed the nation in education.
Dedza hosts John Zenus Ungapake Tembo.
Dedza has a strange climate, too cool for Malawi when, as most people know, the neighbouring Salima district is too hot for comfort.
So, somehow, because of its attractive-self, Dedza attracted one Webster Thom (the present-day Bingu wa Mutharika) to its knowledge pond. It must be while in Dezda that Bingu's love for Malawi grew.
He could wake up in the morning, join the other 'boys' on the line to the bathroom, and get a shower.
Now, in Dedza, to shower was courage. It is like getting a refresher course in a refrigerator: too cold for comfort. That was Dedza those days.
With its horde of indigenous trees, and one of Malawi's biggest mountains to boot, the weather was uncharitable to young Bingu and fellow students.
But Bingu braced it. Bingu mastered the courage to brace the cold weather, and 'enjoy' a shower of (almost) cold water. Weather experts always tell us the difference between cold and cool; they even say that, in Malawi, there is nothing like cold weather. They are right. Here, cold has been used to mean extremely 'cool'. It does not mean the real cold. It's just a feeling, a way of emphasisisng a point.
It must be in Dedza that Bingu learned to be courageous, and became a courageous man. So courageous he now calls development partners 'colonialists'.
Sometimes, he becomes so generous with words, he tells them in the face:
"Go to hell".
Pure Dedza courage.
When time came for Bingu to go to India, in that long journey in the never-ending pursuit for education, he might never have forgotten Dedza. And courage.
That must be the reason, after working for the World Bank, Bingu decided to come back, and serve the country that 'gave' him courage.
He fits so well in the third scenario in our example above: a man who goes out, learn foreign languages, eat foreign food, dine in well-lit restaurants, and decides to come back home and serve his country.
Such a man things that he has not lost tough with his world, his indigenous world.
Bingu comes to Malawi (we are talking of then), becomes the country's President (we are not going into details here; but we can, at your request), and, as they say, the rest is his story!
But he started so well. By ignoring the experts, as with his Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme, he chalked some success. Food security is now a song in Malawi, though it is a song incomplete because food security entails so many things, and means much more than full granaries, and a bloated stomach.
But, now, things have gone haywire.
The one who believed he loved his country- knew it too well, and developed roots in it- has lost tough with the surface.
It is now a double tragedy. With long fuel queues, sky-scraping commodity prices, leaders who have lost touch with- not only their own people, but- reality, and people running short on hope, Malawians are sure but waiting for nothing.
Of course, Malawians are waiting for 2014, the year they will elect new Members of Parliament, (hopefully) Councillors, and (this is automatic. Even the President is hoping that his younger brother, Peter Aurthur Mutharika, could succeed him) the man or woman who shall preside over the destinies (there are so many people with so many hopes and aspirations here) of millions.
People they never knew.
People who may be waiting for nothing but trouble right now.
People who stand ready to cry five, ten more years.
They can't say they lived well- waiting for this great nothingness.
There is no hope in the people.
And nothing in the President who has lost touch with his own people. Calling them chickens, and the like.
Really? So, people have come to this nothing?

MISA concerned about growing intolerance of media freedom in Malawi

Malawi Statement (Regional)

9 March 2012

The Regional Secretariat of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
notes, with profound distress, the growing intolerance of media freedom
and freedom of expression in Malawi. Today, March 9, 2012, we received a
statement released by State House Press Officer, Albert Mungomo, and
titled: ‘Civil Society Organisations and Media Conduct Inciting Anarchy in
the Country.’

Ordinarily, a statement such as the one we received today would not
warrant this kind of response. Yet, coming as it does from a country that
is facing serious democratisation and governance challenges, we would like
to express our deepest concern over what we consider serious threats to
media freedom and freedom of expression in Malawi. It is also our hope
that the government of Malawi, president Bingu wa Mutharika in particular,
will be able to consider our point of view on the same issues.

One, we strongly disagree with the suggestion that the media in Malawi are
making it their vocation to demean and insult president Mutharika. In a
democracy, the media should be concerned with ‘shaping public opinion,
mediating the debate between the state and civil society, but also acting
as a watchdog over public process, against private gain. Free media
[therefore] are a prerequisite to development in the promotion of
democracy, human rights and governments.’

We take the above quotation from a communiqué issued in Lusaka, Zambia, by
the 7th Regional Meeting of the African, Pacific and Caribbean-European
Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly in February 2012, where Malawi
was represented. We find it odd, therefore, that the government of Malawi
does not share, or indeed, recognize that based on the above, democracy
should be about empowering citizens so that they are able to take
ownership of their own growth and development objectives, harmonising them
with national aspirations after interacting and engaging with differing
views. This sacrosanct activity is guaranteed and protected by the
Constitution of Malawi and is facilitated, on a daily basis, by the media.

Two, the law that the media are said to be in breach of, an insult law
regarding the national flag, emblems and names, is archaic and serves more
to provide evidence for the need for critical reform than anything else.

That the law still quotes a fine to be paid in Pound sterling and not in
Malawi Kwacha elucidates the fact that this piece of legislation remains
stuck in the time warp of colonial and repressive tradition and also
proves the urgency with which legal reforms must take place in Malawi,
forty-eight years after independence.

Several other laws of this nature and age exist in Malawi; the Official
Secrets Act (1913), the Printed Publications Act (1947) and the Censorship
and Control of Entertainment Act (1968. Still, there exists also Section
46 of the Penal Code, which empowers the Minister of Information to ban
any publication that may be deemed not to be in the public interest, as
defined by that minister. Clearly, these laws have no role to play in a
democracy and while we are fully aware that some of them have been
referred to the Law Commission for review, the fact that they still remain
active while under review does not inspire confidence, as they may be
permanently condemned to the review process.

Three, we are shocked that the government of Malawi is insisting that
president Mutharika ‘has never ordered the arrest’ of media practitioners
and human rights defenders. This is not the first time that this claim is
being made. We are aware of cases where journalists have been threatened
at press conferences for ‘asking the wrong questions,’ verbally assaulted
and threatened by senior government officials, and had their company
vehicles torched, to list but a few incidents. We deeply regret,
therefore, to note how this government defines what constitutes a media
freedom violation.

The statement also singles out phrases used by leading opinion writers in
Malawi to refer to president Mutharika. If the singling out of these
phrases ¬ does not constitute a threat then nothing else does. One of the
columnists and BBC Correspondent, Raphael Tenthani, who if famous for
using the phrase ‘Big Kahuna’ to refer to president Mutharika, has told
MISA that this phrase is actually respectful. “It means ‘the Big Boss.’ I
don’t know how it begins to be demeaning to the president. I have met the
president several times and we have joked about it for I use it almost
every week in my column. But I won’t stop using it because doing so would
be unwittingly admitting I have been disrespecting my president all these
years.”

MISA is aware also that on July 20, 2011, the day of mass demonstrations
in Malawi, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) ordered
all radio stations that were carrying live broadcasts of the lawful
demonstrations to stop all live broadcasts. That the statement from State
House chooses to ignore this fact by alleging sensational reporting on the
part of the radio stations which fell victim to this directive shows, we
are afraid, the signs of a government that may not be prepared to hear ¬
and confront ¬ the truth from its people.

Four, our concern also extends to the mention made by the statement
regarding social networks. The statement reads: ‘The State House monitors
carefully such networks that are hostile and probably careless in
demeaning the state president.’ We are extremely worried that the
government of Malawi may be conducting some illegal surveillance of
Internet use in Malawi based on their faulty perception that social
networks are inherently hostile.
This, in itself, reveals a profound lack of understanding of what the
Internet is and its role in a democracy. We will continue to pay close
attention to the tone and language directed at Internet use in Malawi as
we believe, based on the statement, that there exists a significant threat
to Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace in Malawi.

Lastly, we are of the view that the relationship between the government
and the media in Malawi would be beneficial from a process of mutual
engagement. We are most willing to further open room for lasting dialogue
between the government and media, in the firm belief that this would
provide a more enabling environment for media freedom, freedom of
expression and ultimately citizen empowerment.

Learning Chichewa: Ndalama ya Pepala

Learning Chichewa: Ndalama (Money)