Steve Sharra
Stories
May 19th, 2008
Malawi: To believe or not to believe rumors of a coup plot
· 19:07 · Sub-Saharan AfricaFollowing Victor Kaonga's Monday May 12th breaking news post of the unusual arrests in Malawi of high ranking former and current military and police officers, as well as opposition figures, amid government accusations of a coup plot, Malawian bloggers and netizens have been reacting to the news with shock, skepticism, bewilderment, and ambivalence.
The rumors of the coup plot are the culmination of a tense two-week period, during which parliament has been deadlocked, and peace talks amongst political party leaders, including the country's president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, have been thwarted over the contentious Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution. In this post, we explore the genesis and trajectory of this unfolding story, pointing out how some Malawians are doubtful of the claims, while others believe the coup to be a possibility.
Canceled trip to Dubai
The roller coaster of events started on Saturday May 10th, with online newspaper Nyasatimes reporting that President wa Mutharika would be embarking on an official tour of the Middle East, leaving behind a letter to be delivered in his absence to the speaker of parliament, instructing him to prorogue parliament. On Sunday May 11th, the president was reported to have addressed a political rally, where he warned that his predecessor, former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi, currently in the United Kingdom on a private visit, risked being charged with treason on his return for plotting to overthrow the government using Section 65 as a pretext.
The same day, listserv-based Makongolomwinani News Services (MNS) posted a one-sentence item on the Malawi listserv Nyasanet, announcing that President Mutharika had canceled the trip to the Middle East because the governor of the Reserve Bank, Victor Mbewe, had refused to release MK600 million (US$4 million) meant for the trip.
Rumors of arrests
On the morning of Tuesday May 13th one Nyasanetter, Lazarus Ndovi, posted the first mention of arrests, affecting former army commander Retired General Joseph Chimbayo, former Inspector General of Police Joseph Airon, former mayor of the City of Blantyre, John Chikakwiya, and secretary general of the UDF, Kennedy Makwangwala. It was later learned that former commissioner of Police Matthews Masoapyola, was also among those arrested, according to a Nyasatimes article. No mention of a coup was made in the posting, although the subject heading said the arrests were for “treason”.
The first blog reaction came from Kondwani Munthali, also on Tuesday May 13th, who used a major portion of his post to react to allegations made earlier by minister of information and civic education, Hon. Patricia Kaliati, insinuating that Munthali had leaked information to Nyasatimes for an article that claimed that the Malawi government was going to assist Zimbabwe clear a Chinese ship docked in Angola, carrying arms destined for the Zimbabwe military.
Munthali had written on his facebook page on Thursday May 8th, saying,
Kondwani will be arrested anytime on false allegations. The Minister of Information has told a press breifing this morning. Be ready for more news…
On Saturday May 10th he updated his status to “Kondwani very safecalm down now people-just someone trying intimidate me. But am good and safe and will remain for as long as God wants to be.”
On Tuesday May 13th he expressed new fears, writing “Kondwani is not sure where Malawi has gone to!!!Nobody is any longer safe!!” Towards the end of his blog post the same day Kondwani indicated that there had been arrests in Malawi, pointing out that he did not see how the arrests would “solve the political impasse”.
Skepticism creeps in
As interest in the issue grew on Tuesday, doubts started showing almost immediately. Chatonda Mtika, co-moderator of Nyasanet, posted his reaction to another set of allegations made by Hon. Kaliati purportedly accusing British and Taiwanese governments of planning to supply military hardware to the coup plotters. Mtika wrote:
muluzi has made no secret of his desire to see bingu vacate sanjika, so there is no news here. it is quite possible that muluzi may have been contemplating some “coup”, using opposition numbers in parliament, to bring down the government. but for kaliati to accuse britain of supplying artillery for the alleged coup, it is not only careless; it shows her luck of understand of what is happening around her.
Mtika went on to add that he did not believe that the Taiwanese government could be “that naive to think that the udf would automatically roll back the dpp changes once it took office. and, even if that were possible, taiwan wouldn't want to get her hands dirty in a bloody coup.
On Thursday May 15th Munthali posted another item on his blog, in which his incredulity of the coup story became apparent:
I would have been easily convinced if I did not know most of the people on the list. I mean the set up looks much of a comedy and I am sure conconted in a hurry. Lets wait and see how a convincing case can be built from unsigned documents, funny minutes and even dates which are 6th June 2008 on which the people attended a meeting to plot the “kupu”.
More doubts appeared from blogger Boniface Dulani, who posted an item also on May 15th, titled “Illusions of a coup.” Dulani outlined two grounds on which the allegations of a coup did not make sense, observing that for senior ranking military officers, there was no clear motivation to engage in a coup. Dulani's second reason for doubting the coup arose from the fact that Malawians will be going to the polls in twelve months, and thus Muluzi, whose party elected him as presidential candidate, having already served two terms as Malawi's first post-dictatorship president, could not be that impatient to return to office. Dulani wrote:
I am sceptical that Muluzi – notwithstanding his zeal and determination to get to the Presidency- would be so foolish as to think of a military route to the presidency when elections are only a year away.
Adding his voice to the growing doubts was Trevor Chimimba who on Friday May 16th wrote on Nyasanet in response to Dulani's post:
I may be out of touch with Malawi realities, but honestly, I sometimes do not understand what is going on in that country. If this experimentation with democracy is failing, it is important that the political leaders learn where to draw the line. Democracy 101.Leave the military out of politics.” Chimimba went on to describe some of the military officers arrested as personal friends of his whom he had a hard time believing would ever contemplate staging a coup: “Tell me that they have committed something else, surely it cannot be treason. These people should be home with their beloved families.” Chimimba concluded his post by pointing out that “President Mutharika is making the same mistake of other “expatriate” Presidents. He is isolating himself from the people and surrounding himself with sycophant advisers who see daggers where none exist.
Benefit of the doubt
Other reactions have sought a middle of the road approach, expressing the belief that the coup plot could be real. Nyasanetter Hesse Mhango, while acknowledging the need to be skeptical, given the president's history of coup claims, wrote about the credulity of a plot, given what he called the desperation of former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi:
There must be a plan B for getting to Sanjika as the candidacy of Muluzi is barred by the Malawi Constitution. Therefore, the zeal to get back to power spells real danger to Malawi because Muluzi, or those around him, show signs of desperation and are probably willing to do just about anything to achieve their goal. Let's no one forget that the whole process to change the Constitution was being done by means that were either borderline or outright criminal.
However, not all bloggers have found the coup issue worthy spending their time on. Blogger Buckaroo Thandi states upfront:
You know I won't make mention of the coup d'etat situation here, I'm wary of being coup d'etated myself so I'll go on ahead and say please read about it from reliable sources, speak to people who are in the know and pray that the nation will get over this with minimal damage. There is so much that needs to be done in Malawi, I hope to God a coup is at the very bottom of the list, we don't need fighting to solve anything.
Section 65, the heart of the matter
The eye of the storm, Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution, prohibits members of parliament from abandoning their party and joining another party in parliament without seeking a fresh mandate from their constituents. From September 2007 to April 2008, President Mutharika prevented parliament from meeting, fearing that once parliament met, the Speaker would invoke the dreaded section, and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would lose most of its parliamentarians, who joined the party by crossing the floor. The political temperature in Malawi has been high since President Mutharika formed the DPP in February 2005, nine months into his presidency, when he abandoned the United Democratic Front (UDF) whose chairperson and erstwhile Malawi's president, Dr. Muluzi, had plucked Mutharika from opposition ranks to campaign for him as the UDF's presidential candidate over other aspirants.
0 comments · »»April 21st, 2008
Malawian Bloggers Discuss The Zimbabwe Crisis
· 14:44 · Sub-Saharan AfricaAs bloggers from across Africa write about the elections crisis in Zimbabwe, Malawian bloggers join in the condemnation of the delay in releasing the election results, with at least one blogger pointing to the one-sided nature of the discussions on the causes of Zimbabwe’s economic and political problems. Aside from Zimbabwe, Malawian bloggers also discuss the question of who has the constitutional power to convene parliament, which Malawi's president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika has prevented from meeting for seven straight months. On the move, other Malawian bloggers update their readers on new developments in their lives.
Civil society and Zimbabwe
Collins Magalasi opens his post on the Zimbabwe situation with the words “Our governments in Africa have failed us, and they will prove their failure further on Zimbabwe. In this case I see the citizens and civil society as the only hope.” Magalasi, Head of Policy at ActionAid International Malawi, writes about a recent meeting of Zimbabwean civil society organizations, at which was agreed a campaign of nonviolent protests across the country:
Noting that the ongoing anxiety and uncertainty around election results is a breeding ground for civil unrest, Civil Society has launched a massive national campaign to call for peace and respect for the voices of the people. Communities from all over the country will from now on be encouraged to converge in their local areas to conduct different non violent social actions such as marches, prayer meetings and public meetings. The colour white will be used as a show of support for the campaign and citizens are encouraged to wear white ribbons, scarves and apparel as a sign of support for peace in Zimbabwe.
Magalasi says civil society groups in southern Africa are joining in the action, with a demonstration planned at the Zimbabwe High Commission in Lilongwe, Malawi, among others.
Ownership of the problem
Austin Madinga finds it puzzling that everyone seems to be denying ownership of the problem, starting with South African president Thabo Mbeki’s statement that the situation was not a crisis, asking “the rest of the world to butt out and let Africans resolve the problems in an African way.” Yet, Madinga wonders, the Southern African Development Community, SADC, has washed its hands over ownership of the problem, saying it is really a Zimbabwean problem to be solved by Zimbabweans themselves. Wonders Madinga:
So it’s not a world problem but an African one? But wait, at the SADC meeting in Lusaka the head of states said it was a Zimbabwean problem that would be resolved by Zimbabweans. So it’s a Zimbabwean problem now? But Morgan Tsvangirai has been lobbying regional leaders to help resolve the problem. So it would seem it’s not a Zimbabwean problem after all! It’s a problem that seem to lack ownership.
George Ng’ambi takes Mbeki’s statement personally, and expresses why:
As a Malawian I am hurt by sweeping statements such as the declaration by Thabo Mbeki that there is “No crisis in Zimbabwe.” It hurts because the economic turmoil in Zimbabwe impacts negatively on Malawi but most importantly, Zimbabweans are like a family member. Our Malawian brothers and sisters settled in Zimbabwe for economic reasons and now consider themselves as Zimbabweans. We have also been at the mercy of some unspeakable dictatorial tendencies under Dr.Kamuzu Banda and no sane person would wish another country to go through the same hurt as we did.
Ng’ambi sees an eerie parallel with two other famously reported denials from Mbeki, first, the purported denial that the HIV virus causes AIDS, and second, the high rate of crime in South Africa:
Zimbabwe has gone through the worst economic period in history. The facts are there for everyone to see yet Thabo Mbeki deliberately chooses to wear blindfolds for the sake of personal relationship with Mugabe. As far as Mbeki is concerned nothing exists in his infinite wisdom. First, he denied that HIV/Aids existed, today, South Africa remains one of the highly ravaged nations with the epidemic. His persistent denials refused him the opportunity to institute HIV/Aids preventative programmes. Many children are now opharned and live in care. Second, he denied that crime rate is high in South Africa but the truth is that RSA is the worst country on armed robberies and gun crimes in the southern Africa. Today, he does not seem to appreciate that the situation in Zimbabwe is worth of a crisis.
Buckaroo Thandi makes a brief comment on some of the speculation as to why the election results have still not yet been released, alluding, without mentioning names, to criticisms about the Zimbabwe opposition’s deference to the West:
Some sources tell me it's for the best that Zimbabwe's results are not out yet. something about fear someone will be used as an instrument by the powers that be to effect certain purposes that will mostly only satisfy the powers that be. I say, prayer is the only answer here, too many pie eaters and only one pie.
Mugabe and the West both as root causes
Bennet Kankuzi sees the Zimbabwe issue a little differently, touting an article by Brendan O’Neill, editor of Sp!ked Online, as “a thought provoking and balanced view on the current contentious issue of Zimbabwe.” Without further editorializing, Kankuzi provides a link to O’Neill’s article, in which O’Neill does what has become characteristically rare in analyses on Zimbabwe; a detailed, documented description of how Western sanctions have crippled Zimbabwe’s economy.
Convening the Malawi parliament
Outside the views of Malawian bloggers on Zimbabwe, other Malawian bloggers focus on Malawi’s own political problems, as well as new developments in personal lives. On Malawi’s own political problems, new kid on the blog, Boniface Dulani, takes issue with President Bingu wa Mutharika’s claim that he is vested with the authority to convene the Malawi parliament.
The president prorogued parliament on September 7, 2007, before it had exhausted all its deliberations on pending bills. It has not met again since then, despite widespread concerns that another meeting was long overdue.
Dulani, a University of Malawi political scientist currently a Fulbright doctoral student at Michigan State University, uses a careful reading of Section 59 (1) of the Malawi constitution to point out that it is in fact the Speaker of Parliament who is vested with the power to convene parliament. The president can only serve a consultative role. Dulani points out that:
the president’s reading and interpretation of the Constitution is wrong. While he is correct to assert that he acted within his powers to have prorogued parliament after the passage of the Budget last year, he does not, contrary to his recent claims, have the power to decide when to convene Parliament. That authority belongs to the Speaker, with the president’s role limited to an advisory one upon being consulted by the Speaker.
Blogger moves to Japan
In recent blogger news, Clement Nthambazale writes about his move to Japan for his doctoral studies. Clement arrived in Japan in the first week of April, and has been getting acclimatized to scholarly life in Japan. He writes:
5 comments · »»There are more than 25 students from more than 10 countries. Apart from Malawi, my nation and Japan, the host nation, other nations represented in this lab include Vietnam, China, Croatia, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Canada, Cuba, Brazil and Peru. I am so far the only member from Sub-Saharan Africa. But I have been informed that a Nigerian student will be joining us in October 2008. This is globalization at its best!
December 15th, 2007
Malawi: Innovation, the digital divide, and politicians who shun the Internet
· 13:11 · Sub-Saharan AfricaAlthough we are not quite there yet, the beginning of the year 2008 will mark one year when the two Global Voices authors for Malawi, Victor Kaonga and myself, will have been writing roundups on the Malawi blogosphere. Victor and I live half a world apart, and are always in contact via email and phone. But we had never met before, until this past weekend. We are in and out of Malawi, but never at the same time. That changed at the beginning of this month when we both flew into Malawi within days of each other, and managed to meet, albeit very briefly. We should be able to meet again, this time for much longer.
However our being able to physically meet for the very first time is not the subject of this roundup. Rather, our subject is the never-ending ingenuity of Malawian inventors and technology experts, while Malawian politicians continue to rely on traditional radio and newspaper presence, with hardly any presence on the Internet.
Dr. Cedrick Ngalande invents an electric charger
Victor Kaonga recently wrote on his blog Ndagha about Dr. Cedrick Ngalande, a Malawian aeronautics engineer who has just invented a generator that uses yeast and sugar to charge cellphones, laptops, and other electrical appliances in places where there is no electricity available. In Malawi consumer access to electricity is provided by a government parastatal, ESCOM, reaching a reported 7 percent of the Malawian population. As in many developing countries, especially in Africa, power is always intermittent, and a luxury enjoyed by a tiny minority of the population. Victor quotes Dr. Ngalande, describing his invention, as saying:
This gadget will be very ideal to developing countries like
Africa where electricity is scarce. As you know, the growth of cell phone is fastest inAfrica . The problem most Africans have is that they cannot charge those cell phones due to lack of electricity. Some have to walk long distances just to charge cell phones. My invention will make it easy for these people to charge their cell phones. Also, this generator can be used to charge $100 computers which are being introduced inAfrica . It can also be used to charge or operate medical devices in ruralAfrica .
Soyapi Mumba creates SearchWith software
Another piece of exciting invention news comes from blogger Soyapi Mumba, a Malawian software developer, who starts by explaining why he has not posted on his blog for two months. He quotes Dare Obasanjo, who is said to have stated that “Writing Code Will Always Be More Important Than Writing About Code.” With that quip, Soyapi announces on his blog the release of SearchWith version 0.4, a personal software project he has been busy with for quite a while now. He explains the utility of SearchWith, which can be found at Mozilla Addons SearchWith site: (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2194), as a “search extension for Firefox, Thunderbird and Flock,” which enables users to “group search engines by service (content type) and search from the context (right-click) menu.” Soyapi writes:
Apart from big fixes, this version includes improvements to the Addressbar option especially in Thunderbird. Addressbar option now integrates well with Google's Feeling lucky feature.
Another enhancement in this version is that when you search with all engines for a particular service, SearchWith will automatically remember to pre-select all engines under that service, by default.
To select all engines or change this back, use the Advanced Search dialog which pops up when you hold down the SHIFT key while selecting a search service on the context menu or when you right-click without selecting any text.
Malawian politicians missing out on the Internet revolution
While Malawian inventors and technology experts pour their time and energy into technological advancements to benefit poor, disadvantaged communinties, as in the case of Dr. Cedrick Ngalande, or advancing Internet search engine software, as in the case of Soyapi, Malawian politicians have an almost zero presence on the Internet. Victor Kaonga writes in an article that generated a lot of comments on the Malawian Internet newspaper Nyasatimes, which he republishes on his blog, that no Malawian political party is known to have an official website, let alone websites or even blogs for individual politicians:
When it comes to politicians and parties, I was saddened to discover that no political party in Malawi owns a website, neither a blog which actually comes as a free package. I am sure our political parties in Malawi have money to have a website or if desperate then get a blog.
Kaonga cites a University of Malawi professor, Edrine Kayambazinthu, who points out that:
…most politicians in Malawi lack of access to computers, lack access to even the Internet. This “may explain why they shy away” from online communication. She pointed out that the politicians clamour for media access only through radio and newspapers which are readily available and do not depend on their individual literary skills and access.
Kaonga bemoans the poor quality of the official website of the Malawi government, contrasting it with other government websites where the President is available to answer questions submitted online, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni being an example. Kaonga wonders why Malawian politicians are Internet-shy, imagining that with general and parliamentary elections coming up in May 2009, one would have expected incumbents and potential candidates to extend to the Internet campaign efforts they have already started gearing for on radio and in newspapers.
It has been suggested by another University of Malawi lecturer, Chomora Mikeka, a technology researcher, that the cost of access to technology in Malawi is twice that of the Southern and Eastern African region. Most Internet access in Malawi is still dial-up, and wireless Internet in Malawi can cost anywhere between about US$80 to US$600 per month. The same goes for cell phone access, at around US$0.34 cents per minute, a cost so prohibitive most Malawians are reduced to an innovation called “flashing,” in which a caller dials a number and cancels it before the receiver picks up, so they can see a “missed call” message and then call the “flasher” if they have any airtime.
One would imagine that perhaps the high costs of telecommunication access in Malawi is partly a result of very few lawmakers fully appreciating the importance of hi-tech communications, which they apparently do not see much use for in their political careers. The Malawi Government recently announced the awarding of a US$23 million contract to a Chinese company Huawei Technologies to lay undersea fibre optic cables in Lake Malawi, in preparation for connection to the larger, sub-continental East African Sub-marine Cable System (EASSy), expected to become operational by 2009. according to Nyasatimes, the project to create a fibre-optic network for Malawi will take two and a half years.
News just in: In the Tuesday December 11 print edition of the Malawian daily The Daily Times, the Speaker of the Malawi parliament, Hon. Louis Chimango, is quoted as saying it is important for every single Member of Parliament in Malawi to be provided with a laptop computer. He is quoted as having said this after receiving a donation of 15 new desktop computers from the Taiwanese government, for chairpersons of parliamentary committees. The laptops would, according to Mr Chimango, afford MPs easy access to the Internet, among other opportunities. “In my view,” says the Speaker, “an MP without a laptop is like being in the driver's seat of a car which has no steering wheel or accelerator pedal.”
Coming to America: Update on windmill inventor William Kamkwamba
And finally, in the Wednesday December 12 edition of The Wallstreet Journal, African correspondent Sarah Childress writes about William Kamkwamba, the young Malawian who at age 14 invented a windmill for his house, and attracted worldwide attention. Among William's growing plans, writes Childress, he intends to build a new windmill powerful enough to pump well water, connect Masitala village to electricity from the windmill, and eventually connect others villages across the country.
This week William was invited to attend and speak at a one-day conference convened by two USAID-funded educational projects in Malawi, the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (MTTA) whose book donation to a school library near William's village started the entire William Kamkwamba phenomenon, and the Primary School Support Project: A School Fees Pilot (PSSP:SFP). The conference's main theme was to shape the way forward using lessons learned and knowledge gained from the two projects, with the participation of other stakeholders, including government ministries involved in educational activities in Malawi. Since William is still in school until this week, he was unable to go and attend the conference. Mr. Simeon Mawindo, the Chief of Party for both projects, and Dr. Hartford Mchazime, the Deputy Chief of Party for MTTA and mentor to William, are working to develop new policy directions that might benefit other young Malawians who are as talented and determined as William, but lack avenues through which to express their ingenuity.
And on his blog, William announces that he is headed for the United States of America for a short holiday, starting December 17 into the early days of the new year. He will be hosted by one of his American mentors, and will visit New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
3 comments · »»
November 4th, 2007
Malawi: Fairer cyberwaves, female journalist bloggers
· 08:37 · Sub-Saharan AfricaA recent phenomenon in the Malawi blogosphere has been the growing presence of women journalists setting up blogs. Not too long ago a search on Blogger.com for Malawian blogs turned up virtually no women bloggers from Malawi. That has since changed. In this write-up we follow four Malawian women journalists who are establishing a cyber presence for themselves, writing about matters that matter not only to themselves but to many other Malawians as well.
The journalists are Eunice Chipangula, the erstwhile highest ranking woman at Malawi’s state broadcaster, Pilirani Semu-Banda who writes features for InterPress Services News Agency, (IPS), Penelope Paliani-Kamanga who writes for The Daily Times, and Stella, a first-name-only blogger working at an unnamed radio station.
Eunice Chipangula and two Malawian firsts
In February this year Eunice Chipangula started her blog, named Standing Upon God’s Promises. Chipangula inaugurated her blog with an entry introducing herself. She wrote about being the first Malawian broadcaster to win a British Chevening scholarship, which enabled her to go and study for a Masters degree in journalism at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Chipangula returned to Malawi, and rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Director General of Malawi’s national broadcaster, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. She was the first woman to assume the post in the history of MBC. Chipangula also mentions in her first post how she was transferred from MBC in January of this year, without an explanation, first to the Ministry of Foreign and International Cooperation, and later to the Ministry of Labor as Deputy Secretary.
What may come as a surprise to Malawians not too familiar with Chipangula is that she is, in her own words, “an ordained Pastor of the Oasis of The Lord International Ministry, overseeing Malawi.”
Since February Chipangula has published 9 posts on her blog, nearly all of them describing gender inequality and sexual harassment in Malawian homes and in the public sphere. Two posts are on topics outside gender; one on widening the provision for legalized abortion in Malawi, and the harmonization of labor policies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to deal with illegal immigration. A number of her posts are commenting on new changes suggested by the Malawi Law Commission, which held a constitutional conference in April 2007.
On the labor immigration issue Chipangula writes:
“The bottom line here is therefore that a lot needs to be done in terms of harmonization of national policies, legislations within and among states if the region and the world are to effectively manage migration and reap benefits for both migrants and states that will result into successful integration. Since cross-border labour migration is one of the most visible forms of migration, it requires significant attention within and between states in the region. Regional structures, mechanisms need to be put in place to manage or regulate labour migration between member states through a joint collaborative regional initiative or bilateral and multilateral arrangements.”
Chipangula adds that laws, policies and regulations for SADC states address labor and migration separately, and that no country has a harmonized approach to labor migration. She concludes her post by suggesting that SADC “and the world over need more and better migration policies- not more and better controls and policing.”
Semu-Banda and Malawi’s marginalized
Another female journalist peopling the Malawi blogosphere is Semu-Banda. In fact Ms. Semu-Banda started her eponymous blog in 2005, but only posted a profile and photos for the next two years. Starting in March 2007 Ms Semu-Banda has been posting on her blog some of the articles she writes and publishes for the African section of the InterPress Services News Agency, (IPS).
Unlike Ms. Chipangula, Ms. Semu-Banda has not provided an introduction as to who she is and what she does. Arguably Malawi’s best known feature writer outside of Malawi, Ms. Semu-Banda’s signature style is to write about Malawi’s poor and marginalized and their daily struggles. In a March 2007 posting, she wrote about two Malawians whose diminishing profiles exemplify the relentless poverty that is trapping many Malawians, despite adulatory praises coming from the International Monetary Fund, Jeffrey Sachs, and other high profile economic interlocutors.
Semu-Banda’s feature on poverty focused on Grace Kafere, an administrative officer who was laid off and was quickly reduced from above-poverty affluence to one-meal-a-day desperation, and Jackson Malire, a night watchman who has had to sell his bicycle and now walks long distances to work and other errands as his personal finances keep losing their economic power. Writes Semu-Banda:
“The dismal experiences of Karefe and Malire are not confined to their neighbourhood. Most Malawians are struggling in similar ways as poverty has worsened in Malawi, according to the most recent Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”
Semu-Banda goes on to point out how Malawi slipped from the 10th to 11th poorest country in the world, from 2005 to 2006. “The country is ranked 166th out of 177 countries on the UNDP’s Human Development Index.” A decade earlier, Semu-Paliani says the country’s rank was only slightly better, at 161st place, indicating a slippage of five digits in the last 10 years.
A case of gender marginalization that Semu-Banda writes about is that of Chanju Mwale, a young female lawyer working as legal officer for the Malawi Defence Force, the first female to hold the rank of captain since the Defense Force opened its gates to women officers in 1996. Semu-Banda writes about how in 2004 Captain Mwale was severely beaten by a male officer, a lieutenant, junior in rank to Mwale, after Mwale rebuffed the lieutenant’s sexual advances at an end-of-year party. According to Semu-Banda, Mwale was dissatisfied with the way the Malawi Defence Force handled the assault, awarding her a miserly US$72 as compensation. Mwale took the matter up in the courts, and was still pending as of March 2007. Semu-Banda quoted Captain Mwale explaining the gendered nature of the assault she suffered:
“The problem is that the army is a male-dominated institution which does not take kindly to women being in high positions. The Malawi Defence Force was used to being an all-male team until 1996 when women were allowed to join the army. They just cannot accept that a woman is capable of working as hard as they do.”
Captain Mwale expressed her determination to fight from within, rather than quit, telling Semu-Banda:
‘‘People thought I would leave the army following the assault as I was badly injured and got little support from my superiors but I am staying. I will work at changing the perceptions. I know it is an uphill battle but I will not tire.”
Semu-Banda’s other features on her blog explore matters of human interest to ordinary Malawians, such as dwindling fish supplies from Lake Malawi, turning human waste into fertilizer, and the real, lived consequences of the seemingly eternal wrangle between Malawi’s former president, Dr. Bakili Muluzi, and current president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. From her posts we learn quite a few things of relevance about Malawians’ dietary needs. She informs that 1.6 million Malawians depend on the fishing industry, out of a population of 12 million, and that “fish provides Fish provides over 60 percent of the dietary animal protein intake of Malawians and 40 percent of Malawians’ total protein supply.
In another posting Semu-Banda describes a new initiative by farmers to turn human waste into fertilizer, observing that “faeces and urine, combined with wood ash and soil, are serving as a replacement for chemical fertilizers. This came as farmers who could not afford the standard fertilizers went in search of alternatives to increase the size of their yields.”
Even when she writes about Malawi’s politics and its leaders, it’s the ordinary people she trains her eye on. In addition to the Muluzi-Bingu rivalry causing a commotion in parliament during which then Speaker of Parliament Rodwell Mnyenyembe collapsed and died days later, in June 2005, the national budget has been held ransom to the never-ending quarrel, and several court cases have been pushed aside while the judiciary system handles political cases arising out of the duel of the “elephants.”
Coming to America: Paliani-Kamanga and her American dream
Penelope Paliani-Kamanga, our next subject, is another Malawian female journalist who has also set up shop in the cyberworld. Paliani-Kamanga’s blog, creatively named “PP COOL JAY cooler as the swimming pooler”, appeared on August 1, 2007, a month after her arrival in the United States to participate in the International Center for Journalism Exchange Program.
She is able to confirm her long-held picture of the United States as a glamorous and dream-achieving place, before encountering a side of the United States that would only be understood by a personal presence. Paliani-Kamanga writes the following about her first impressions:
After going through marathon daily boardroom briefings about a whole range of aspects of life here in the United States, I have come to revisit my perception of America. This is not merely the land of great opportunities, but the land of the free and the brave.
She finds that the American press is “free and is protected by the first amendment no one at all can create rules on how the press should operate.” She contrasts this, perhaps too stereotypically, with the Malawian press, saying “I feel if the media back home had such freedom there would be chaos. I am mesmerized by the way the press here stick to ethics despite the absolute freedom.”
A little later, reality begins to sink in, and she starts to observe, almost reluctantly, hidden aspects of the United States of America. Some of her perceptions begin developing question marks. “When I came here I could not imagine that some people in America are homeless or living on government support.” She finds that the United States “still battles with ethnicity and racial tensions on the individual and social levels, something one would consider Africans.” She also learns of crime in American cities: “Crime I am told is still rampant in most cities of America, as it is in Africa. Drug trafficking and gangs are major causes of insecurity amongst the African-American neighborhoods.”
Paliani’s blog has other entries, on how men in other countries are turning on the gains made in gender equity and claiming that men too are victims also, a new vaccine against cervical cancer, and another posting on men and gender.
Smile; you’re still on air
The last subject of this write-up is a Malawian female blogger introducing herself as Smiling Stella, who names her blog “Nambewe”. Her lone entry, dated October 6, 2007, takes readers into a frustrating day when Stella, a broadcaster, is forced to wing it, so to speak, on a live radio show after a computer malfunctions.
Learning everyday. Yes we learn everyday and anytime especially when we are stuck. I was on air some minutes ago and then one computer programme went off. Since I am new to the software, I did not know how to proceed. This made me to do the next live radio programme without help of the text messages. I know I angered the listeners who expected me to read their text ,messages. I can only say sorry. I have not yet fully figured how the software works. I hope to know that next week. Uh, lessons, lessons and lessons. What a day!
Besides journalists, there are several other Malawian women pitching up tents in cyberspace, who will be covered in forthcoming write-ups. For now, the female journalists are taking to cyberspace with a prominence that male Malawian journalists are yet to match.
3 comments · »»August 23rd, 2007
Malawi: Moving on Despite the Politics of Section 65
· 20:35 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThe phenomenal story of 19 year-old Malawian blogger William Kamkwamba continues to attract attention from around the globe. William began making headlines after his appearance at the TEDGlobal 2007 conference in
Earlier he had dropped out of school after his parents were unable to afford his tuition fees. After achieving fame through the efforts of Malawian bloggers who first wrote about the story following a news item in a Malawian newspaper, and after hitting BoingBoing.net, Digg, Reddit, and Metafilter, William has now been featured on My Hero.
As videos from the TEDGlobal 2007 conference become available online, William’s speech at the conference can now be accessed through the conference’s website, on Youtube, on his blog, and also as a download. William has also been writing about how he is making use of the money people have been donating through his blog, using some of it for home supplies, as well as preparing to go back to school:
When planting season comes, I will use some of the funds to buy seed, fertilizer and urea for my family's crops of maize, ground nuts and beans.
I have also opened a bank account and put funds in so that my family is now prepared for medical, food or other needs and/or emergencies. I have started saving for the rest of private secondary school, boarding and university, too.
Still in the tech realm, Clement Nyirenda has had plenty of tech news to report about on his blog. Clement announces a campaign by bloggers around the world to unite against all forms of abuse, by blogging against this vice on September 27, 2007. Clement announces that the campaign is being driven by Blogcatalog. Clement also informs his readers that his blog is now viewable in ten major languages, by use of a free widget, from Google Translator Widget Blog. This makes Clement’s blog now readable in Arabic, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, French and Korean. The other piece of news Clement has for his readers is the forthcoming launch, on August 29, 2007 of MyLiveSearch, which Clement says technology enthusiasts have been waiting with bated breath for.
For Clement’s African readers and others interested in
Inveneo points out that over 2 billion people in the developing world live in rural and remote communities that lack basic access to information and communication technologies–telephony, computing, Internet access. In response to this need, Inveneo, a non-profit social enterprise, creates and sells highly affordable and sustainable ICTs that are specifically designed for organizations–governments,NGOs,private enterprises–that serve rural communities with vital services that include education, health care,economic development,relief and telecentres. This is great stuff! You can visit their site and make a paypal donation. Theirs is indeed a great cause.
Clement reports that the computer is already available in
Moving on from the world of technology, the political atmosphere in
President Bingu wa Mutharika, who himself left the party that sponsored him to win the presidency and started his own party, asked the courts to clarify the section, in the hope that the courts would rule in his favor as well as that of more than 60 members of parliament who also left their own parties to join the president in his new party.
The courts ruled on June 15 that Section 65 was indeed valid, and tension has been the order of the day in
Peter Qeko Jere comments on the impasse and writes on his blog about the need for government to go on and spend money even without parliament’s authorization:
Government need to spend money this time on all necessary services that will directly benefit the poor Malawians because this is about saving lives. When it comes to this process, we don’t play games because Malawians have the right to life and no one has the right to create a situations that would lead to many death just because they don’t want the budget. Life is life and we don’t play jokes with it. We only live once on this planet. Even those in opposition knows that we live once and that they should not do something sick this time around that will lead to death of many innocent Malawians as it happened in 2002 when they sold all the maize.
Austin Madinga finds confusing messages coming from the United Democratic Front (UDF), President Mutharika’s former party now consigned to opposition ranks. Madinga writes that the party released a statement calling on
This statement is in stark contrast to a press statement from UDF that called on donors to pull the plug on aid.
My question is which is which? I believe in both instances it was UDF speaking. Please make up your mind, you are confusing us!
Also expressing his opinions about the political situation in
p/s: I pray soon or later the budget impasse kumudziku will be sorted out. Koma munthu mmodzi yemwe sindikumunvetsa ndiye ndi JZU, the guy only lost three mps to DPP but why all the fuss, mwina itamavuta UDF ndikhoza kumvetsa.
I pray soon or later the budget impasse back home will be sorted out. However the one person I fail to understand is JZU (John Zenasi Ungapake, president of opposition MCP—editor), the guy only lost three mps to DPP but why all the fuss, if it were UDF making such a fuss I would understand.
As for Malawi Politics, he hides little about what he thinks of current Malawian politicians, wondering why most of them are still active, having been recycled from the Malawi Congress Party:
Why does the young generation refuse to get involved?. To serve requires sacrifice. A lot of our brothers are in the diaspora building a future for themselves and their kids. There are a lot of them out there but I will give a brief Wikipedia biography of just two that I know personally.
He goes on to mention Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Professor Tiyanjana Maluwa, two Malawian scholars based in US universities with highly coveted achievements, as some of the people who could steer Malawi’s politics in a different direction if they were in Malawi. He also mentions Jimmy Koreia Mpatsa as an outstanding Malawian touted for having resuscitated
It is the intention of Malawi Politics to encourage our readers and contributors to bring up fresh names to this dialogue. Our generation should not so easily concede to the old Gladiators. Their time came and went. Africa and
Moving on to another topic of interest for Malawians, Victor Kaonga, a Global Voices author, writes about the dilapidated conditions at his former secondary school, Rumphi. Victor visited the school recently and took pictures that leave no doubt as to the state of disrepair the school has fallen into. Victor issues a call for alumni of not only
May be a more strategic plan is needed to revive and maintain the campus-alumni relationship so that it is more mutually beneficially than the commonly parasitic which obviously lends itself to no progress at all. But the fact remains that alumni play a crucial role in offering among others resource, inspiration and expertise to their former institutions. This is probably where we could rescue the apparent embarrassing mother institutions.
July 1st, 2007
Malawi: Windmill genius, burying the first lady, and other things Malawian
· 10:30 · Sub-Saharan AfricaHe made his first windmill when he was 14 years old, having dropped out of school due to lack of school fees in 2002. And until two weeks ago, he had never touched a computer before, let alone use email. This month he was the toast of an international technology conference in Arusha, Tanzania, where he shared the limelight with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Jane Goodall,Bono, Larry Page (the inventor of Google), among many famous names. The story of William Kamkwamba and his genius achievement is the highlight of this round-up of the Malawian blogosphere, in addition to a recent conference on VOIP; the recent death of Malawi’s first lady, Mrs Ethel Mutharika; returning on air after a year’s absence; defining white collar and armed crime; broadening solutions to problems of food security; and remembering forgotten nationalists. Herewith another round-up of the
Boy genius and the windmill at the TEDGlobal conference
The most exciting phenomenon in the Malawian blogosphere, as I am writing, is the 19-year-old William Kamkwamba. Five years ago William dropped out of secondary school just after two terms due to lack of money for school fees. Visiting a nearby school library supplied by the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (MTTA), a USAID project, he one day found a book on how to make electricity using home-made materials, and today he has not only built a windmill that is attracting attention around the world, he was also given a standing ovation at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference, held June 4-7 in Arusha, Tanzania. On his one-week old blog, which has already attracted comments from different parts of the globe, William describes how it all started with MTTA’s deputy chief of party, Dr. Hartford Mchazime, who was visiting one of his project’s schools, which turned out to be the one whose library William had drawn his original inspiration from. Dr. Mchazime brought journalists with him, and a story published in
Unbeknownst to me until about two weeks ago, Soyapi Mumba, a software engineer based in Lilongwe brought the article to the attention of Mike McKay, his colleague who writes a blog called Hactivate, and Mike posted on his blog about the story in the newspaper. I found out recently that several other people also wrote about my story on their blogs, too.
Two weeks ago I used a computer for the first time. I learned about Google and searched for “windmill” and “solar energy.” I was amazed to learn how many entries there were for both subjects. My friends showed me how to create an email address and now I am on Gmail. Now I am practicing sending and receiving emails when I have access to a computer.
Soyapi Mumba attended the TED conference in
Among these was a 3 minute Question and Answer session where the curator Chris Anderson asked William Kamkwamba questions regarding the Windmill he created for his home in
Mike McKay himself posted on his blog Hacktivate an entry after receiving an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) message from Soyapi from the conference site:
Remember William Kamkwamba and his homemade Windmill made from bicycle parts?
After I made that post, Emeka Okafor invited William to attend the TED conference in
VOIP conference in
Still on technology, Clement Nyirenda describes how contrary to his fears, he was selected to attend a workshop on Voice over Internet Procol (VoIP)/SIP held recently in
On the other hand, it must be pointed out that although the workshop was a great success, the future of VoIP technologies in
Feeling the airwaves again
Also bringing new technology know-how to
I am still humbled by the feedback from the audience. There are listeners from almost parts of
While traveling across Europe and various places in Malawi, Victor keeps a keen, observant eye on what he calls a “human right” that is also a part of human nature. He finds himself comparing public rest rooms, and discusses the differences in the fees one pays for this “right”:
I am seated at Oslo Central Station and wondering if indeed I have to part with 10 Norwegian Kronor (equivalent of 220 Malawi Kwacha) as toilet fee. In Malawi's cities of Blantyre, Mzuzu, Zomba and Lilongwe, toilet fees arrange between 5 and 30 Kwacha. In one place in Mzuzu, men pay more than women for reasons difficult to put online. To think of paying 220 Malawi Kwacha for using a toilet sounds and is too much for a Malawian who finds the amount enough for two return trips from Area 25 residential area to City Center.
Public rest rooms being not the only item Victors finds himself making comparisons about, he also discovers, while traveling, that the Internet is not as cheap in Europe as it is made to be, going by the exorbitant fees he had to pay in cafes in Finland and in Norway. Back to technology, Victor updates his readers on his progress in a global online course he has enrolled in, and how he has finally succeeded in making his first podcast.
Burying a first lady
As Victor covered in the last Malawi round-up, Malawi has been mourning the death of Mrs. Ethel Mutharika, the wife of the Malawian president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. Austin Madinga observes that despite everyone’s wishes that the recent death of
:
For the past few weeks following the death of the first lady, there were calls from various sections of society for the goodwill displayed around the funeral to continue. Plenty people also commented that good would come out of all of it. I was one of those hoping good would come out but somehow I was not optimistic.
Continuing on the topic of the death of the first lady, Kondwani Kamiyala uses the occasion of June 14, Freedom Day in
As I write, we are in a mourning period for our First Lady, Madame Ethel Mutharika, wife to Bingu wa Mutharika, our President. She succumbed to cancer, and a month’s mourning was declared.
During this period, the nation has known great unity. Bingu’s predecessor Bakili Muluzi cut off his trip to the
Also on the death of the first lady, Among The Trees praises her down-to-earth, non-flashy character:
She gave selflessly and sought no accolades. Not for her the prominent fashionista image more commonly associated with the wives of other national leaders. Hers was the more typical mother/grandmother/friend/counselor/teacher role. She led by example and this drew people to her. Her husband implicitly trusted her judgement particularly on the public podium as can be evidenced by an anecdote in Ko's tribute to her Even in our internecine local politics none sought to malign her character and rarely was she spoken of.
‘Penned or Armed Crime’: what’s the difference?
We move away from the sad story of the first lady to a daily concern amongst Malawians and people everywhere. KwathuNetwork waxes poetic and asks who does more damage, white collar criminals or armed robbers: The blogger provides an own answer:
Regardless of the situation, they are guilty of the same kind of crime…robbing the innocents. The armed robber with a gun and the pen robber with a stroke of a pen steal millions of Kwacha, all in effort to maintain their fallacious lifestyles. They both love the glamorous dinner dance and to fully participate or host such events, they must have the wherewithal to afford it. If compromising their integrity and mortgaging their conscience is what it takes, they gladly embrace it. If ruining the lives of millions is what it entails, they willingly accept it. If siphoning the financial resources or killing the manpower of the nation is the only option, they adopt it.
Feeding the nation
And contributing to the discussion on how to sustain the bumper harvest
The solution to food insecurity is like a puzzle, different pieces coming together to reveal the bigger picture. In my opinion food insecurity requires an integrated approach. Policy makers overlook education, and health, vital issues necessary to solve food problems. We live in a rapidly changing environmental, economical and political change. We have to continue updating and advancing to keep up with the rest of the world. If anything for food insecurity the principal focus should be on education. With education comes new perspectives and a better frame of mind to implement new techniques and to understand new technologies.
Remembering the heroes
Lastly, Malawi Politics writes about Malawian nationalists who led the struggle for
It is widely suspected that the parcel was sent by agents of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda of
May 28th, 2007
Malawians on the world stage: academic honors, music, science and technology
· 17:29 · Sub-Saharan AfricaThere is one discernible theme running through the Malawian blogosphere in the month of May. This round-up focuses mostly on what these bloggers have written in this month, now approaching its end. One Malawian has received international honors for his contributions to world scholarship, while two female Malawian musicians have launched their latest music albums outside Malawi. One Malawian scientist calls for the Malawi government to put in place mechanisms to prepare for the looming disaster that might possibly be triggered by global warming, and two Malawians have made their mark in the world of technology. It has been a month of Malawians showcasing their mettle on the world stage, and here with it all.
Honoring a world class scholar
Blogger Kondwani Munthali, a Malawian journalist currently a Niemann Fellow at Harvard University, celebrates the news that a Malawian scholar has recently been honored by Rhodes University of South Africa, and that a former Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) journalist will be teaching at Rhodes University. The two Malawians being celebrated are Thandika Mkandawire and Joe Mlenga. Mkandawire was recently awarded a Senior Doctorate by Rhodes University for his world class scholarship in development studies and political economy. Mkandawire has been the Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) since 1998. The other Malawian is Joe Mlenga, who recently announced on his blog that he had resigned from MBC. Munthali, himself a journalist with the MBC, writes:
I wish to congratulate Prof. Mkandawire and Mlenga for the Rhodes Honours. This comes to mind how quickly our great poets and academics such as Jack Mapanje and David Rubadiri whom I have heard from so many people here at Harvard and beyond asking. Wole Sonyinka and others have become symbols of their nations and ambassadors promoting good. Apart from the two, people like Goodall Gondwe made an impact at the IMF, early May 2007 when I visited the institution I heard fascinating stories on how he used to move from office to office meeting his juniors and seniors alike to hear them. I was proud to be a Malawian when a room full of World Bank and IMF officials, one screamed, “Malawi is unique, it has its best leadership in the Presidency and Minister of Finance.” I hope the this Leadership given at the global institutions will extend into recognition of our achievers and use them as ambassadors to promote Malawi's values.
Music for the world
Two Malawian female musicians this month launched their latest albums, one in Nairobi, Kenya, and the other in Stockholm, Sweden. In Kenya it was gospel artist Chrissy Kamthunzi, while in Sweden it was musician Fingani Mphande. Victor Kaonga, Global Voices author, witnessed the Stockholm affair, and wrote on his blog:
She says she decided to launch here [Sweden] because she did not have adequate time to do so in Malawi as she was supposed to leave for studies in Sweden. Fingani's album which has ten tracks (most in Chichewa and others in English) can be bought on Radio Yako (www.radioyako.com).
In another posting, Victor writes about the Global Day of Prayer, Sunday May 27, arguing that the day is unlikely to make the headlines because of its religious nature. He reflects on this important day, posting pictures of a celebration of this day last year at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi:
PROBABLY the world's largest unity is to be reflected this Sunday on the Global Day of Prayer when people from over 190 nations will join together and pray for the world.
But to put this event in the headlines is direct rebuke to most of our global and national issues so editors prefer to keep it away. After all these are “religious things” and covering it would be ‘like promoting their faith' they argue.
Malawi and a warmer globe
Hastings Zidana, a scientist with the Malawi National Aquaculture Centre, warns that global warming is real, and that Malawi is part of the areas in Africa that are at greater risk. He calls on government to take measures to address the problem:
My questin has been and is always “What is our role as Malawians ?” Do the parliamentarians take this issue with a priority? The image clearly shows that Malawi is in the band of “Areas at most risk”. Let us act now by putting in place necessary policy issues like-irrigation for all crop fields by the year 2030 or 2040, thats 10 yeras before the real thing is on our neck. We can do it there are several organisation dealing with global warimng and environment where, we can tap the resources let alone the credit income which they have just been written off by our creditors.
On the technology front
Malawian blogger and ICT expert Soyapi Mumba gives an update on a new program he has been working on, a search tool compatible with Forefox and Mozilla.
I've become so much interested in the integration of various content available on the web with search since I started developing SearchWith, a search tool for Firefox and Mozilla-based applications. Follow the discussion on Techmeme.
And still in the world of technology, Clement Nyirenda announces that his two papers have been accepted at two international conferences, where he hopes to go and present in September, 2007:
Today, I thank God because the two papers that I submitted to IEEE Eurocon and IEEE Africon conferences have both been accepted. IEEE Eurocon will take place in Warsaw, Poland from September 9-12 while IEEE Africon will take place in Windhoek, Namibia from September 26-28. So far, I have managed to pay the registration fees (280 EUROs) for the Poland conference. I am yet to pay for the Namibia one. I also have to look for funds so that I can travel to these two countries to present these papers.
Clement also announces in another entry that he has since returned to Malawi, having successfully finished his MScEng degree, and has resumed his teaching duties at the The Polytechnic in the University of Malawi.
Also sharing good news for a successful educational endeavor is John, on his blog Soka Liyenda. John informs his readers of his good news:
It is now very official. I will be attending Purdue University next semester. This is the best thing that has happened to me in months. Finally a sigh of relief. It has been a topsy-turvy affair so far. I graduated from DACC last night with an associate degree in Agriculture. I will be a junior at Purdue majoring in Agriculture Economics with an emphasis on Finance and Rural Development.
Unquiet on the political front
The month of May in Malawi has seen the return of a commemoration that was stopped at the dawn of the new democratic era in 1994. During Malawi’s 30 year one-party rule under Dr. Kamuzu Banda, May 14th was celebrated as Kamuzu Day, believed to be his date of birth, on paper. Breaking a long period of silence, blogger Kondwani Kamiyala reminisces over how Kamuzu appeared in the eyes of a 12 year old, the age at which Kondwani began to know about the former president:
A lot has been written about Malawi’s first Head of State, Dr Kamuzu Banda. I look back at my experience with him. This is my general view of the man. I do not seek to write or rewrite history. As a child, this is how I saw Dr Kamuzu Banda, and I transfer those childhood memories into my later life, having seen two presidents after him, and observing the lives of some politicians who were fighting against his ‘oppression’. Enjoy my Childhood Memories of Dr Kamuzu Banda. After all that is said, Kamuzu takes a new image from the eyes of a 12 year old, standard seven pupil….
And to end on this political note, blogger Pearson Nkhoma makes an argument for holding local government elections, which the government has been accused of not being committed to for a number of years now, in contravetion to a constitutional requirement:
A lot has been written about postponements of local government elections. However, with the wrangles that are resulting because of the lack of consultation in the appointment of MEC commissioners, it is inevitable that local government elections would also be postponed for another longer period. History is repeating itself, but does Malawi really need councilors. This is a question that I am trying to answer.
0 comments · »»May 8th, 2007
Malawi: feel-good factor, bumper harvest, and vampire stories
· 12:38 · Sub-Saharan AfricaHaving just returned from a short visit to Malawi, it is almost impossible not to write about the general sense of optimism the country is awash in especially in the cities, among the middle class. The one thing that no one fails to mention is the strength of the economy, which has been rising since the current president, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, was elected in May 2004. The maize crop is promising a very high yield, and tobacco, Malawi’s biggest foreign exchange earner to date, is fetching good prices at the auction floors. President wa Mutharika’s biggest project so far has been the Shire-Zambezi Waterway, seen as a way to open up the land-locked country through the Shire River which flows into the mighty Zambezi River. The plan is to create a direct sea route to the Indian Ocean. In the last two weeks a memorandum of understanding has been signed amongst the countries involved in the project: Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi herself.
The Shire-Zambezi Water-way, bumper harvests and press freedom
It will therefore be of no surprise that Malawian blogs are also in on the feel-good factor. The blog Anti-Bakili Muluzi captures this sense of hope with a comment on the signing of the Shire-Zambezi Waterway memorandum of understanding:
At first when I heard President Bingu wa Mutharika pronouncing his dream about the Shire-Zambezi waterway, I thought it was one of the jokes presidents make when addressing mass rallies. When I heard it for the second time, I really believed the power of dreaming in colour.
It was last week when I saw this dream slowly coming to light with the signing in ceremony of the memorandum of association for the implementation of the project. No wonder, the President's dream is really in colour. Thumbs up not only to the President but also to the people of Malawi. Congratulations to Malawi's development.
Cryton Chikoko adds to the atmosphere of hope in Malawi, observing that the good maize crop harvest is coming after severe droughts in recent years that caused starvation among many ordinary Malawians:
It cannot be disputed that Malawi is going through a period of change. I am talking about economic change. In the next 5 years, if everything accelerates along the same way, we are going to see significant changes in the country - the social life our people will improve.
It is encouraging to see remarkable attempts by donors to stop the vicious circle of debt repayments being stopped by the cancellation of our debts.
What with the grace of God who has given us enough rains for our agriculture-based economy. We have experienced a good harvest for our staple food maize in the past two years. This has assured us, for the first time after a long time of starvation for most of our people, of enough food. This is a great development for most of our people who starving has been part of their lives.
Chikoko ends his post with remarks on rumours that Malawi is now bartering its surplus maize with sugar from Zimbabwe, to help Zimbabwe, which is suffering from acute shortages of maize. The Malawian newspaper, The Daily Times quotes the Malawian Minister of Finance, Goodall Gondwe, as denying the rumor, saying that Zimbabwe is going to pay in cash, not in sugar.
And the sense of optimism is not restricted to the economy and food security only; it is also extended to press freedom, as Victor Kaonga, Global Voices Author, writes in a post to commemorate Press Freedom Day on May 3:
Honestly speaking, I find Malawi to be much better now than it was years ago. It is also much better than some countries which claim to have the press freedom for ages. But as the fight for more freedom rages on, we cannot keep quiet but fight on and ensure that our audiences and readers get the best information we can possibly manage to provide.
Elsewhere, I salute those who have suffered for the freedom. Many have also died. This is how risky our job can be. My parents had to warn me against being a journalist because as I was growing up in primary school, journalists were taken to be 'spies.' And you know the risk a spy faces!
Interview with the Vampire; Sugar profits
Be that as it may, it will be false to end there and leave the impression that every single Malawian is full, fat and happy. Malawi is still experiencing problems, one of which has always been human safety. Hastings Maloya writes about rumors of a vampire that is said to be going about Ndirande and other Blantyre townships, terrorizing people. Maloya also lists other problems that have wrought terror into the hearts of Malawians, including the defilement of young girls:
Just come to think of it; a 57-year old man defiles a six-month old baby. A seven-year old girl is defiled by her own teacher, let alone a headmaster. And a woman has her arms chopped by her husband or has her private parts disfigured by someone who was supposed to be her lover.
How about issues of well-dressed men caught with private parts in their bags. Talk of news of unknown assailants removing women’s breasts and gouging their eyes. Then there is the-now famous Ndirande vampire who has the audacity of changing locations in Blantyre and targeting innocent women at will. The stories are endless and they do not make good reading. Each passing day we realize that Malawi is not as safe a place to live in as it was supposed to be especially for women and children.
Maloya ends by commending President Mutharika for suggesting that there be detention camps to incarcerate people convicted of these horrendous crimes. Maloya is not the only Malawian blogger to comment on the illusive vampire; Joe Mlenga writes abo