Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

I last met the Late Mary Kaphwereza Banda, my teacher for years on November 23 at Johannesburg's O.R Tambo. She was coming from graduation of one of her daughters. She proudly told me "aliyonse akumalizga masters mwana wane." She was very proud of her daugthers, her achievements and as Bakili Muluzi put it rightly at her role in the history of Malawi. In September before primaries for Lilongwe City Central, she told me she was yet to make a decision to contest though there was pressure for her return. I dismissed her jokingly that that was a politicians white lie. She invited to me to a tour of her properties. I had attended Walani brefiely in the 90's and my niece is at Peter Pan. I have some distant cousins at Mount Sinai. We ended our tour at her office at Mount Sinai it was lunch hour. She had a meal prepared at the school, an ordinary nsima with some green vegetables and meat. She refused me to have it and offered to buy me lunch at a "proper resturant"...

First published in Nation on Sunday 21 Dec. 2008 Malawi sacrifices 7,000 to save tobacco ..DDT can eradicate Malaria-WHO by Kondwani Munthali Top civil servant in the Ministry of Health Chris Kang’ombe on Wednesday admitted that the country’s reliance on tobacco has affected the fights against malaria as there are resistance to the adoption of use of Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) spraying which is proven to eradicate the fatal disease. DDT was banned due to environmental and toxic effects, but the World Health Organisation has recognised that spraying the insecticide can eradicate malaria, as since the ban there has been increase in the incidents of malaria in South America and Africa. “I would say yes it is a difficult choice, either we forgo all the foreign exchange that the country depends on tobacco or we accept to continue sacrificing 7,000 lives that we lose due to malaria,” Kang’ombe said. He said the Ministry had started the process of consultations and it was still o...

Somali pirates are fast becoming what Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Carribean would admire. Instead of chasing a deadmans chest for a heart of someone, they are real in chasing money. And its hard currency. Earnings from the pirates business are said to be heading towards US$35 million and it is becoming more attractive. The capture of the Saudi sirus with US$100 million worth of crude oil is just the beginning of things. At one point I wrote a proposal to all G7 Governments and celebrities who have shown interest in Africa, it was about inspiring young Africans to do more for themselves. I still enjoy reading the no so but we regret letters from Tony Blairs office, Angel Markel and even George Bush. The African 2000 Generation could not have solved many of the challenges African youth face, but it could have touched where young people get shaped and have their ideals born. But it was not of strategic importance to the European and Western nations to develop a vibrant youth so...