Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

Being away from Malawi now could be considered the best options, especially with the raging fires that are going on at the moment. Nobody seems to have solution to the challenge. But if we could all look deeper, our Founding Father the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda gave us the tools necessary to deal with the challenge we are facing today. Kamuzu- hated and loved by everyone had one word- Contact and Dialogue. In the current battle, nobody is looking intelligent, everybody is looking silly, both the lecturers- by insisting for an apology that will not come and not having a fixed period for strike and Government for failing to find a solution to what everyone is calling a "simple problem.' But the problem has revealed how endemic is the problem of not using the ears properly and the vacuum of leadership in many sectors that are mainly governed by politicians. There are no experienced politicians around the President, what we have are Ministers sneeking at night at College campuses...

Focus Gwede was buried on Tuesday after succumbing to death at the age of 82. The immediate reaction of many was ooh, he was still alive? I am sure the biggest thought of the day my have come from Sam Mpasu, political prisoner number 75. Some strange historians at MBC have tried to potray Gwede as a victim of the one party system, yet to the contrary he was one of the pillars of terror which left thousands dead, exiled and seperated from their loved ones. Focus Gwede was among the top three Police commanders- heading the notorious Special Branch which specialised on spying and eleminating innocent Malawians whose mind, writings and sometimes speeches did not match with the expectations and thoughts of His Excellency the Life President Ngwazi Dr. H Kamuzu Banda. Gwede, as Mpasu notes in his book represented the ruthlessness of the system, created the worsk conditions in prisons with the most ironic story being of one afternoon when he visited Mikuyu Prison in Zomba where he found politi...