One Year later on Animal Farm
The online jokes about Governance are back. The one that starts with Joyce Banda, Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth all went somewhere..... they reminded me of days just before July 20, 2011 and much later the days before Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi's third president collapsed and died.
These texts always have one meaning, somewhere people are getting angry, somewhere things are not happening the way they are supposed to meet our expectation.
But somewhere the music is louder, some are mourning the passing of Late Bingu, remembering his good side, his colour dreams, his contribution to Malawi.
The other side there are celebrations, marked by military parade and another a political rally.
Along Chilambula road, oops Paul Kagame Highway as our Leaders would want us to believe and call it, a woman is breast feeding her two twins, sitting on a dusty pavement on a queue to Admarc to access at least 10 kilogrammes of staple food-maize for her to survive for another week.
A sad memorial, a celebration and a struggling mother who is not sure where her next meal will come from.
That is a year later in Malawi. A year after the death of Bingu, yes that man who defied azungu and called them stupid. The one who thought the media, the Civil Society and the everyone was against him and famously said he could not understand Malawians. The same Malawians that loved him and voted for him overwhelmingly in 2009 when he spoke and understood their challenges. When he provided food and presided over a growing economy. The same Bingu that transformed City Centre to what it is today.
A year later, President Joyce Banda whose ascendancy was backed by every Malawian and celebrated in the media. A woman who had endured oppression very few politicians, greedy as many are, would not have withstood. Yes the same Joyce Banda that walked at Maula prison and told me 'We have to walk to be free tommorrow' and inspired many to defy Bingu. Yet today a year later, she is on defensive, shouting slogans 'kukhala nzumayi sichifukwa', justifying celebrations amid poverty, pain, hunger and escalating the cost of living. Yes a year later it is the Peoples Government, minus the people themselves justifies buying of K1.6 billion worth of cars and celebration of sorts at stadias.
Yes the same Malawi a year later, the woman at Chilambula Admarc is hopeless. She has slept at the grain market, but she sees people in lorry singing and jubilating. Everything is better than during Bingu's time, she hears someone from her friends radio.
Like the sheep in the animal farm, they look at each others face, they look at the passing lorry with loud shouts of 'chiwongolero" and they look at each other again, shaking their heads not understanding what is happening.
Only a baby crying louder and louder pointing at someone drinking a frizzes brings them to tears..... something a year later in Malawi is not adding up.
Welcome back to the blog, we will uncover that something together!
These texts always have one meaning, somewhere people are getting angry, somewhere things are not happening the way they are supposed to meet our expectation.
But somewhere the music is louder, some are mourning the passing of Late Bingu, remembering his good side, his colour dreams, his contribution to Malawi.
The other side there are celebrations, marked by military parade and another a political rally.
Along Chilambula road, oops Paul Kagame Highway as our Leaders would want us to believe and call it, a woman is breast feeding her two twins, sitting on a dusty pavement on a queue to Admarc to access at least 10 kilogrammes of staple food-maize for her to survive for another week.
A sad memorial, a celebration and a struggling mother who is not sure where her next meal will come from.
That is a year later in Malawi. A year after the death of Bingu, yes that man who defied azungu and called them stupid. The one who thought the media, the Civil Society and the everyone was against him and famously said he could not understand Malawians. The same Malawians that loved him and voted for him overwhelmingly in 2009 when he spoke and understood their challenges. When he provided food and presided over a growing economy. The same Bingu that transformed City Centre to what it is today.
A year later, President Joyce Banda whose ascendancy was backed by every Malawian and celebrated in the media. A woman who had endured oppression very few politicians, greedy as many are, would not have withstood. Yes the same Joyce Banda that walked at Maula prison and told me 'We have to walk to be free tommorrow' and inspired many to defy Bingu. Yet today a year later, she is on defensive, shouting slogans 'kukhala nzumayi sichifukwa', justifying celebrations amid poverty, pain, hunger and escalating the cost of living. Yes a year later it is the Peoples Government, minus the people themselves justifies buying of K1.6 billion worth of cars and celebration of sorts at stadias.
Yes the same Malawi a year later, the woman at Chilambula Admarc is hopeless. She has slept at the grain market, but she sees people in lorry singing and jubilating. Everything is better than during Bingu's time, she hears someone from her friends radio.
Like the sheep in the animal farm, they look at each others face, they look at the passing lorry with loud shouts of 'chiwongolero" and they look at each other again, shaking their heads not understanding what is happening.
Only a baby crying louder and louder pointing at someone drinking a frizzes brings them to tears..... something a year later in Malawi is not adding up.
Welcome back to the blog, we will uncover that something together!
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