Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

This week, I had to be down under doctors orders after a trip that ended up in a mess and I failed to reach somewhere where I was required to be a Moderator. But I am back today and thanks to all that cared since Wednesday last week, I am home and safe. But I returned to office to a National pronographic scandal, well known senior and respected Malawians all married decided to take pictures of themselves naked throughout 2004 to 2006. When I recieved a bunch of them, I dismissed them as very irrelevant and thought it is a closed matter. But lo!, they keep coming and people are coining phrases to attach to them. One daily newspaper has find it fit to dignify the scandal by leading the story. Now all of us, we really are serious that we have stopped working and are using company resources including the internet and phones just to gossip about these people's pictures which someone I am told stole and distributed. Really, I am ashamed to be a Malawian if we can all reduce ourselves to...

I have read and re-read Animal Farm so many times, that I find George Orwells las sentence very powerful. That looking from the pigs to men and men to pigs, there was hadly a difference between the two. I have always been cool in making decisions, I calculate their consequences and always find it more important to read through any criticism or reaction. One thing no one will ever tell you, is loosing temper publicly. I might be very angry but I learnt a great deal during my youth work, the most difficult constituency to deal with. I will one day run for the post of a Director of Youth in a party which has resemblance of democracy. I had enough time to reflect on a number of issues as I travelled to the North over the weekend including how beautiful Kasungu is. The dam near the boma and the Ngulu ya Nawambe residence. From there I saw the Kasungu North farm lands, before getting into the Natural tree forest which ends at Lojwa. When I am driving I normally stop anywhere from Luviri up t...

Kondwani Munthali For Chairman: National Media Institute of Southern Africa-NAMISA Malawi Campaign Manifesto My profile: I I am a Chevening scholar of the British Foreign Office and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. I am among the first three fellows in the Global Health programme for Journalists sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Currently, I have completed a term of office as Board Director for the National Youth Council of Malawi and I am the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Youth Alliance in Social and Economic Development (YASED) and Trustee and Fundraising Chairman for the Counselling of the Adolescent Youth Organisation (CAYO). In Journalism, I am the coordinator for the African Healthcare Journalists Network, a facilitator and lead Journalist for the US-based Keiser Family Foundation which sponsors the Health Journalism category of the CNN Multi-choice African Journalist of the Year Awards. I serve in various socio-economic groupings including the...

Happy 44th Anniversary to all Malawians. I will be 44-God willing in the next 16 years so I had just to enjoy this one now. I was in bed-not being lazy but after attending five after parties till wee hours, it felt good that Malawians could celebrate with so much hope. Of course politically nothing has changed, I do not believe in what President Bingu wa Mutharika was telling people at Mzuzu stadium. His langauge of defiance just epitomises his long held views not national healing. I hope he will be able to face ArchBishop Ziyaye and the other Men of God and say, "Hie Bishop, I dont believe in whatever you have proposed, all I want is the budget to pass." The guys has been full of self-contradiction. He will tell the rally, that budget no budget he will run Government, minutes later he will tell Tembo and Muluzi to pass the budget as it affects his administration. I am not sure on what to make of such a reading, all I am sure as I said before, Muluzi, the self-confessed polit...

A quite weekend for my good country Malawi. Of course some politician was up and down drumming the hype for his dislodged "ruling party", but the guy to me is justified, when you miss the boat by sticking your nose in politics and then retire from retirement-you get a raw deal. The guy is a charmer, I am sure even Robert Mugabe who was his godfather during his wedding in 1999, could have listened to his jokes and change his ruthless antics over Morgan Tsvangirai . Of course am still analysing the Zimbabwe campaign adverts, that is the March 29 election not the one-man-band show on June 27 th . It sad my freinds are in the same situation they were in after voting, by free will and choice-on March 29 and through hook and threats on June 27. I have a small vegetable gardern , I am now enjoying straight-from the garden rape and chinese and my " mpiru " cabbage and another set of rape seems to be rushing to become edibles. Apart from my love of garderning , I am still...

I had just written another article, before it mysteriously dissappeared, but I am determined to write again on this topic. Of course I do get reactions from some people I have known asking me If I want to join a bandwagon of advisers. I am not yet 30, so I dont think I qualify to give official advice to someone except to say the truth and remain honest. Thats the only medicine I discovered of having a peace of mind through out my life, be honest and speaking the truth. Dont use lies even for entertainment. Just last week I said Muluzi machinery seems to be working within Bingu's system to confuse the my grandfather and at the same time make the Former President look like a victim and gather public sympathy. Someone called me and said it was an assumption without evidence. I challenged him if he had ever studied political science to measure the next three decisions or mentioning of Muluzi, that it will come from State House and the matters will make Muluzi an innocent victim of a r...

The more my President makes a decision, mostly for someone who understand grassroot politics its looks like miscaculated or done in panic, that one would wonder where the advice is coming from. I would challenge someone to do a simple survey district by district and come up with information that can contradict most of the advice that my head of state believes. Of course one element I will accept is that Government or rather the Democratic Progressive Party always believes that Bakili Muluzi, the UDF National Chairman is up to something. This is the man they have credited of buying Judges, Journalists, doctors and now even buying all the maize to create artificial shortage. My foot and God should forbid, it seems someone in DPP is obsessed with Muluzi so much that he cannot sleep or let a day pass without thinking of this past Malawi President. But seriously, Akweni the other day and the MBC were propagating that some reporters get K150,000 from Muluzi a month to propagate negative imag...