Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

A day in politics, they claim is too long. Just last Friday, President Bingu wa Mutharika shook hands and smiled at Joyce Banda his number two in the party and Government. Somewhere some party officials were meeting and confirming the expulsion of Joyce Banda from the party. Come Saturday, Joyce Banda knews, so too Khumbo Kachali that the meeting would discuss their fate and they were duly admitted into the meeting. The loudmouths of the DPP Governing Council, we are told, started with so many materials but the hits was when Youth Minister Lucius Kanyumba rose to speak. He delivered the matter of the day. I personally know Kanyumba from a long history we share. I have travelled with him in many places as a youth worker. I would not pass judgement on this particular matter on why it had to be a "youth" being asked to perpetuate a fight of two elephants. I know youth in Malawi, due to short sightdness or easy promise of good life- they have at times made hasty decisions and ins...

..the case of managing pediatric Aids A woman without a child in the majority of our communities is not a complete woman. A recent study by the National Association of People Living with HIV and Aids (NAPHAM) indicates that stigma against infertile women has forced many of them to take drastic measures to avoid ridicule. From committing suicide to prostitution, women without natural bearing capacity seem not to find solution in society already known for its conservative view of unmarried older persons. This is however an ignored area and many suffer or die in silence. The agony experienced by such women might seem to be lesser if one considers those that loose their children during delivery. After carrying a baby in the womb for nine whole months, the pain would be greater only to hear muted sounds of disbelief due to the early death of the newly born child. The realities are difficult to comprehend for males and many who have yet to experience the loss of their own child. However for ...

The end of colonialisation, unfortunately also marked the end of many original thoughts of patriotic Africans, that modernity today has overtaken culture and more people are less likely to converse in their own language than a foreign tongue, as Kondwani Munthali reflects over Africans diminishing culture. The coming in of missionaries and voyages of explorers in the 1800 brought to an end to one of the greatest human tragedies; Slavery. This worst form of abuse, seems to have had a lasting impact on the relationship between Africans and the rest of the World. While some used the bible to justify slavery of Africans, many who have failed to understand African cultures have simply called in primitive and uncivilized, yet the continent is the home to early civilization and great wonders of the World. Unfortunately Africans themselves seem to be on the fast track to adopting alien cultures than others who are trying to erase them from the global picture. Take example of the new generation...

At the peak of his singing career, deputy lands Minister, dubbed ‘Minister of the Poor” sang two songs. They were a hit to the ears of the majority of Malawians tired already of the UDF administration’s mismanagement of the country’s economy. One song was “Osauka alibe mawu” while the other was “Agalatiya.” George Orwell animal farm, is a powerful political piece that the Communists never wanted anybody to read, just like dictators in Africa would not like to anybody to see how equality during the struggle quickly turns into enmity once power is taken. In the two pieces of art by Billy Kaunda now a full time politician and George Orwell’s book clearly have one underlining denominator- that those that go into power through a promise of change, rarely do they stick to their initial proclamations. The power basically is now associated with ones financial muscle. The new decision maker in so called democratic parties other than the majority voices who are supposedly owners of the party. At...

Monday, August 16. 2010 George Thindwa, Executive Director of Association for Secular Humanism took his turn in the Nation to proclaim triumph of secularism. He claimed to have statistics as high as 75 percent of population in different developed nations claiming Christianity is shriveling. Taking my turn, I will not use the Bible, but the same limited human reasoning and events to justify why God exist even in secular thinking. Without God, the very foundations of Governments would collapse, so too fundamental freedoms. To the contrary, belief in God continues to grow not only in Africa, but even in the West. The biggest absurd claim is that the belief in God or any supreme deity has shriveled. He misses the fact that it is not only Christians that believe in God and it is not only individuals that believe in existence of God, even the Governments and nations subscribe to the existence of God. The Malawi national anthem firmly subscribe to the God and its first stanza calls for God to...

Between my last posting, a lot has happened. The Malawi flag has changed with a majority against it, Professor Peter wa Mutharika got himself and endorsement and just yesterday a cabinet reshuffle came into reality. Someone asked if I had opinion over reshuffle, I told him Malawians will be good at speculating but the real truth remains with President Bingu wa Mutharika- as it pleased him to keep all of those that were in cabinet and fire him. Others angrily accuse Mutharika of making a 'family affair' out of state positions. They claim his brother and wife as the reasons. It is difficult to understand Malawians when they want to make an arguement. Mostly it is emotional than factual. Jeb Bush was a Governor while George his brother was a President. His wife was running the Malaria Initiative- nobody questioned anybody. But that aside, before I speak, nothing that I write here is related to any position both locally or international where I am affiliated as a consultant or full...

There is something irritating about politicians. They never learn from their past or their colleagues mistakes. Soon after attainment of multiparty democracy, when the Malawi Congress Party was the most hated name in town, the ruling party the UDF tried to change the national flag under the pretext that it was similar to MCP. Everybody protested, it was giving in our national pride, identity and sweat for our freedom. The blood that Malawians shed in 1959 and in the later struggle of independence was not MCP blood. It was blood of Malawians, the flag and later the national athem represnts the sacred identity of the Malawi nation. The designer and composer of the two items might have died silent heros, but they left a legacy and pride of the nation. God has allowed me to travel to at least 72 countries across the World, nothing compares to the time when your National anthem and flag is raised. During the May 1 opening of the World Expo in Shangahai, China, I everyone of my colleagues fr...