Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

Some news tips will shock you, some will simply leave your mouth open. After a week of sparing with John Kapito on the role of Malawi Human Rights Commission, the Governments usual suspects Symon Vuwa Kaunda and Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba found a new kill in their verbal battle against the Civil Society- they had discovered a project proposal from Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for the Development of the People (CEDEP) worth K100 million or USD700,000 for the promotion of gay rights and involvement of the same group in national response to HIV and Aids. The Honourable Minister of Justice- the Honourable Dr. George Chaponda was loped in and asked to deliver the news, as he put it, as the core reason of conflict between Government and Civil Society groups. Dr. Chaponda, Dr. Ntaba and Vuwa Kaunda stressed that the CHRR was making noise using the Human Rights Consultative Committee beacuse they had money to promote gay rights, a sexual activity criminalised by the ...

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...

The United Democratic Front (UDF) Malawi's ruling party will soon just like the Nyasaland African Congress, find itself in the dustbin of History. This is the party tha governed Malawi in the first democratic decade of 1994-2004 and failed to change, as the voters were changing. The party is now close to a political comedy that characterised the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) between 1996 to 2002 when eventually its President Gwanda Chakuamba fell from the seat of power, marking the end of its national identity and to be reduced as a minor opposition party about six years later. The UDF first mistake is well documented, its first elected President Bakili Muluzi's decision to run for a third term and later his attempt to extend his influence beyond his constituional limit after he sidelined the official process to hand pick Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika as a candidate. The same arrogance displayed by Muluzi was extended to 2009, when he single handly decided to "thank you" all h...

Today, my President is mid air travelling from Sudan, heading to Addis Ababa. Yesterday he was in Ivory Coast and later he went to Sudan, meeting Al Bashir before going to Juba for a meeting with officials of Southern Sudan. I would have said a lot, except that we are living in days of trying to define a direction for our country. Days of uncertainity, gossip and rumour mongering and at times sometimes the destruction of peoples careers based on pure hearsy. Last night I spent four hours on a petrol line and went to bed only around midnight, my bosses were expecting me at 7.30 pronto. I could not have given a damn about where my President was today, was it not for Uganda President who graced the BBC airwaves and could not say as to whether he will or not run again in 2016. Instead, he was busy saying his country might be a developed country by then. Might after almost 30 years in power he has yet to find solution to the basic challenges that millions of Uganda face. He has no shame tru...

There is a strong opinion, that President Bingu wa Mutharika does not keep freinds. He has nearly discharged all officers, politicians and even staffers that started him with the Presidency journey in 2005. A year after winning the Presidency under the UDF ticket. But at a close glance, most people that have been fired or removed, rarely do they generate sympathy from the public. In most cases, people smile and shout loudly 'good riddance'. I know several who drunk to the firing of Patricia Kaliati, while many in parliament were happy with the downfall of Khumbo Kachali. How many weeped for Ken Zikhale Ng'oma? I bet none, he had become as pompous that he was labelled as Prime Minister, the same happened with Gwanda Chakuamba, Uladi Mussa and many others that cannot be mentioned here. Humility has not been part of politicians in Malawi, that when they fall, they fall harder and the leave the public smiling. I recalled this last night after hearing the firing of Leckford Thot...

On 21 May 2010, the Malawi Parliament moved into its own new permanent and purposely built home, courtesy of the Chinese Government benevolence who pumped in K6 billion to transform Malawi’s capital city’s presidential way. The completion of the purpose built home of the national legislative body, augurs well with the proclaimed equality of the three branches of Government in a democracy namely Parliament, Executive and The Judiciary. Only the Executive had a permanent seat called Capital Hill. The expectations of a new era of a democratic and civilized politics were also raised days later on Tuesday, 25th May 2010, when in a landmark speech to parliament titled One People, One Nation, President Bingu wa Mutharika called Malawians to bury the past. “We have to move forward. We must come out of the past. We cannot live in the past permanently. The past belongs to history. There is no room in Malawi for politics of hatred. There is no room in Malawi for politics of vengeance or retributi...