DC’s call to change nat'l anthem lyrics spiked

Thursday, 29 July 2010 05:16

Written by ABEL WEZZI

1 Comments

LILONGWE—Is the issue too hot to handle right now? With the issue of changing the national flag still generating intense feelings among the people who feel it was forced on the country, the government apparently doesn’t want another hot political potato on its hands.

But touching off another round of carping at the government must not have been on the cards of Ntchisi District Commissioners Alex Mdoko.

As Pres Bingu wa Mutharika, a recipient of the food security award was away at the African Union summit in Uganda where he presented a proposal for 17 countries to end hunger in the next five years, Mdoko back at home in Malawi felt something had to be done about the country’s national anthem which calls upon God to end hunger yet there’s no hunger in Malawi.

Mdoko said as Malawi is “modifying other things, perhaps we should start thinking of looking at the National Anthem.”

The district commissioner had worked it out and came up with a few suggestions of his own to modernise the national anthem. Remove the words “hunger”, “disease” and “envy” and replace them with “poverty and corruption,” said Mdoko, who was speaking at the launch of a service centre in Ntchisi, an event attended by MPs, traditional leaders and government officials.

The idea however didn't fly with the government. An emphatic “no” was the response from the office of the president and cabinet (OPC).

Deputy Minister at the OPC Nicholas Dausi distanced the government from Mdoko’s remarks, saying “personal opinions have to be respected”.

The district commissioner's remarks didn’t in any shape or form represent the views of the government on the issue, he pointed out. Besides, the government didn’t want hunger to ever rear its ugly head again and food security remains a “struggle”. Malawi is yet to get to the level where it can comfortably export its surplus produce, he added.

James Chimanda, a clerk, agrees with the government position as espoused by Dausi. But, says Chimanda, "that is how it all starts.”

Meaning what?

“They deny it first but you only realize later it is what they have been working on all along,” he says.

The government, which says so much has happened since the country gained independence from Great Britain in 1964 and that its proposed new flag captures what has taken place so far, is moving full steam ahead with plans to replace the national colors despite opposition from many quarters.

While there have been significant changes for some, life for the vast majority of the country’s 13 million remains a constant battle for survival at less than one United States dollar a day.—maravipost

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0 # jerry 2010-07-29 17:45

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