“Order! I dealt with the issue on hand (interjection) order; and I do not need to deal with it again (interjection) order; so please (interjection) order; let’s please move on (interjection) order! Let the distinguished member have her say.” — John Bercow, Speaker of UK House of Parliament
“If you know other languages but not your own, you’re enslaved. If you know your own language & others you’re empowered.” – Ng?g? wa Thiong’o, 2017 public lecture
My editor Edyth Kambalame, this week started a twitter storm when she came to defense of Malawi’s youngest parliamentarian, 24-year old Honourable 24-year old Fyness after radio listeners but also her fellow lawmakers, ridiculed her televised interview and her parliamentary contribution. Taunts of her flawed English went viral on social media.
During a parliamentary question time the Second Deputy Speaker is captured in a sound bite of the lawmaker’s statement in the House, interjecting at least four times. The clip is making the rounds and causing a comic relief in the WhatsApp forwards.
But human rights defenders have been quick to respond and come to the honourable’s defense.
Of the young parliamentarian, Kambalame said she “beat all odds to become the youngest legislator in Parliament. She is young, brave and ambitious. She has undoubtedly inspired many girls not just in her constituency but nationwide. To vilify her for speaking ‘poor’ English is just being petty.”
Habiba Osman gave in her weighted response by underscoring that the “tragic debate on Hon. Fyness, exposes some serious disfunction in the education system. The issue, is how do we also promote up-scaling and reskilling to keep the pace with rapid technological and digital transformations needed for these millennial leaders?”
Another defender Maria Mhandire gave Osman and encore and said “These are my sentiments exactly. She is a product of our education system, which failed her. She rose up by sheer will to represent her people. We should be less critical and more in awe.
“She is not part of a marginalized minority. She represents the majority; approximately 70 percent plus of Malawi’s population, who barely survive our broken education system. I have witnessed grade 7 learners who have a reading level of a grade 2 or less. These come from classroom where the student-teacher ratio is are around 100 to 1!!”
In 1994, women wanted to meet Malawi’s first First Lady, Madame Muluzi. A meeting was organized, and I gladly attended the Lilongwe tête-à-tête with the women. Because the organizers said, “she couldn’t speak English,” the guest of honor sat quietly at the 2-hour meeting, and she did not say anything. Not a word.
The Minister of Gender spoke, as did other women representatives from the civil society organizations, the UN. Later, we filed past First Lady Anne Muluzi, shook her hands, thanked her for being with us, and left the hotel banquet hall feeling deflated.
Also feeling cheated, I wrote a rebuke editorial, citing how Harvard and Cornel educated Chinese officials and First Lady speak Chinese when delivering a statement at public functions. I advanced that Madam Muluzi could have spoken to us in Chichewa, since we were all Malawians, except for about six members of the UN and the EU.
English won the day. English rules!
In this week’s twitter feud, Wisdom Kamgwede was swift to accuse the media advising that “the media in Malawi better ask our interviewees the language they would be comfortable with and do voice-overs later. Period.”
It was an interesting interjection from Levi Kabwato that inspired me and I followed and inject his contribution. We say we are Malawians, we are proud of our country, heritage and tradition; but we still feel compelled to converse in English, even when it is not to our advantage, or as far as the parliamentarian, to the advantage of the people she represents.
Kabwato took a leaf from literature’s laureate from the northeast, Ng?g? wa Thiong’o — in his bit to stop Malawi shaming the young Malawian parliamentarian for not speaking English very well. The contribution is from a public lecture Ngugi gave in 2017, but still resonates its worth in our communication strategies.
Ngugi begins his lecture by saying that the “mother languages (have) become languages of shame and defeat; colonial languages became languages of glory and excellence.”
Ngugi laments that in Africa, we laugh at our fellow Africans who although they speak multiple African languages, they can’t speak any of the European languages or the coveted English language. Africans also love to revere Africans who speak multiple European languages. These are looked up to as being highly educated.
Ngugi underscores that the fear of African languages emanates from the perceived threat to a seat on the ‘Global’ table. Since “we’re told we need to be global, but we only get remnants from the so-called seat on the global table.
With this plan to rise to the global table, Ngugi advances that the African languages were meant to die. But they haven’t. the irony of ironies on language is that when an African applies for a job or school in Europe or the US, and you do not speak English, chances are, you will not be hired. Why do we hire Lecturers and other employees in Africa who don’t know African languages?
We need well-resourced Language and Literature bureaus that can make knowledge of African languages count, Ngugi said.
Back to our non-excellent English-speaking lawmakers, my advice is for the MP to take up lesson, employ a tutor and learn English. This is a great time to embark on this learning curve, because money is available.
On the other hand, possibly the Malawi Parliament could take a deep dive into its resources and conduct English, French, and Portuguese speaking classes, right on site at Parliament buildings.
Another option (the best) would be for the parliamentarian to ask the reporter to conduct the interview and deliver statements in parliament in a language the lawmakers feel most comfortable speaking.
On this last point, concern must be expressed about who the lawmakers are talking to when they speak in the interviews. If lawmakers make statements in the vein that they are speaking to their constituents, then speaking in Chichewa, Tumbuka, Yao, Sena or Tonga, would not be a problem; it’s a great communication tool.
Kabwato agreed with this premise and said the media houses could be conducting their interviews in any of the local languages.
As pointed out earlier, the Chinese do it. The Russians do it. The Spanish do it. The leaders in these countries understand and speak English very well. BUT because they are communicating to their people, they use their mother tongue languages. For great effect.
Last words
There really is no reason why Malawians are insisting on speaking English? Even the commentators are speaking in a mixture of English and Chichewa (that’s fodder for another topic).
Yes, Malawi education standards have plummeted. Great message to lawmaker: Speak in language you are comfortable to speak. But most of all, speak in the language your constituents will understand. Think about which people you want your message to reach, the people you represent. If seventy percent of Malawians don’t speak English, and if the people you represent can’t understand a word you are saying in your radio interviews, then you are off target.
Honorable, speak in the language of your voters.
