Tag Archives: Malawi’s 58th birthday

Opinion, Politics

58th Birthday celebration with 58 Malawi’s weird facts

Rick Dzida

As Malawi on July 6, 2022 turned into 58 after attaining independence, our political and social contributor Rich Dzida unpacks 58 weird facts haboring Malawi for progress:

Independence Day celebrations

Here are facts:

  1. It is only in Malawi where a constitutional court nullifies an internationally free and fair election based on irregularities of which one main contestant , Dr. Saulos Chilima admitted that the irregularities didn’t affect his votes and also the court admitted that there was no evidence of rigging.
  2. It is only in Malawi where the court grants a stay order restraining the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from interrogating and arresting corruption suspects such as Kezzie Msukwa.
  3. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera promises Malawians to resign if he does perform to their expectations within 2 years. However, after 2 years of underperformance, President Chakwera seeks to run for the second term.
  4. It is only in Malawi where the Speaker of National Assembly, Mrs. Gotani Hara, appoints leader of opposition in Parliament, Mr. Kondwani Nankhumwa.
  5. It is only in Malawi where the court grants an injunction restraining the Parliament from recognizing the leader of opposition elected by the opposition party, Dr. George Chaponda.
  6. It is only in Malawi where the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Steven Kayuni, refuses to grant consent to prosecute corruption suspects such as Ashok
  7. It is only in Malawi where the Attorney General (AG), Mr. Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, calls for a press conference where he announces a three months amnesty to let thieves just to return the stolen money, a proposal that has no legal backing. And the AG is not fired for ill-advising the government.
  8. It is only in Malawi where the president is praised for publicly driving a ship and a caterpillar construction vehicle. He is even praised for kneeling down to chiefs and eve to a child.
  9. It is only in Malawi where the word ‘majority’ means differently for the same Tripartite general elections. 50+1 or first past the post?
  10. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera publicly announced to suspend delegating duties to his Vice President Chilima on allegations of corruption. And the vice president does not resign to pave way for thorough investigations.
  11. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera announced to crack down nepotism while his daughter, his son-in-law and church members are the first beneficiaries of his regime.
  12. It is only in Malawi where one million jobs were promised within one year of Tonse Alliance government. Two years down the line, over 600,000 Malawians have lost jobs.
  13. It is only in Malawi where the ACB Director, Ms. Martha Chizuma announces that 13 corrupt cases have been extensively investigated including that of Dr. Saulos Chilima who has not been interrogated, arrested and charged yet.
  14. It is only in Malawi where the court grants an injunction restraining government from getting its own vehicles from the fired secretary to the office of president and cabinet, Mr. Zangazanga Chikhosi
  15. It is only in Malawi where the court grants an injunction restraining the office of the ombudsman from releasing a report that implicated Mr. Henry Kachaje of under-qualification and unprocedural recruitment. Up to now, Mr. Kachaje is still clinging to his position.
  16. It is only in Malawi where pupils wear sackcloth, learn under the tree while corruption suspects are being cushioned by the corrupt judiciary.
  17. It is only in Malawi where the vice president who is barred from standing as a presidential candidate by the case law still has hope to stand again since the judges who nullified the presidential elections have been promoted to Supreme court of appeal.
  18. It only happens in Malawi where President Chakwera gave his phone number to the general public. When people’s messages flood his inbox, he shouts at them that he can’t solve people’s household problems.
  19. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera government promised monthly stipend to the elderly people but up to now nothing has been done.
  20. It is only in Malawi where supply of input subsidy programme items is awarded to companies based on political affiliation but such dubious
    suppliers failed to deliver.
  21. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera blames Russia -Ukraine war for high prices of goods and services without providing solutions.
  22. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera promised Malawians during COVID-19 pandemic that he would transform Malawi’s economy but later blames the same COVID-19 pandemic for the dwindling economy in Malawi.
  23. It is only in Malawi where cabinet ministers and public officers accumulate unexplained massive wealth within a short time without invoking the Corrupt Practices Act.
  24. It is only in Malawi where an 18 years old boy is sent to jail for 8 years for possessing the illegal marijuana while wealthy marijuana business men are only penalised to pay a small amount.
  25. It is only in Malawi where the lower constitutional court can override the decisions of the higher court in an attempt to provide a political solution instead of a fair legal one.
  26. It is only in Malawi where judicial tourism is the order of the day. Judge Zione Ntaba was shop judged to grant bail to Kezzie Msukwa, a case that was supposed to be heard in Lilongwe.
  27. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera takes a big number of delegates with him spending over two weeks attending symposia amid Malawi’s ailing economy.
  28. It is only in Malawi where essential drugs are scarce in the public hospitals while corruption suspects are being cushioned by the court
  29. It is only in Malawi where the vice president Chilima buys over 200 brand new vehicles for UTM without explaining the source of income.
  30. It only happens in Malawi where government introduced surtax on cooking oil and later removes it and die-hards clap hands for putting the welfare of Malawians at heart.
  31. It is in Malawi where Malawi Congress Party (MCP) youths clad in militia attire provided security to President Chakwera at a ground breaking ceremony amid allegations that MCP government is training militia wing groups at Mtakataka police training station.
  32. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera announces economic austere measures by limiting unnecessary travel. Just days after the announcement, President Chakwera is always on the road holding political rallies, visiting ADMARC, launching M1 road construction etc. Some duties can be delegated to save money.
  33. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera promised Malawians to reshuffle cabinet within 6 months but it took him over one year just to make minor changes to the cabinet.
  34. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera can hide an albino report for over 2 years and later his government revamps a case to investigate Prof. Peter Mutharika’s involvement in albino killings.
  35. It is only in Malawi where socio-economic recovery plan was launched by President Chakwera but its implementation and evaluation has not been reported. Instead, Malawi’s economy is nosediving every day.
  36. It is only in Malawi where people were promised three meals a day only to be struck by incessant hunger with no food at all on a daily basis.
  37. It is only in Malawi where President hides the public sector reform report for over 2 years now and Malawians still expect our public service delivery to improve.
  38. It is only in Malawi where central region and Lilongwe specifically get lion’s share in the cabinet and public appointments positions simply because President Chakwera comes from Lilongwe.
  39. It is only in Malawi where convicts like Mr. Ralph Kasambara and Dr. Thom Mpinganjira are granted bail without any prospects of court hearing for years.
  40. It is only in Malawi where Malawi government expects to extradite human rights activist, Charles Ben Longwe from South Africa to Malawi while keeping the wanted Prophet Bushiri under wraps in Malawi.
  41. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera promised Malawians to prosper together when the rich are getting richer now while the poor poorer. There are no deliberate plans to seal the gap of inequality.
  42. It is only in Malawi where the president, the vice president, cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament remuneration is exponentially increased amid the ailing economy while local Malawians are struggling with life.
  43. It is only in Malawi where corruption cases take long to conclude. It appears it is enough just to arrest corruption suspects , granted bail and it ends there.
  44. It is only in Malawi where tribalism, cronyism, nepotism and regionalism were condemned by the current regime during their campaign period. But now they have become hypocritical by practising the same. The mother in law to Vice President Chilima is now in Zambia for a diplomatic mission.
  45. It is only in Malawi where human rights activists such as MacDonald Sembereka, Billy Mayaya and Timothy Mtambo are appeased with public appointments.
  46. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera breached rule of law by appointing the then Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) outside the MRA hierarchy.
  47. It is only in Malawi where government does not take serious measures over high incidences of suicide amid high cost of living , mental health and broken relationships.
  48. It is only in Malawi where the current regime tolerates rampant corruption such as NOCMA gate, State residences gate, Accountant general gate, cross roads hotel gate, Misprocurement gate, nepotism gate, etc …
  49. It is only in Malawi where Cabinet is composed of husbands and wives, siblings, brother and sister in laws concentrating wealth on few families
  50. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera has many special advisers amid a large cabinet. Paradoxically, cabinet ministers are also advisers to the president in their line ministries.
  51. It is only in Malawi where a coalition of 9 parties is failing to manage the economy including former president Joyce Banda, former vice president Khumbo kachale etc…
  52. It is only in Malawi where a reverend is caught lying. Reverend Chakwera lies are a shame to the believers. No free water and electricity connection, no non-expiratory driving licenses, corruption is the highest. He can’t even resign as he promised. Now we hear that President Chakwera signed contracts that involved a syndicate of corruption.
  53. It is only in Malawi where voters can be fooled to vote for Tonse Alliance without knowing what was agreed in their pact. When there are disagreements now, they expect the foolish Malawians to hold fresh presidential elections now.
  54. It is only in Malawi where the court imposes 50+1 majority to the National Assembly to amend the constitution when this 50+1 was already rejected by the same house. Thank God, the bill again did not acquire the two thirds majority to amend our constitution.
  55. It is only in Malawi where we have large bodies of water in our lakes but we always rely on natural rains. No plans to revamp irrigation green belt initiatives.
  56. It is only in Malawi where President Chakwera promised to reduce presidential powers but now he enjoys the very same powers of being the Chancellor of public universities, the powers to appoint board of directors, the powers to delegate or withhold delegated duties to the vice president
  57. It is only in Malawi where public service delivery is pathetic. Visit our public hospitals, immigration department, road traffic department, public universities, Judiciary, Parliament, police, prisons etc…
  58. It is only in Malawi where the song of making ACB to be fully independent is sung by every regime. Now the president has the liberty of requesting a report from ACB. What if the president himself is implicated? No wonder he has the presidential immunity.

Feedback to: rdzida@gmx.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor

Malawi, Regional, Sports

Lesotho spoils Malawi’s 58th birthday celebrations

Maravi Post Reporter

………..MALAWI 1-2 LESOTHO

By Edwin Mbewe

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi National Football Team on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 suffered a shameful 2-1 defeat in the hands of Lesotho in 2022 Hollywood bets COSAFA tournaments to spoil the 58th independence day celebrations.

Mhango in red challenged by Lesotho players

The Flames created some scoring chances but failed to convert them into goals. This has been the case in the previous games.

Flames coach Marinica’s style of play left a lot to be desired that sports loving fraternity keep on witnessing their beloved team corrodes.

Flames’ defence compromised of Sankhani Mkandawire, Blessings Mpokera as center backs, Precious Sambani and Stanley Sanudi as left and right backs made several blunders which cost the team.

Frank Mhango, Stain Davie and Khuda Muyaba started as center attackers but ended up missing chances and their efforts denied by Lesotho goalie at King Zwelinthini Stadium in Durban.

Lesotho took a lead through an own goal by Flames defender Sankhani Mkandawire before extending the lead in the second half.

Veteran Chiukepo Msowoya however scored consolation goal for the Flames.

With the defeat,Malawi has put themselves in a this a tight situation where they are supposed to win all the remaining two games in group B if they are to qualify into the next stage.

The Flames will play Eswatini who defeated Mauritius 3-1 in their second group B game at the same venue on Friday, July 8, 2022 before winding up with Mauritius at Princes Magogo Stadium on Sunday.

Flames coach Mario Marinica said boys played well despite the loss and cited coordination as one problem the team faced.

He is however upbeat of doing better and qualify to the next round.

Malawi has never won COSAFA cup since its establishment, managed to reach finals twice in early 2000.

The Flames won COSAFA Plate Section in 2015 after beating neighbors Zambia 1-0.

Politics

UP leader John Chisi dares Malawians to reflect on their contributions towards socioeconomic problem solving

Maravi Post Author

By Watipaso Mzungu

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Umodzi Party (UP) president Professor John Chisi has told Malawians to reflect on their contribution to the socioeconomic aspirations of the country instead of blaming President Lazarus Chakwera.

Chisi, speaking in an interview on Wednesday morning, observed that most Malawians spend time blaming the leadership for every social and economic problem facing the country.

Prof Chisi and Mwenefumbo during the Malawi’s 58th birthday

“A leader for Malawi is a Malawian who was born and grew up under the fabrics of Malawi. So, how do you expect him to behave differently from the fabric behaviour of Malawi? So, when you want to change the nation, you have to define your own objectives not others,” he said.

Chisi, who stressed that he was not trying to drum support for Chakwera, challenged that Malawi, as a country, cannot develop unless citizens participate in activities and programmes designed to transform the nation.

He argued that the President himself alone does not hold solutions to the problems the country is going through.

Meanwhile, President Chakwera has also challenged Malawians to be active participants in the fight against the social and economic challenges that the country is currently going through.

Chakwera, who was speaking at Malawi Square today during the commemoration of the 58th Malawi Independence Day, emphasized that the decisions citizens will make regarding the direction the country must take matters most in addressing these challenges.

“On this 58th Commemoration of Malawi’s Independence Day, we stand at a crossroads as a nation. We stand in the valley of decision, and we must make a choice.

“We must choose what our conduct towards national development will be, whether we will sit in the stands as individual spectators to point out the problems in our midst or run on the field as one team to help Malawi reach its goal of self-reliance and prosperity,” said the President.

He added: “We must choose what our attitude towards our fellow citizens will be, whether to mock Malawians who keep trying to make a difference even after failing publicly or to cheer them on and ignite their faith in the success that will be theirs if they do not give up.

“We must choose what our relationship with government and public institutions will be, whether it will be one of direct engagement to offer help to public officers who operate under very challenging circumstances or one of distant castigation to throw stones and insults at them for our own popularity and amusement.”

Chakwera further challenged Malawians to choose whether to be on the side that contributes to Malawi’s problems of poverty, corruption, greed, foreign exploitation, gossip, negativity, laziness, hopelessness, crime, low standards, discrimination, vandalism, tribalism, and the abuse of power and resources, or on the side that contributes to Malawi’s development, reforms, investment, positivity, hard work, transparency, patriotism, freedom, security, peace, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Malawi, Politics

Fix ailing economy, Malawians can’t breathe at 58! Chakwera told

Maravi Post Reporter


……….as CDEDI cautions Chakwera on reckless enforcement of forestry act

By Iommie Chiwalo

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has asked the current leadership to fix the economy as Malawians cannot breathe.

The caution comes after noting that in the event of commemorating 58 years of independence and 28 years of multiparty democracy, the current political regime, is leading in subjecting already vulnerable and marginalised Malawians through unjust social and economic laws and policies that are entrenching them into poverty further.

Chakwera at 58th Malawi’s birthday

In an Independence day celebration message, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa says it beats human imagination that the current leadership is busy milking everyone and everything, even if it means taking away the very means of survival for the citizens, in the name of levies, taxes and fines.

“When today, Malawians were supposed to be celebrating their Independence, they have woken up to very shocking and shameful revelations that government has purportedly amended the Forestry Act of 2020, by inserting fresh penalties in the Act to criminalise charcoal burning, processing, selling and usage! The social media is awash with some pieces of the amended Act, containing some regulations that are supposedly meant to enforce preservation of the natural resources, without any iota of a human face,” says Namiwa in the statement.

He says looking at such a law, it would appear it was drafted by individuals who are not only out of touch with reality, but also had outright ulterior intentions.

“It is worth pointing out that CDEDI, just like all well-meaning and law-abiding Malawians, welcomes any effort to preserve the country’s natural resources, but not through inconsiderate means that appear like the vulnerable and marginalised Malawians just love destroying the environment, yet they are victims of situations beyond their control, and their plight is alarmingly huge,” he says.

Namiwa further said that CDEDI finds the recent purported offences, fines, and penalties under the amended Forestry Act of 2020, and the subsequent announcement of licenses that have been issued to selected charcoal dealers, as a cartel aimed at making a killing out of the plight of Malawians.

“The enforcement of such legislation means the whole country will be turned into prison cells, since only 11 percent of the population is connected to the electricity national grid. But even most of those that are connected are faced with prolonged load-shading schedules that go as far as eight hours a day, while others cannot even afford to use electricity for cooking. Alternatives to electricity are gas and solar, which do not come cheap for an ordinary citizen, either,” narrates Namiwa.

He suggests that if government really cares for the welfare of its people, it would be proper to have issued such licenses to the ordinary citizens who are surviving on charcoal burning and selling for a living.

“CDEDI believes the technology of producing this charcoal, which is environmentally-friendly, is not complicated for an average Malawian. And, indeed, this would have been the simplest way of creating the dreamt-about one million jobs.
Better still, government could have invested in alternatives of cushioning the heavily-taxed and burdened consumers, such as investing in bio-gas and energy-saving stoves, including subsidising prices of gas, solar equipment and electricity tariffs, before thinking about a law whose implementation might fuel public revolt,” he said.

While questioning the changes in the forestry Act, Namiwa feels is only a shameless attempt to intimidate and swindle Malawians.

He says given a second thought, the move smacks of a government desperately in need of revenue, but is clueless on how to create a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive and provide the much-needed revenue for the nation.

“It is against this background that CDEDI is challenging the Tonse Alliance administration to put aside the laughable measures and concentrate on creating alternatives to wanton cutting down of trees for charcoal burning.
Otherwise, the enforcement of the so-called amended Forestry Act of 2020, is a recipe for lawlessness,”

The ammended forestry Act of 2020 is prohibiting even possession of charcoal and has given charcoal manufacturers licence to rich people who are selling the products in shopping malls at an exorbitant price.

Malawi, Opinion

Of Malawians ‘visiting’ Malawi?

Maravi Post Author

By Fatsani Gunya

State House Director of Communications Sean Kampondeni may not be a popular figure among many owing to the fact that he is connected to the powers that be; which I believe is not his fault anyway.

Everyone can marry where they want and then fate takes care of the rest! But during Monday’s #StateHouseQuarterlyBrief, the guy touched on something that sent me into some deep reflection.

By the way, I am yet to meet Sean, personally despite our respective careers crossing paths now and then!

Fatsani Gunya; Top notch Malawi’s Science Journalist

He mentioned how much we, read Malawians, tend to always root for our own failure with no apparent care; how we find it easy to propagate doom instead of hope and how we so easily despise others around us, irrespective of the consequences on the nation at large.

It is like we deserve to live in a broken society so much that any attempts to ‘mend’ the systems that got us here in the first place are usually welcomed with contempt.

“We are here only to inform. No misinformation. No disinformation,” Kampondeni said of the quarterly briefs.

“We don’t tackle politics. All attempts to get us comment on politics are and will be directed to political parties.

“…I am aware that in Malawi, we are fond of of painting negative pictures of situations, even on things that are clearly working. How then do we expect outsiders to have confidence in us as a nation when all we do is propagate negativity all the time,” said director, also a practising church Pastor.

From what he said, and from experience, we seem to be a highly charged people when it comes to one of the three enemies against which the creative mind that was Michael Sauka warned us beforehand in his National Anthem composition: envy.

That spirit of “If I am not doing it, no one else will or should”.

As a nation, we tend to always be in a competition among ourselves to make regimes fail; and fail us they eventually do.

And like Kampondeni clearly stipulated, we tend to have all the time fabricating news, twisting stories and pushing on some narratives that do not even exist; all through disinformation, misinformation and sometimes, through pity lies.

So much for our ‘happy’ endings!

Where and how we get happiness or some satisfaction out of this still beats me.

A case in point was a specific question by a journalist during the Brief in question at Kamuzu Palace.

The question bordered on the promise by President Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance partners during the campaign trail over 24 months ago, to trim presidential powers so as to enhance transparency and accountability.

While the State House Press Secretary Anthony Kasunda plainly said the President has been preoccupied with other Bills of equal importance in nature, and that he would come in to attend to the said Bill later, the country has today woken up to tonques wagging that Chakwera now sees this issue as unnecessary [to his administration].

Sigh!

Was Rome ever built in a day?
Are the other Bills deliberated on, or already ascented into laws in the first two years of his tenure therefore of less importance?

I guess not

Now, get me right: I do not pretend to be so wise I have never, and I don’t think I will ever claim to be one.

However, my Two Kwacha thoughts tell me that one has to act with what they have and from where they are.

I am a media practitioner, I have the pen, and the space. I come from Malawi…and so, I am here.

I am also not blind to whatever goes on innthis country.

I also know that no one is beyond reproach; the administration inclusive. Not inna democratic dispensation like ours.

In fact, the presidency itself has always welcomed rebuke wherever necessary; a departure from what we kind of got used to before.

We need to inspire hope.
We need to encourage each other.
People need to have their self-esteem enhanced so that they approach the future with an understanding that it belongs to them, once they get organised.
They need to have that belief to say, yes we can.

Sadly, it seems not in Malawi!

To make matters worse, such strange philosophies, cheap propaganda and hate are often spearhead by those we expect them to know better.

They tend to always dismiss any attempts one makes, even at family level to help improve the situation; so long it’s not championed by the former!

As we clock 58 years of self rule as a nation, I beg we take a break and seriously reflect on the impact of our spread propaganda, hate and discouragement has had on the country’s socio-economic drive ove the years.

We need to each face ourselves in the mirror and question ourselves whether we are proud of ourselves for the role we have played so far through our respective areas of influence.

For sure, we need to break this curse as a nation.

We can not keep having this cycle of waiting by the fence causing mayhem and waiting for others to fail in the hope that the throne gets recommended to us before we can do something about it. All that emanates from selfishness; key to the ‘Bring Them Down’ syndrome!

Is Malawi indeed beyond redemption?
Is all hope truly gone?
Are we sure we cant join the few in inspring that young girl or street child towards yearning to achieve greatness one day?

Do we now have to ‘close shop’ simply because some of us have ‘already made it in life so much that we don’t care the fate of those poor millions around us; whose lives God has entrusted in our leadership per given time?

Meanwhile, as we wait for the ‘orators’ and ‘analysts’ to poke fun at us (Malawi) again tomorrow [July 6] for the Independence Celebrations; I could not help but share what Rwandan President Paul Kagame once emphased on when faced by a similar situation back home; almost in similar fashion:

“Liberation means getting rid of bad politics. We liberated the country from bad leadership. But it is not enough, we have to deal with came as consequence.

The next stage of liberation is to liberate ourselves from poverty, hunger, disease and depending on others for our livelihood. When you rely on others for your survival, they decide whether you live or die.
We know what we are capable of becauswe have seen how far we have come from.

With good leadership and the right politics, each of us working together can build the nation we deserve. It is within our means to be as prosperous as any developed nation in the world.”

This was during the Rwanda’s 23rd Liberation Day celebrations that were held in the country’s Shyira District.

As it stands, I am sure we all agree that a better Malawi can not come by through an individual; let alone the President. It will come through some collective action from all of us. This is what entails mindset change. It has to begin with me; with us at an individual level.

Have you ever been to a football match? It is the spectators that make a lot of noise. They are either cheering or jeering while the players, and the coach, stay focused on the goal!

Let’s get busy, let’s get to work,folks. Let’s start from where we are and with what we have in changing the country’s socio-economic landscape for the better.

Let’s all work towards reshaping the furure of our country so as to make the subsequent Independence Anniversary as rosy as we all yearn them to be.

Someone once said: “Action always proves why words are empty!”

Above all, let’s inspire hope. Let’s have encouragers; the world is already full of critics!

For now, Happy 58th Independence Day!

Disclaimer: Fatsani Gunya is a Malawian freelance journalist who is passionate about reporting on the sciences. However, responding to the primary calling of the trade, which is talking truth to power, he also take time to discuss some issues affecting the socio-economic sector of the country he proudly calls home: Malawi. He is writing in his personal capacity.