MY THOUGHTS ON BINGU (Part 2): UNDERSTANDING THE BINGU DREAM

The Bingu dream lives on

Why do we talk about the Bingu dream? Why was Bingu talking about dreams? Why do we scream words like “the dreamer is gone but the dream lives on?” Yes, Bingu our visionary leader is gone but not with his dreams. He was a dreamer but not just any other dreamer. He was one who would work so hard to translate the dreams into reality.

The uniqueness of this dreamer was that he was not only dreaming about himself but his dreams were always about Malawi.

He dreamt while eyes open, no wonder President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe spoke with admiration about this great leader this other day urging him to keep “dreaming and dreaming”. Why? The Bingu dream was so impressive, broad, significant, and persuasive.

Who could fault the late Bingu’s dreams when all eyes were there to see how the dream manifested itself on the ground in all sectors of development.

Wait a minute, before I go on and on we need to talk about something very important. For us to understand the reality of the Bingu dream better let’s look at how dreams are made in the brain. You would agree with me that dreaming is an important component of the human experience; I dream, you dream, we all can dream, but the value of the dream is what matters.

For us to dream here are the things that are needed; First a person needs to have a brain that is functioning. The second step in the construction of dreams is vision. You need a clear vision for you dream. It’s what we see, think and touch that is stored and processed in the brain to become a dream.

Any damage to one distinct region of the brain which is said to be crucial for the generation of dreams would cause what is called Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome, named after neurologists Jean-Martin Charcot and Hermann Wilbrand, who first described it in the 1880s. This is an illness that causes people to stop dreaming. It usually develops when one is attacked by stroke.

As explained, dreams are constructed when one has a clear vision and a functioning brain. A person who is able to look at current developments and analyse them comprehensively. One who can gaze into the future and make sense of all the ideas generated in the mind before putting them into practice. A person who will be able to dream, interpret and make use of the dreams and turn them into a reality.

Unfortunately the truth is, not all people are gifted in that area. It’s just the same as leadership. Imagine having a gifted leader who is able to lead, dream and interpret the dream.

A leader, who is so visionary, well exposed to issues, one who is able to empower his people with a sense of self belief and reliance and sanctions them to own the country. That’s Bingu Wa Mutharika for you and that’s what the Bingu dream stands for.

Unfortunately Bingu never lived to achieve everything that he had in store for Malawi. The good thing is, the Bingu dream lives on. People that believed in the Bingu dream are all fired up to continue from where this great son of the soil stopped and build on the Bingu legacy. This is a legacy that gives Malawians hope.

As we gather on 9th May at Ndata in remembrance of the fallen hero, we remind each other to live in fulfillment of the Bingu dream.

MY THOUGHTS ON BINGU AHEAD OF HIS COMMEMORATION THIS SATURDAY

I will live to remember this visionary leader

Nobody believed it was true. The Nation was swallowed up with whispering voices of uncertainty. The news started making rounds around 11am in the morning. It was a Thursday morning by the way. 

A Thursday that brought an end to the life of a legend. A visionary and great son of Malawi who was so passionate about his country.  He was a man who loved everything about Malawi and had loved to be understood by his own people. A great leader whose legacy can never be exaggerated.

Each time we use all these adjectives and flowery language in trying to describe this fallen hero, we get buried into a sea of recollections that once upon a time there was Bingu Wa Mutharika the third President of the republic of Malawi.  

He came to Malawi as a nonentity politically. Apart from what we used to know of him at Comesa, there was no footprint for him on the political ground. Of course he co-founded the United Democratic Front UDF together with Bakili Muluzi in 1992, but that history seemed to have been swallowed by names that registered their significance on the road to the national referendum then. 

In 1999 he gave it a go on the presidential ballot with his United Party, sadly he finished last. An ordinary man would predict political doom for such a man. I would have declared him as a finished politician if it were me making an analysis of the 1999 polls. NO! Bingu never gave up. The passion for his country propelled him to display traits of greatness to the admiration of one political engineer.

In the political engineering process Bakili Muluzi made Bingu the Governor of the Reserve Bank, before roping him into cabinet. It never ended there, Bakili named Bingu as his successor in 2004. That marked the beginning of the manifestation of vastness in Bingu.

Bingu proved to the continent and the entire world that Africa needed an African solution to its problems. He instilled a sense of ownership of the country’s resources to the citizenry. He preached a message of self reliance. He reminded us of the vastness of our natural resources and how we can work to achieve even more in terms of production other than consuming. 

Bingu spoke with authority. His language depicted him as a craftsman of all trades. He was touted the “economic engineer” not out of sheer comedy but absolute enormous.  His first term was labelled a success by people from all sectors of our society.

Today as we think of joining his brother on Saturday, 9^th May, 2015, who will be leading the Mutharika family and the entire nation at Ndata farm where he is sleeping peacefully, it’s that time we reflect on the life and times of Bingu. What he achieved for this country that he loved so much. As a human being he might have made some judgemental errors, but they can never put to rest the Bingu legacy. They can never take away his dream that keeps living up to this very day.

Here was a man who was so committed to changing the face of this country. Who made us become proud of being called Malawians. For once we smiled each time people called us Malawians.

History can never be erased!

Till we meet again!

  

WHEN POLITICIANS DECIDE TO PAINT THE YOUTHS: CALL THAT YOUTH EMPOWERNMENT

Next month the Peter Mutharika administration clocks one year. During this period the media will be awash with different players in the political, social and economic subdivisions battling it out over the best vocabulary to describe the one year under APM.

As for me my interest will be to analyse what the country has achieved in terms of youth development. Are we making progress?

Let me take you back to the May polls last year. It is a clear fact that the winning formula in 2014 was the youths. Almost all the contesting candidates had put much emphasis on youth development. The youths were so excited with the change they were being promised. No wonder they participated fully in the King making process.

In MCP, UDF, DPP and PP the youths were almost everywhere leading the campaign. But unfortunately the reality is, most youths were just being used.

For years we have seen that most politicians think the role for the youths is simply to paint them orange, blue or yellow, bundle them in trucks, buy them sachets and make them become lead praise singers at political rallies that’s all.

Politicians take pride in using the youths to advance their political agendas. Unfortunately most youths love being used. They are short sighted. They don’t look at the future because the handouts from politicians keep blinding them.

In 2015 we can’t be talking about youth empowerment when all we keep seeing are pictures of politicians taking pride in youths that are painted all over with colours of their different political parties. Who ever invented this must be cursed where ever he is. He must be accredited for bringing evil in the country’s political system.

The more reason why these “unemployed sachet guzzling youths” paint themselves is the small monies they receive at the end of the day. We are talking the K20s, the K50s, Geez! That’s an insult to the youths.
Politicians can’t wake up and start claiming to be rebranding the youths when all they keep doing is painting them, buy them sachets and keep them as praise singers.

A crafty politician would take that as a sign that most young people in the country have got literally nothing to do. The craftiness comes when one takes advantage of that and brands it as one of the core programs in the advancement of the youth development agenda.

The high level of unemployment amongst the youths is nothing but an embarrassment to the politicians whether in government or in opposition. All I have been hearing from these politicians is some political rhetoric and empty promises about youth empowerment when the reality on the ground tells us otherwise.
According to the politicians who most of the times keep giving us the middle finger altitude once in power “the youths, belong to the praise singer’s bench that’s all”.

The DPP on the road to power in 2014 promised the following for the youths; Create diverse jobs for the Youth who are out of school, planning the means of employment for the Youth in school, empowering them with the knowledge and skills for creating wealth at individual and national levels. I must say this is what we need in this country at the moment.

Yes, the community colleges are here to help the youths in attaining vocational skills that will go a long way in uplifting their lives as they will become self reliant, but there is more that need to be done.

The whole system needs a complete overhaul to make youths become partners in development. Youths must now work with politicians not for politicians. We need change not just change but change for the better. This will mean changing everything about the welfare of the youths, changing everything about where the youths are placed in the society.

The ongoing Public Sector Reform Program must also get rid of some old timers who spend our taxes doing nothing at Capital hill but cash-gating and playing bawo. They can’t even operate a computer because they are still living in the analogue era. No wonder the underperformance of the Civil Service in most sectors.

These must go! Replace them with some young brains that are just loafing in the streets but have attractive papers combined with skill and modern knowledge. Appoint these young men and women into more senior positions in government and institutions of public importance.

We can’t claim to be making progress when we keep hearing the very same names changing positions up there in the name of Public Service Reforms. Those that have failed us let them pack up and go and employ some young and energetic force to stir the public service to glory.

I need change, you need change, and we are the kingmakers and let us choose our own destiny by making our demands known. Our noise must be organised noise not because we are being given sachets or we are made cheer leaders, but because we believe that we are very important and that these politicians need to treat us as such.

OF FOOTBALL SPONSORSHIP AND SOME SICK CONTRACTS

The joke that is Malawian football will never cease to astound me. The funniest part of our game is in the boardroom where it is managed by a bunch of comedians who have never achieved anything for the country. They are so clueless as to how much investment is needed to uplifting the standards to match those of our friends elsewhere.

What caught my attention thus far is this TNM super league sponsorship where I hear that no other mobile service provider is allowed to sponsor any super league team as long as the TNM sponsorship contract is in effect. Seriously this is taking the football family for granted; in fact whosoever was party to this nonsense brought us 10 plus steps backwards regarding football development.

I hear the Bullets failed to court other mobile service operators like Airtel simply because TNM and Sulom plus FAM agreed on some contract like document that stops other wanna be sponsors to come in as long as they are their competitors. 

I also remember Azam tigers this other season had struggled to have their jersey scribbled “Azam” because of this sponsorship accord. 

Picture this, for years now we have been debating as to whether ours is an amateur league, a semi professional or a professional league. I think now we have the answers; we are nothing but an amateur league because everything about our football stopped making sense long time ago.

All you hear from these football jokers during cup prize presentation ceremonies is some applauding to TNM for “working to uplifting the game of football in the country through their sponsorship”. Geez! We are a sick nation indeed. This nonsensical sponsorship can’t be applauded. Yes we are so desperate for sponsorship but we don’t need to be jumping to all the tunes being plucked by these companies, besides where is the corporate social responsibility.

Just take a look at South Africa. The Premier Soccer League enjoys sponsorship from four companies, MTN, Absa, Telkom, Nebank and as you can see, Telkom and MTN are rivals in business. Apart from that, there are no restrictions in jersey naming. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer chiefs put on Vodacom labelled jerseys but are freely participating in the MTN8 wafwafa and the Telkom knockout donning their Vodacom uniforms.

In fact, MTN sponsors four clubs in the premiership: Ajax Cape Town, Bloemfontein Celtic, Golden Arrows and Black Leopards.

Back home, with this worthless contract between TNM and our super league how do you expect companies to come in and sponsor our clubs? What will they benefit from such a venture? They would opt out because they can’t have their company logos and names on the jersey of the clubs in a company because of these useless restrictions.

It’s high time this contract is reviewed otherwise it doesn’t make sense to me.

TNM always not with us…. Especially in football.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE IMPENDING DEMOS

Rev Sembereka

It’s more than a fact now and the picture is coming out clearly that the Mac Donald Semberekas of this world are politicians that are advancing an anti DPP government while masquerading as Civil Society. You can tell by their arrogance, actions and choice of words as there are still pushing to take to the streets, an idea which is becoming more unpopular each passing moment.

The three (is it five now?) are using the civil society platform to advance their political agenda and that’s the more reason why their colleagues in the civil society are distancing themselves from their plans.

They have chosen to close their eyes and ears from any voice of reason and it’s giving us all time to think “what the hell?”

The reasons being advanced are not justified if not laughable. These people are not fighting for Malawi but their own selfish motives to quench their political ambitions.

I personally love the fact that government is not stopping them from taking to the streets because this is their constitutional right as long as they abide to the laid down laws during the demonstrations. I believe that during the demos, security agencies will take charge and protect people’s lives and property without fear or favour.

Think about this; a number of those that are agitating for the demos served in the PP administration during which about K20 billion was stolen from public coffers but they all kept quite because they were busy benefiting from the loot.

Martha Kwataine served in the MACRA board and Macdonald Sembereka was working at State House shouting PP woyeeee! PP yanyamuka, odi ukooooo, amayi adutse! and we expect such people to talk good about the current administration? They will take advantage of any flows in the current administration to cause havoc.  

As Malawians we really need to question the morality of these people that are claiming to be representing the interests of the nation. We need to scrutinise the credibility of such people and their conduct before we give ourselves flat out to be used.

It’s a disappointment knowing that most of the times when these people organise demos they love using the youths to advance their selfish ambitions.

It’s now time for the youths of Malawi to rise up and refuse to be used by these selfish people. We can do better by becoming governments’ partners in development other than becoming agents of anarchy and disorder.

Time has come for the youths to fast realise that they have a role to play in shaping the future of our country as partners not as people that should be used by MacDonald Sembereka and company.

Our friends died on July 20. These were supposed to be productive youths but sadly some political machinery used them in the name of demonstrations.

As youths we need to be seen to be progressing in life and bring out something out of our lives. We need to demand for better lives. We need business opportunities, good education etc. Let these CSOs mobilise themselves to fight for youth empowerment in this country.

What will K5 million of NAC money that was donated to BEAM do to Malawi as compared to the K20 billion that was lost in the whole cash-gate fiasco? Let’s fight for a successful conclusion of the cash-gate cases not over an issue that seems to have come to an end after the Global fund cleared NAC of any wrong doing in the transaction.

I am very sure that Gift Trapence will also take advantage of the “unpopular” gathering to advance his gay motives, sunganeneletu amwene.