MBC for us all.. give Uladi Mussa a black out I need to watch football.

Last evening I was in town, getting myself soaked to the September rains wondering if this could be attributed to effects of climate change or one of the malformations of nature. Then I received a phone call from a friend asking me if I was home and watching MBC TV, I said no. The friend told me that the broadcaster had just covered in its news bulletin the DPP rally in Masintha. 

Just seconds after the call it was now text message from another text message. These were friends informing me that they just watched Professor Peter Mutharika on MBC TV. I said wow that must be exciting. Then the social media was awash with the “bravo MBC for opening up” messages. Again I said wow this is interesting. Unfortunately due to my tight television watching schedule, when I arrived home my interest was in the USA with events on the historic Government shut down, I couldn’t gamble switching on MBC TV.

To me the news that MBC has opened up or is trying to open up (whatever is the right way of putting it) is commendable but there is need to consolidate this development and take other necessary steps to make sure that MBC achieves a full status of a public broadcaster as enshrined in the Communications Act. It’s sickening to note that it has taken the country 22 years since the MBC Act of 1964 was amended in 1991 for us to finally start opening up the airwaves of MBC.

In fact we were not even supposed to be debating MBC because the communications act under section 87 directs that MBC in its provision of broadcasting services must function independently without any political bias, support the democratic process and have regard to the public interest.

In my view, all politicians in Malawi need to take the blame for failing Malawians on MBC. There is no need for “Bravo JB” here. Just go to MBC and see the politics within the corridors. You will hear of reporters being banned to cover presidential functions simply because they are believed to be blue or green instead of orange. People enjoying some favours because of a colour they are believed to be promoting than others. So the opening up should also bring with it a broom to take away all the political dirt that has clouded MBC for years.

Am longing for a time when I will be able to watch the TNM Super league game live instead of being forced to watch the president laying a foundation stone at some bus depot in Mangochi. Gees! That stone is for the people of Mangochi not for all of us. Why spending my tax money beaming such a function on a national TV? Who cares anyway? I need to watch football, netball and other programs live not watch Uladi Mussa and his bad mouth atakhutakhuta misonkho yathu nkumaphunzitsa ana athu kutukwana pa TV. As if that is not enough, there is always a repeat after the 8pm news.

 To me opening up MBC means giving us news as it is not watching a PP Member of Parliament (or DPP, MCP or belonging to any other party) launching a football trophy in his area instead of updating us on the Mphwiyo shooting episodes as they progress. It just feels like we are still leaving under one party rule where MBC was there to talk about Kamuzu and MCP, nobody else. Apart from the news clip that had the DPP leader or this other day the MCP leader, it’s all about JB around the clock. 

Let me put it clear here that this is not about JB, it’s about whoever seats at state house. We don’t need too much of you on TV, period!

Let MBC follow up stories like this one where we heard that there is no maize in most admarc depots; let them cover the depletion of maize in our maize silos. Let them carry interviews that are criticising the current administration not the “so and so have commended Government” stories, of course we are talking about well balanced stories where all sides are given the platform to be heard.  

As we surely have shown commitment in this let’s not forget the fact that there is the Communications act weighing heavily on the shoulders of MBC where the Director General is answerable to the Minister of Information. Adding on that Section 90 of the act clearly states that the Board of MBC is appointed by the President. MBC can open up yes but we still have got the hand of a politician somewhere controlling events. That hand needs to be chopped off. We can’t be talking about the very same things over and over again. MBC runs on our taxes not on the bills of any politician. It is the duty of MBC to advance the encouragement of free and informed opinion on all matters of public interest, respect for human rights, the rule of law and the constitution of Malawi.

Gaba Malawi's Samuel Et'o? Nah, call him dull and a cheat..

The news that is in town is about Gabadinho Mhango. At the moment it seems like Gaba is the only player who is enjoying massive publicity in the media. If he is not cheating on his age then he is having problems to score during his JCE exams. Without roving up and down with the truth, Gaba is so dull and is a cheat, atleats my conclusion is based on facts.

Now there is a heated debate as to why this JCE issue is becoming a hot topic, the reason is simple when Gaba was writing his JCE it was news all over. His timetable was splashed in the papers and it generated a lot of excitement because a lot of people including his family, Big Bullets club, FAM and all of us had commented that the boy needed to take his books seriously before his football career.

I remember very well there were a lot of foreign teams that had shown interest to sign the player but the deals never went through. The reasons given were “Gaba apange kaye school”. 

Gaba had on so many occasions snubbed the national team call up because we were made to believe that “he was concentrating on his studies”. For example this other day he didn’t report for camp because he was writing his midterm exams and Coach Kinnah Phiri wasn’t amused at all. In other words as a country we were all waiting to hear what might come from Chichiri Secondary School. We remembered how Gaba came to watch his team draw against Namibia on June 5 at Kamuzu Stadium. He had just finished writing one of his JCE papers.

After noticing lack of fire power upfront during the game, there were calls for the coach to recall Gab for the Kenya game which was scheduled for the other week. The game was coming a day after the boy was sitting for his last paper. It was also reported that the coach had arranged special training sessions for Gaba only. As you can see, we all wished Gaba well but the boy doesn’t have the mind for education.

I have seen people commenting that education and football don’t go together. There are examples of players such as Samuel Eto who are millionaires but never made it in class. Trust me the Samuel Eto example cannot be applied to the Malawian context where our players as good as Josephy Kamwendo can only attract clubs from Mozambique pompa pokwelera kabazapa. They go to South Africa only to be dumped in the Mvela League, if they are lucky they will be signed by a PSL side but chances are that after 1 or 2 seasons they will be relegated to the bench before being offloaded completely. We have so many examples I don’t need to list them here.

Look here; we have seen Players that we all thought had travelled a lot to at least have something to show for it but where are they? Remember the story of Chancy Gondwe? The guy after all the years of playing in South Africa he couldn’t even afford 30 thousand kwacha to enrol at a Theological college in Lilongwe. Should I tell the story of Grant Lungu here? Had it been that he had the papers I believe he could have hanged up his boots and start searching for a job elsewhere. We have Phillip Madinga who is heading FDH bank, do you remember him? He was playing football but he never hesitated to take his books seriously. Apart from the likes of Phillip Madinga, Water Nyamilandu there are few players that have decent jobs after hanging their boots. Why? They don’t have the papers. Football in Malawi doesn’t pay and the standards have gone down that we can’t even produce a Samuel Eto from here, never, not in this generation.

Let me take you to Liberia, I guess we all can remember how George Weah failed to make it as president despite being popular because he did not have the papers. This forced him to go back to school for him to realise his ambition of becoming Liberia’s next president.

If we commend our players for dodging books in favour of football what kind of message are we giving to some young players who are at Primary School and are eyeing to become another Gaba? 

Having said all this let me point out that as a nation we realy need to take the blame also for spoiling this boy. We made him become the Eto we are talking about when he was miles away.

The return: Peter Mutharika's communication skills under the microscope part 1.

“People who do not have the talent to speak can be wonderful communicators”, Kevin Hogan. He says it is difficult to effectively communicate if you do not know what you want in the communication. This is where I am having problems to fully understand the debate in town about Arthur Peter Mutharika and his communication skills.

I have been following Peter Mutharika on his campaign trail and analysed the core message of his 2014 comeback bid. In Peter Mutharika I have seen a man who is so passionate about Malawi. I have listened to a man who knows what he is talking about. A man who opens up his mouth to speak only when it’s necessary. He is so brief and straight to the point. 

Talking about his leadership skills; Peter Mutharika has demonstrated his leadership skills in the way he has managed to put together the DPP and make it become the likely party that is poised to form the next government come 2014. After the death of Bingu in April last year, DPP was written off, people jumped ship but Peter Mutharika lived by his words at Ndata “sindikusiyani, I was born here and I will die here”.

During the time of Bingu, Peter Mutharika was overshadowed by some of the lows of his brother. Now that he has to carry himself without any shadows of his brother, the evidence is laid bare on the ground for all to see; a complete leader who is queuing to becoming Malawi’s next president and this is slowly becoming a reality. 

On the same, I have come to realise that those that are intoxicated with Fanta orange are the ones who are having problems to comprehend his messages because they are used listening to some folklores and the “ine ndikuti ine” pronunciations by amayi. Besides, their “amayi” has this ear-splitting and irritating voice that has the potential of damaging your eardrum. I am not surprised that all orange sympathisers have problems in getting right what Peter Mutharika says. They all have got damaged eardrums.

Imagine listening to this;

“Amayi ndi abambo ine ndinali ku chikwawa, kumeneko ndinali mu nyumba ya amayi ujeni awa, ndiye anandikhazika pachiujeni ichi. Inetu pano ndagula mabulangete ndipo ena akubweletsa anthu, nkhalamba mmidzimu muzifunda. Inu mukumudziwa Estere Jekete inu? Ine mayi ake ndakumana nawotu ku Ndirande. Iwe Skeffa Chimoto tayima ndikupatse moni, iwetu umayimba bwino, wandikumbutsa malemu a bamboo anga”

Then you listen to this;

“Lake Malawi belongs to Malawi. The issue of the lake is not negotiable because it’s ours. You don’t negotiate with people that have come to your house to steal from you. You protect your property by being tough, standing up to them as a real man”.

Which one of the two statements makes sense? Peter Mutharika is somebody who wastes no time by going straight to the point. He knows Malawians are suffering therefore all they want is to hear that message of hope. Malawians have got no time to listen to folklores. Malawi is not a kindergarten  

The choices we make..

Malawians are paying heavily for making bad choices over years. There is great need for us to have an understanding of how our choices have consequences. The unwise choices we have made are completely derailing our best-developed goals as a country and destroying everything about us. 

This is where I have argued that it’s not fair to expect a lot from Joyce Banda’s rule, because she is a product of bad choices; in fact she is a bad choice herself. If there is a list of bad choices that Bingu made in his time then the choice of Joyce Banda as running mate must be included on it. No wonder JB herself has been telling us that she never knew and expected that she would be picked as Bingu’s running mate in 2009. In other words, Joyce Banda had never dreamt of becoming president of Malawi, she had never aspired to becoming one or harboured those ambitions in her life time, hence the excitement where ever she goes.

You will see the Obama handshake excitement and all the noise about Bill Clinton visiting Malawi, appearing in life style magazines, getting honorary degrees, being the first one to introduce the “kukhala mzimayi sichifukwa” slogan, the usual “ine ndikuti”, “ine ndinapanga” “ine ndi ine” stories.

To say the truth nobody expected to hear her name being mention anywhere near the presidency. I was at the MEC offices myself when the presidential candidates were presenting their nomination papers. We were all glued to MBC radio one to hear news coming in from Sanjika. When it was announced on radio that Bingu and Joyce Banda were riding the open Rand Rover together from Sanjika, there was silence at MEC, I saw confused faces around the blue family. They all knew a bad choice was made.

Facts are there for all to see. Ever since JB became president in April last year, she has been making bad choices all the way because she is also a bad choice and a product of a bad choice. From the choice of her cabinet ministers to the choice of policies to implement. Nothing seems to make sense. The only thing that makes sense is the the name President.

Joyce Banda rushed to make decisions without calculating the costs. The recycled politicians who are only concerned with personal gains are in charge of the country’s affairs. They messed up Bingu’s time and now they are busy doing the same with her. All the people around our president are flatters. 

Look around and you will see our president, If she is not being a puppet of the west then she is busy making bad choices of becoming a facebook addict who is seen posing for facebook everywhere she goes.

Since the attainment of democracy 20 years ago we as people of Malawi have been making bad choices as individuals or collectively. Our leaders have invariably turned out to be more concerned with self aggrandizement and material gain than with the development of available national resources for the benefit of us all and these leaders were chosen by us. They have been giving us literally nothing, no mfundo no whatsoever but we ended up voting for them. We were just following their charisma.

Let me take you through the bad choices we have made; the “lost decade” of Bakili Muluzi was a result of a bad choice we collectively made in 1994. We chose a politician not a leader. That is the reason why we had uncontrolled levels of corruption, we had a young pioneer like thugs who were notoriously branded as young democrats and were all over town causing terror. The atcheya bambo slogan, anyamata a patown, kuchitekete were enough to make us clap hands to this man. 

Then came the time of Bingu from 2004. We were so close to making probably one of the wisest decisions ever in 2009 when we gave Bingu a landslide after we got swayed with his first five years in office. Never did we know that some bad decisions will be made along the way.

2014 is probably a litmus test for our democracy. Malawians have a chance to voting into power leaders that mean well to our democracy or leaders that are committed to democracy in rhetoric only.

We have tried and seen some of them. What they have for Malawi is ng’ombe, ufa, posing for facebook, jet obsession, Uladi Mussa, lies, elevation of chiefs, insulting and fighting dead people, property grabbing, training our youths to be bad mouthing others, plundering our tax money as a result of senseless traveling ndi zina zotelo at a time when Malawians want jobs, food, decent houses, drugs at the hospital, potable water, roads, opportunities to make money,  good education ndi zina zotelo.

My Diary, 22/7/2013...

Dear Diary

20^th July is gone and am making my entry two days after because am being troubled with some whispers in my mind that are telling me this and that merit my talking about this and that.

On Saturday, 20^th July 2013, President Joyce Banda led a team of her orange clowns to the North where they laid wreaths at the graveside of those that overtook the demonstrations in 2011 and started looting and torching cars and houses of innocent people. It’s sad that lives were lost and I feel for their families.

However, here are my thoughts: If there is a person that needs 20^th July most in her life then it’s JB. On Saturday while laying those wreaths, deep down her heart she was wearing a smile. All she was doing was posing and acting for facebook and MBC TV, no wonder we had all those pictures splashed on facebook and her “JB show” dubbed MBC TV news afterwards. That’s the disadvantage of having a facebook addict and a comedian as a president.

The people of the north shouldn’t be deceived; 20^th July is more of a 2014 campaign tool for PP. Even had it been that there was no 20^th July, I believe they could have prayed to have it at some point because this is what they are showing around as way of discrediting Bingu.

Imagine among the people that wore sombre faces on Saturday were people that were handclapping and cheering Bingu at State House during his public lecture as the police were busy butchering people in the streets. Present there were those that clapped hands in Zomba when Bingu told JB, Undule Mwakasungula, Sembereka and John Tembo that the blood of those that died were on their heads, but now they are heaping all the blame on Bingu as if it was him who fired all those shots.  

JB and her PP boys love celebrating death; this is why after laying those wreaths they bundled themselves at Mzuzu stadium whistling and cheering, singing yanyamuka alongside the scandalous dancehall queen Wendy Harawa instead of continuing with their mourning. Who does that? Those were 20^th July celebrations amangwetu by people that caused it to happen, people who are happy to have 20^th July on the road to 2014, people who are so heartless, who would go as far as wishing others bad luck in order for them to register success.

This is the more reason why we have so many theories explaining the July 20 events. These are people that mobilised Malawians to take to the streets, they showed up at all the venues, fought all the injunctions that were thrown to disturb the protests, but when the people started marching they all ran to the comfort of their homes. It’s as if they knew people would die in the hands of the police.

JB and her PP hand clappers have a way of insulting the dead, no wonder every day the talk is about Bingu this, Bingu that, that’s why am not surprised that now they are using the dead for campaign and they even went ahead to  hold the celebrations in the north where we had many deaths. Oh what an insult!

Imagine instead of taking to the North meaningful development she is busy distributing ‘zingwe za ngo’ombe’ under one cow one family project, and she goes further posing with old people in their dilapidated homes for facebook, she holds meetings and talk about ine ku Scotland this, ine ku America this, ine ndimayendetsa Benz ya amuna angawa, ine Obama this, aaaaah! And somebody can stand on the podium to declare that the north is the home of PP? You must be joking ndithu.

By the way, The manner in which these people insult Bingu am sure tsiku lina tizamva kuti akafukula mtembo wa malemu nkumayenda nawo mmisonkhanomu nkumawubaya mipeni ndithu. Eish, they have so much anger against Bingu. This anger is not coming as a result of the fuel and forex shortage under Bingu. JB is angry that Bingu and the DPP booted her out and never gave her any chance to stand as DPP presidential candidate in 2014, tisamanamizanepo apa.