Agenda for Change: Gaba for president in 2014.. Kinnah his running mate.

 

Flames coach Eddington Ng’onamo refuses to give up, he says the battle for Brazil 2014 is still on. Many soccer loving Malawians would love to believe this man in charge ahead of their must win game against Kenya’s Harambee Stars.

Football fans whimpered last week Wednesday at Kamuzu Stadium when their beloved Malawi team failed to collect the much needed three points against the Brave Warriors of Namibia. To most of them, there was only one link missing that could have brought in some moments of brilliance to the game, and that was Gabadinho Mhango. We needed those moments after the aaaaaah, hiiiiiiiiiii, oooooh! We needed the yaaaaah! Heeee!

As I am putting this calligraphy on him together, the lad is probably on his desk writing his JCE but his mind must be focused on this Wednesday game I guess. Why not when the talk in town is all about him? Both the country’s FA and the technical panel have even commented on the need to throwing him in action during the game.

Take time to watch games involving Big Bullets one of these days, it’s all about Gabadinho. The Bullets family have entrusted the weight of their accomplishments on the boots of this boy and this has been transferred to the National team. Gabadinho is the man ooops! let me call him boy of the moment.

Forget the fact that we are putting the boy under unnecessary pressure and spoiling him with all the showers of praise. Forget about the exams, the JCE certificate, his future and everything. To some extent I understand all this because we are a footballing Nation that has been starved of success for ages. We tested something of that sort in 2010 when our team made it to Angola but what followed next were punches, flops and frustrations.

What the nation needs now is Gabadinho. He is the game changer I suppose. Once we qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil I can only imagine the excitement. I can see more of those fans who sometimes can choose to run around naked out of excitement. We shall even have time to put aside our political differences and hoist the Malawi flag in unity.

Gabadinho is the unifying factor. Who thought even Nomads chief supporter Yona Malunga (Don’t know if he is still their chief supporter) would even join those that are calling for the inclusion of Gbadinho Mhango in the National team for the game against Kenya.

Let’s have this boy as our president in 2014, we have no choice, ha ha ha! With this boy we shall have genuine labour deals. We shall have more of our footballers clinching deals with professional clubs outside, be it in South Korea, Dubai, Kuwait or even United Kingdom.

With Gaba in charge we are assured of no globetrotting because his name alone has gone miles away from home. They know him already, so we are assured that he will be staying put in office steering the chiwongolero for us.

World leaders will be scrambling to get autographs and handshakes from him. They will be coming all the way just to appear posing with him in photographs.

With Gaba at State House am sure he won’t have time to be thinking of cows, goats, dogs, and donkeys because he will be a very busy man running the affairs of the country. He has shown us what he can do on the field of play where he focuses on scoring goals.

Don’t worry about his running mate because Kinnah Phiri is the rightful candidate. He took us to Angola 2010. At least he has some achievement to show us. This is going to be the real Agenda for change.

Petition on Lake Malaw

We the people of Malawi;

Concerned with:

The statement by the Tanzanian Minister for Transport Harrison Mwakyembe to Tanzania’s Parliament on May 20 that Tanzania will acquire six passenger ships, which will be deployed on Lakes Malawi, Tanganyika and Victoria with each lake getting two of the vessels;

The echoing of similar statements by none other than the secretary general of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Adulrahman Kinana, at a political rally that the Tanzanian government has started making arrangements for the purchase of ships, which will be launched on Lake Malawi before the next general elections;

The inadequacy of the Malawi Government’s reaction and response; which as per the press statement released on Saturday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation merely and weakly describes the plan as unfortunate, especially that it comes at a time when the mediation process is going on smoothly and merely “urges the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to desist from launching vessels or indeed undertaking any acts on the disputed territory, as this will jeopardise the current mediation process"; (i.e. urging and demanding are different things.

And disturbed further by rumours from high level sources that:

Our own Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Honourable Ephraim Mganda Chiume is biting more than he can chew from quarters not so friendly to the cause and stance of Malawi on Lake Malawi; and that

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is now blackmailing the State President with threats that it will go public with commitments she made to Tanzania which border on treason vis-a-vis the lake during the time of her troubled vice presidency;

Are becoming increasingly worried whether our interests, namely: the territorial sovereignty and national wealth of the Republic of Malawi are being sufficiently safeguarded as per the oath taken by the President upon ascending to the high office.

Going over our concerns one by one, while the first two have been widely reported in Malawi media following the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the third and fourth concerns, to us, make sense given the haphazard manner this serious territorial infringement is being handled.

Whatever the reasons why the media in Malawi has not yet reported on concerns four and five; it is our view that these two are key to Malawi’s back and forth, policy and directional inconsistency and lackadaisical approach to the whole issue; all of which are making Tanzania more determined and confident that our territory is now theirs to the extent of taking actions that in court would deemed “prejudicial”.

NOW THEREFORE we hereby petition the National Assembly of the Republic Malawi to subpoena President Joyce Banda as per Section 60 (3) and the minister responsible, Mr Ephraim Mganda Chiume, also as per Section 60 (3) of the Constitution so that the National Assembly may inquire on behalf of the people of the Malawi nation as to why and how:

After the president had stated that Malawi would pull out from the mediation after it had transpired that Malawi's case to the panel had been leaked, Malawi nevertheless insists on this questionable mediation; and

After it has now become clear that as far as Tanzania is concerned the whole mediation is just a facade; and that they seem to already know the outcome; why the press release of June 1st, 2013 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still insists that the mediation is the only way out.

Verbatim, according to the Nation of Monday June 2nd, 2013:

“This development notwithstanding, the Malawi Government reaffirms its commitment that the issue be resolved amicably through the ongoing mediation.

However, for this to be achieved, the Malawi Government stressed that the two parties need to desist from acts or statements that will erode trust from the mediation process,” Chiume is quoted to have said.

AND NOT ONLY THAT, we petition parliament to prevail upon the Malawi Government that the government should refer the case forthwith to the International Court of Justice as promised to Malawians by the president in a press conference after the Tanzanian leaking of Malawi's case had been revealed; and that a person other than Ephraim Mganda Chiume who we believe has a conflict of interest that has compromised his integrity, be given charge over this slippery issue.

It is now a fact that Tanzania is not partaking the ongoing negotiations in good faith, and this is why, while the so-called negotiations have yet to be concluded, Tanzania has unilaterally seized the lake. This means that they have no respect for the mediation charade. In fact their actions border on invasion - which is an act of war.

There is no need to beat about the bush here; Malawi needs to respond in kind. The President needs to walk her commitment to defend the territory of the republic of Malawi by mobilizing and deploying the Malawi Defense Force to patrol and defend the lake forthwith.

We can go further and ask for a vote of no confidence from all parliamentarians, but in the interest of natural justice and because we do not want to act as the complainants, judges and jurors; we want first to accord the State President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to explain themselves, their roles and the wisdom of continuing discussions of deliberating on what is already ours.

On the way forward, while we want to desist from promising mass action if this issue continues to be handled with the apparent lack of seriousness and should the responses from the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs be anything short of convincing; we will be unfair if we do not mention that this (mass action) is our right and more so now when our territorial sovereignty is being sold for a song.

To conclude, from the word go, the Malawi leadership has been jumping from one position to the other. In the course of this dispute, at one point, we witnessed – within the space of one week - the Malawi Government changing and communicating three different positions.

As parliament considers this petition, note should be taken that:

Tanzania stopped continuing with explorations till the matter is resolved. And yet, here is Tanzania purchasing boats to deploy them on the same lake.

We foolishly accepted a mediation team headed by a former president whose country share similar bolder concerns, and was aided by a Tanzanian national and then we started crying foul that the Tanzanians had seen our arguments, withdrew from the team, went to ICJ and came back within a week.

We therefore demand as per our rights that parliament summons the two, and deliberates the issue in open session so that Malawians should know who is for them and who is not for them.

In our National Assembly and in our honourable parliamentarians, we trust.

Together, let us save Lake Malawi and protect what is ours!

Signed: Concerned Citizens

Name Signature Date

Proudly Malawian.

So many things to talk about this week. The labour export deal to South Korea, the Lake Malawi dispute between Malawi and Tanzania, the arrest of Parliament’s Chief Security Officer Officer Youngson Chilinda who pounced on my media friend Thoko Chikondi for simply doing her job as a photojournalist, Flames game against Namibia this Wednesday and plenty more stories that are making headlines.

Hope I will take time to express the whispers in my mind in a way that captures the responsiveness of those that care about what is there to care about. The weekend is gone and it's business as usual, that has been the pattern ever since. Days come and days go, life remains the same, the people remain what they are, Malawians. Why? They are from Malawi, they call it the warm heart of Africa and I have heard them declare “proudly Malawian”.

The declaration “proudly Malawian” tells me that Malawians are happy people, satisfied with what they have, what they can showcase as their gem, lifestyle, possession, heritage, means, knowledge, leaders and everything that you can think of that represents Malawi or being Malawian.

In my thoughts I see one thing that is silently standing out, the “proudly Malawian” slogan is way of saying “We are managing because this is all we can afford”. I feel this proclamation is a lazy and slur statement that keeps limiting our aptitudes. 

Yes, we can have more than this. What we have now at our disposal is a raw deal, we need a deal and it better be good.

What is there to be proud of? We have Malawi as a country and there is nothing we can do about it, this is where we belong, born and bred here but this is not what we deserve. We deserve better than this. We can have what we deserve if we work hard to give ourselves the life we want.

Take a look at the provision of social services for instance. The health care delivery system is in shambles, talking about Education, we seem to be stagnant in all aspects and it’s as if we are still experimenting on which one is the right way to go. The Education policy seems to lack proper direction, we don’t even know where we are taking tertiary education to.   

My view is that most essential sectors are dwindling and there is no effort to try and bring them back on course because those in charge have set their eyes on power nothing else. Politics is eating much of our time and the end result is that we can’t deliver anymore. Whatever they do they are doing it for votes.

Is this what we deserve? NO!

I have seen that we are a people that want change, no wonder when it comes to politics we easily turn to those that are promising us change. But what kind of change is this? We have had politicians promising us change even way before the advent of multiparty democracy.

From Kamuzu Banda, Bakili Muluzi, Bingu Wa Mutharika and now Joyce Banda they all carried the same message. All the other presidential aspirants are promising us change. And we all flock to the camp which is giving us this message of hope convincingly.

What does this mean? No matter how much change they are promising us, it’s either they are implementing it the wrong way or they are not implementing it at all.

The only route to take to be proudly Malawian for real, is for us to take up the responsibility in our hands. The responsibility of bringing the real change we need. We can’t keep leaning towards these politicians to bring this change. Of course we need sound and good leadership to guide us and put in place policies that can help boost our initiatives in bringing social and economic change. But let them lead while we implement.

No matter how much they brand projects like the much publicised one cow one project, mudzi trust, South Korea labour deal and many others, that’s not bringing change to our lives any time soon. These are just political pomposities don’t be deceived.   

The power to bring change lies in our hands and it’s in the way we make use of what we have. Those that rely on hand outs will always look up to politicians to buy them even sachets of beer and they will do anything as directed by their pay masters. The way to transformation is within reach, it’s in us, in the way we handle ourselves. Am proudly Malawian because am proud of myself first, who I am, what I can do and what I am doing that can testify even more of my being Malawian.

Thinking South Korea… Mmmmmh, yes, no?

It’s a done deal! 336 Malawian youths will soon be leaving for South Korea following the labour export agreement deal between the Government of Malawi and that of South Korea. 

I am having problems as to whether I should shower this deal with all praises as decreed by the authorities or I should join those sceptics who are painting it red all over. This follows the revelation by Amnesty International in its report that says in South Korea migrant workers are subject to discrimination, exploitation and lower or unpaid wages. The report captures developments that happened in that country between 2009 and 2013.

The report further reveals that the South Korean Government was suppressing migrant workers trade unions through arrests and deportation of leaders of Migrant Trade Union (MTU)

One of South Korea’s leading news publications The Hankyoreh reported on its online news site statistics that revealed that most female migrant workers do face worst human rights violation of all which is sexual assault.

The Publication reports that one out of 10 female migrant workers have reported sexual abuse or harassment.

Meanwhile as those reports are making headlines, the Ministry of labour is asking all young men and women who were successful for the jobs to finalise their travel arrangements by submitting the relevant documents by Wednesday 29^th May, 2013. Korea is now within sight. The Ministry has also gone a step further to call for more applications, this time around they are targeting Degree holders.

What does this mean? It means soon the country will start losing graduates in the fields of Agriculture, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Welding and other equivalent qualifications courtesy of this labour export agreement at a time when we have been lamenting about brain drain in most key sectors.

Let me say it here that the situation is tricky, we complain about brain drain yet on the ground we see alarming figures of unemployed youths. We have people with the papers but there are no job opportunities created to accommodate them all. The few lucky ones when they get the jobs they end up not being satisfied with the conditions, there is absolutely nothing to motivate them, nothing! especially in the public service. That’s why we keep seeing them trekking elsewhere in search for greener pastures (not sure though if the grass is much greener there than back home, so many stories being told eish!) 

This where I would become the first person to accept and applaud any labour export agreement as long as it’s aimed at addressing youth unemployment and uplifting their lives. I wonder why the government is shrouding this deal with mystery thereby subjecting it to so many political connotations.

There are a lot of stories making round apart from the revelation by Amnesty International. So many fears and speculations on the nature of their jobs, their perks and how the money will be torn into fractions etc.  

The people going to South Korea are our brothers and sisters. We are wishing them well, we need them in jobs and for them to enjoy good lives.

What people are asking from their Government is simple, just information. It’s as simple as making a public statement where all our fears will addressed.  Just take us through the situation in South Korea. Let us understand the nitty-gritties of this labour export deal otherwise this is becoming a cause for another political pomposity, in fact we keep having many of those snobbishness nowadays. Let Government assure its people that it meant well by signing such an agreement. Otherwise this is also the reason why MPs have now started demanding to take a leading role in approving this agreement even before the 336 youths take to the skies all the way to South Korea.