By the Richie Online Resident Journalist, Chikondi Sato
I did promise myself to keep away from politics. But as I add minutes to my life, I have come to realise that the politics I was trying to keep away from are right inside me. My friends, the food I eat, the girl I see and many more of my aspects are all political.
Back the memory lane, just this January, the president was in Chiradzulu where he was a guest at the John Chilembwe memorial. Insensitively, he ordered the Minister responsible for technical colleges to construct one there. So basically the president is walking his talk. His Excellency also warned whilst seeming to joke, that he would fire him should he fail to deliver. How ironical. Apparently, another minister is sneaking into the country through a Toyota corolla, from wherever he went, despite being on forced leave by the courts. All these however, are ministers of the same president. Anyway, all I am trying to say is; the president knows very well, that Malawians are a people not serious with their affairs. Do we need more technical colleges when the already proposed ones have not rolled on or are not functioning at all? Do we need to threaten a minister i.e. Henry Mussa that we will fire him if he fails to build a technical college? Can't we just fire the one who has already messed up, Mkulu wa Chimangayu? Can't people take us seriously that way? The state of affairs in the country is a shame to us. It is people like us that feel the pain of ministers misusing our taxes. Where has Nankhumwa sourced money to distribute resources of well over 25 million Kwacha? Well, most of us know he didn't have that money just a few years back.
Arrogance has no place in a democratic society like ours. The know it all attitude can not be sustained no more. Somebody has to tell Dausi this. He can tell his friends as well, these people do not have any vision for our country. Whoever is dying first we do not know. That's for God to know. However, the youths must be more concerned about the future. And then we are cowards! How many movements and pressure groups are there on facebook? Whatsapp? And the like... Can change really happen on Facebook in Malawi where not even quarter the population have access to smartphones? I am a believer in change. The spirit of activism on social media is just way too much. It must translate into real things. These pages, groups, events, will end right where they started. Dr King was an action based man. All he did were meetings and action. Dr Banda, Ghandi, Mandela? We all know the stories! The youth must move on to action and stop lamenting about things on social media! All the things we talk about on social media, the insights; I challenge you two thirds of the people here already know that. We all know where the people who need to be told this are. Love it or loathe it, these are the people that decide our future. Malawians are a sorry lot of people. The leaders are eh...kaya ndiotani kaya.
In conclusion, I will talk about the title of the article, "The elephant in the room". We must not mince words here. As far as Mulumbe and Chaponda might have problems, they are not the real problem. The real problem is at The State house, and oh, everybody is afraid to talk about him. The Elephant in the room is the President Peter Mutharika and he has failed us!
Question for Reflection: What does it take to anger a Malawian?
Friday, 27 January 2017
Friday, 20 January 2017
College Reflections
Friday greetings.
Wednesday the 18th of January in the year of transformation, 2017 was a wonderful day for me and other 541 people who graduated with various papers from the University of Malawi. Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery is the paper I got. Fancy, right? Some would (probably rightly) say that the whole idea of Richie studying medicine was not a good one. I don’t think that even time will be able to tell but one thing that I hope is that the whole thing was for the best.
When we were getting close to the finish line in medical school, I always told my friends that my day of graduation would not be the most exciting day of my career. I always said that the graduation would just be a symbolism of what I have already achieved and would probably be more for family and friends than it would be for me. True to my word, I was very excited the moment I checked my results and found that I had made it out of the College of Medicine unscathed (you don't wanna know how excited I was). Needless to say, graduation was fun too and going through the rehearsals and the ceremony itself gave me a couple of thoughts that I would like to share here.
My entry into the college wasn’t a rather atypical one. Having passed with flying colors, everyone from family and friends was on my neck when it came to the time for making the choice of what program to study in the university. For some reason almost everyone seemed to be pointing the way to the College of Medicine for me for reasons ranging to my ability and aptitude to job security and nice perks (iyi tisayankhulepo zambiri). The fact that I am doing my clinical internships at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre now means I bowed to the pressure and gave up on my dreams of being a computer programmer and website designer like Edmond Kachale and decided to go the medical way. Regrets? None at the moment.
Having gotten into college, there was a whole lot of excitement. I had been put together with a whole lot of geniuses and got to interact with the best when it came to teachers and peers. The foundation year was a piece of cake despite a few hiccups (Physics ndi alongo ache kuvuta) but the real struggle came in when I got to my first year. It was time to study the basic medical sciences (Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and all the other fancy stuff). The large volumes of things to study and the level of new material that my little brain had to acquaint itself with was a bit too much to handle and it wasn’t too surprising that I struggled to make the passing mark in my first ever mid-semester examination of first semester (you probably never knew that). My first reaction was that of pointing a blaming finger at those who had orchestrated my entry into the medical profession in the first place, because in my view one of the main contributors to the failure was the fact that I wasn’t doing what I was passionate about. I remember going to the room of one good friend of mine and classmate to tell her of my fate and later texting Dr Chiwoza Bandawe about my results. The message I got from the two was simple; I needed to move on and work on improving in the next paper. These two will be glad that I did.
The whole thing of bouncing back from failure taught me a thing or two. I could have easily given up on this whole medicine thing and looked for something better. Of course options were not too many out there and that forced me to get and stay on my feet to the end but to me that was one big lesson on persistence in everything. It was the same experience that made me endure whenever things got tough in my clinical years. I moved beyond thinking about “people who pushed me into Medicine” to thinking about the possibilities that lay ahead. From my fourth year in college, I started thinking of what sort of career I wanted to carve out of the same medicine that kept making my life tough from time to time. Those of you who are in the medical profession know that it is not an easy decision to make but I still look forward to having a good one (someone sent me a message wishing me a wonderful career on Wednesday; that was on point).
While all I have written may sound like academic life was the only thing that was on offer at COM, the perfect opposite of it is true. The College of Medicine has more to it than just the school and I must say it was great to participate in the social and spiritual events. I remember losing my voice to cheering at sports events and dancing till around 2 am in a mid week party at some point. There were times that I could be in the TV lounge around 3 am with the likes of Dr Dennis Solomon, watching the Portland Trailblazers battling out with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA playoffs. Then there were those Fridays that I could secretly have one or two before silently going to sleep towards the end of my training. College can be fun, socially and the only thing I regret was not being able to participate in the hot social weekends at the Polytechnic or Chancellor College. I have nothing to comment on when issues surrounding those come up in my circles. Komabe nzabhobho.
The development of my understanding of spiritual life is another thing I look back and cherish about my college days. I went back to the college a Catholic and on the way I got challenged and almost left my denomination for one church or ministry (some did) but the whole experience helped me to appreciate how important a personal relationship with God is (for those who understand this sort of thing). I religiously participated in the activities of the Catholic community at the College of Medicine and later got the privilege and responsibility of leading it for a year or so and that gave me a feel of the practical side of leadership. Away from the Catholic community, I also got to participate in the gatherings of the Youth Inspiration Movement. That was another great experience.
I did not get to participate in front line college politics by way of contesting for some sort of office in the students union. Needless to say, I had my own contribution to college politics by being a commissioner of the electoral commission for an amazing two times (very rewarding job, this one). I did not date on campus, but it was when I was in college that I got to get my experience with dating. I made a lot of friends, both young and old and I look forward to maintaining these relationships for the benefit of all.
When I look at what I have been through in college, I thank God for every moment there spent. I also thank everyone who was part of the experience in academic, social and spiritual circles. There were a lot of opportunities created and a lot of lessons learnt and that was great.
The most important lesson that I have learnt over the years is that it is not about what program you study or which college you go to, but rather the vision you have towards what you are doing. I am working on carving my career now, thanks to the lessons. I have also learnt that there is more to college than just the academic work.
Talking of the graduation, they made me put on a suit and a weird gown in a packed Great Hall for hours. I was greeted by an army of family and friends who had a lot of flowers and cards on the day. The heap of flowers that is lying in the corner of my bedroom is just so big and it somehow gives me an idea of how beautiful my tombstone will look if I maintain the good network I have. Zocheza, koma zoona.
PS: I am told Chikondi Sato is preparing you another great read for next week. Just a rumor.
Have a blessed weekend, everyone.
Wednesday the 18th of January in the year of transformation, 2017 was a wonderful day for me and other 541 people who graduated with various papers from the University of Malawi. Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery is the paper I got. Fancy, right? Some would (probably rightly) say that the whole idea of Richie studying medicine was not a good one. I don’t think that even time will be able to tell but one thing that I hope is that the whole thing was for the best.
When we were getting close to the finish line in medical school, I always told my friends that my day of graduation would not be the most exciting day of my career. I always said that the graduation would just be a symbolism of what I have already achieved and would probably be more for family and friends than it would be for me. True to my word, I was very excited the moment I checked my results and found that I had made it out of the College of Medicine unscathed (you don't wanna know how excited I was). Needless to say, graduation was fun too and going through the rehearsals and the ceremony itself gave me a couple of thoughts that I would like to share here.
My entry into the college wasn’t a rather atypical one. Having passed with flying colors, everyone from family and friends was on my neck when it came to the time for making the choice of what program to study in the university. For some reason almost everyone seemed to be pointing the way to the College of Medicine for me for reasons ranging to my ability and aptitude to job security and nice perks (iyi tisayankhulepo zambiri). The fact that I am doing my clinical internships at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre now means I bowed to the pressure and gave up on my dreams of being a computer programmer and website designer like Edmond Kachale and decided to go the medical way. Regrets? None at the moment.
Having gotten into college, there was a whole lot of excitement. I had been put together with a whole lot of geniuses and got to interact with the best when it came to teachers and peers. The foundation year was a piece of cake despite a few hiccups (Physics ndi alongo ache kuvuta) but the real struggle came in when I got to my first year. It was time to study the basic medical sciences (Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and all the other fancy stuff). The large volumes of things to study and the level of new material that my little brain had to acquaint itself with was a bit too much to handle and it wasn’t too surprising that I struggled to make the passing mark in my first ever mid-semester examination of first semester (you probably never knew that). My first reaction was that of pointing a blaming finger at those who had orchestrated my entry into the medical profession in the first place, because in my view one of the main contributors to the failure was the fact that I wasn’t doing what I was passionate about. I remember going to the room of one good friend of mine and classmate to tell her of my fate and later texting Dr Chiwoza Bandawe about my results. The message I got from the two was simple; I needed to move on and work on improving in the next paper. These two will be glad that I did.
The whole thing of bouncing back from failure taught me a thing or two. I could have easily given up on this whole medicine thing and looked for something better. Of course options were not too many out there and that forced me to get and stay on my feet to the end but to me that was one big lesson on persistence in everything. It was the same experience that made me endure whenever things got tough in my clinical years. I moved beyond thinking about “people who pushed me into Medicine” to thinking about the possibilities that lay ahead. From my fourth year in college, I started thinking of what sort of career I wanted to carve out of the same medicine that kept making my life tough from time to time. Those of you who are in the medical profession know that it is not an easy decision to make but I still look forward to having a good one (someone sent me a message wishing me a wonderful career on Wednesday; that was on point).
While all I have written may sound like academic life was the only thing that was on offer at COM, the perfect opposite of it is true. The College of Medicine has more to it than just the school and I must say it was great to participate in the social and spiritual events. I remember losing my voice to cheering at sports events and dancing till around 2 am in a mid week party at some point. There were times that I could be in the TV lounge around 3 am with the likes of Dr Dennis Solomon, watching the Portland Trailblazers battling out with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA playoffs. Then there were those Fridays that I could secretly have one or two before silently going to sleep towards the end of my training. College can be fun, socially and the only thing I regret was not being able to participate in the hot social weekends at the Polytechnic or Chancellor College. I have nothing to comment on when issues surrounding those come up in my circles. Komabe nzabhobho.
The development of my understanding of spiritual life is another thing I look back and cherish about my college days. I went back to the college a Catholic and on the way I got challenged and almost left my denomination for one church or ministry (some did) but the whole experience helped me to appreciate how important a personal relationship with God is (for those who understand this sort of thing). I religiously participated in the activities of the Catholic community at the College of Medicine and later got the privilege and responsibility of leading it for a year or so and that gave me a feel of the practical side of leadership. Away from the Catholic community, I also got to participate in the gatherings of the Youth Inspiration Movement. That was another great experience.
I did not get to participate in front line college politics by way of contesting for some sort of office in the students union. Needless to say, I had my own contribution to college politics by being a commissioner of the electoral commission for an amazing two times (very rewarding job, this one). I did not date on campus, but it was when I was in college that I got to get my experience with dating. I made a lot of friends, both young and old and I look forward to maintaining these relationships for the benefit of all.
When I look at what I have been through in college, I thank God for every moment there spent. I also thank everyone who was part of the experience in academic, social and spiritual circles. There were a lot of opportunities created and a lot of lessons learnt and that was great.
The most important lesson that I have learnt over the years is that it is not about what program you study or which college you go to, but rather the vision you have towards what you are doing. I am working on carving my career now, thanks to the lessons. I have also learnt that there is more to college than just the academic work.
Talking of the graduation, they made me put on a suit and a weird gown in a packed Great Hall for hours. I was greeted by an army of family and friends who had a lot of flowers and cards on the day. The heap of flowers that is lying in the corner of my bedroom is just so big and it somehow gives me an idea of how beautiful my tombstone will look if I maintain the good network I have. Zocheza, koma zoona.
PS: I am told Chikondi Sato is preparing you another great read for next week. Just a rumor.
Have a blessed weekend, everyone.
Friday, 13 January 2017
Politics of Poverty
by Hope
After I had greeted the esteemed exotic herbalist who doubles as the landlord of this blog, I spent like a century of minutes plus one third of an hour meandering on the keyboard of my Chinese made gadget, one of the few with a RAM of 20kb, without putting the ideas on the screen. One has to admit that even for well-groomed scribes, writing an introduction will always be a painstaking ordeal especially if it reveals your political leanings. Not that I count myself as gifted in the realm of crafting fallacies to make them look like great ideas on paper but for over a year now following Richie Online (should change name of course as he is not even above poverty line) I have realized the effort that him and many other guest writers apply is something that should not be taken for granted. I was always tow-poking on Richie in the past for his lack of clarity on this idea or the obvious spelling mistake on that sentence, and he used to bluff me to say he is not at a grammar school to care for a Dausian literary style. When I go back to read some of the posts on the blog, I get to appreciate why he used that particular idea or imbedded a particular style. To cut the chase, when one does not have preconceived ideas or premonitions over a particular argument then can he be a better judge of an argument. That is why anonymity sometimes preserves the integrity of the person who presents an argument as he or she is able to avoid being victim of ad hominems. Not a bad introduction either.
Introduction to 2017 especially for majority of Malawians has not been rubicund either. Plenty of issues on the local front if one care to use freebasics.com for Facebook. Clicking it while writing I could not miss a story about what they term as the ‘Closure’ of a reputable and historic Times Group’s Media houses for the sin of not paying what belongs to Caesar back to the devil himself. Funny how the majority of hashtag fanatics reacted of course, with a crowd (as usual) blaming Sanjika for punishing the company because of its long leash in the Maize-gate (which was what I wanted to write about); while sober cadets applaud MRA for working vigilantly to ensure there is medicine at the hospitals for our phini-cutters (who fondly call themselves surgeons) to work on. Perhaps those with an inquisitive brain can connect dots that since Dr. Chakwera was allowed to saturate Times TV with tantrums about maize-gate and Big Kahuna’s 1km air polluting convoy having hybrid bazooka-proof Lexus cars in an interview with the Brian Banda on Saturday, the ruling cast has been experiencing hypertension and had to retaliate. A long winded clarification from the new Minister of propaganda, the lord of Latin dictionary and highly trained twister, Nicholas Dausi, has failed to stall the bleeding. Any prophet worth his salt can prophecy that within the next few days our own Senior Chiefs will be on the MBC to put zip down Chakwera’s mouth. Since the details are scanty, one can only assume that there is fishy business especially the timing of MRA dogs to bark on Times. In the words of Gogo Che Bingiman Ayedaya (just made up) one should remember to wash his hands after stealing ndiwo.
The word ‘stealing’ is not enough if we are to describe the experienced long-fingered friends in shiny tailored suits who work at Capital Hill. Cashgate was referred to as ‘looting’ of public funds and a bunch of souls are being paraded to the dock to answer for the sins of the mysterious mother who pocketed 60% of the loot (well if MBC is your trusted source). and there was a K577bn fiasco which was reduced to K229bn after an audit to be the money unaccounted for during the reign of the fake Ngwazi who took permanent residency in the soils of Mpumulo wa Phokoso at Ndata. Among those mentioned in the files were 7 ministers in the current administration and Kamlepo thinks the files will be cremated by the president since his trusted lieutenants are in the forefront of committing the vices. My last post last year here, I pointed that Malawians liked to debate on mediocrity and waste too much time arguing for the sake of it to be seen as if they are doing something. Well I have to commend the media for smelling a dead rat in the recent purchase of maize from Zambia in which an elite group of officials were pocketing large amounts of money as commission by buying from a middleman. Since the story is well documented, I won’t spend time demonizing those involved, and especially in the myopic leadership of DPP for backstabbing us.
I was tempted to join a bandwagon of social media commentators who are calling a recent ruling by the Mzuzu Court to suspend ‘bulldozer’ Dr. George Chaponda from his ministerial post. The controversial injunction faults the Purezidenti for instituting a useless commission of inquiry to inquire a person who is still conducting his duties and outrank the officers in commission. Well, resigning in Africa is a word that is not in the dictionary because if the likes of Chaponda and Admarc boss’ hearts were as clean as guwa la ku Vatican, they would have dusted their bottoms to pave way for investigators and then would be able to laugh at the devil for tempting them. But alas, every politician in Malawi is a thief and they would try every trick in the book to manipulate their way out of trouble. The political system in Malawi is rotten to the core and the only remedy can be the use of parliamentary democracy where the head of government is grilled every opportune day in the national assembly. Our trust in this government, and those that will be ushered in 2026, should be halfhearted knowingly as we can only pray that this dog or that will steal only a few and leave the rest for us to scramble. If January is this barbaric for DPP, I bet they will be having diarrhea when the days turn into months. Lawyer for government (attorney general) has promised to challenge the court ruling in earnest, backing the thief. He said, let’s not forget the president has prerogative to hire or fire a minister so much so that the courts have muddled against the executive powers blah blah blah, once a thief….
Talking about lawyers, people of Blantyre through their councilors agreed to get rid of their mayor, his Worship Noel Chalamanda, for doing so much in the city. I liked this guy for being one of the few with real intentions of making the difference in the society. Councilors are not on government payroll apart from honorarium they get when they meet to agree on the revised city rates. And it’s a fact most of these junior politicians think that being a councillor is a stepping stone to being an EmuP, and we shall see scores of them lining up to challenge who is who in the parliamentary race. And this dude humbled himself to leave the poshy doors of Litigation firms in order to serve the city. Well we can argue, but if we can assess the performance of the city councils in Nyasaland, Blantyre can get a distinction. Perhaps his collaboration with BEAM led to Gertrude Mutharika being awarded PhD (honoris causa) for sweeping in the city. And his comrades especially the majority DPP councilors thought that he has failed and should be replaced. There are reports that he was working alone and did not take any other councilors in trips overseas. Chithumba chimafunika kugawana. He has left an indelible mark and it will be a tall order for Mr Ndipo to match the standards. I wonder why we are so obsessed with the politics of poverty.
This is a step backward as young people with integrity will be unwilling to step into political leadership as the old-guards are still in the dancing circle. If he was accorded another term it would have been a vote of confidence and thus rid Blantyre of mediocrity it will witness from this year. In the words of the Arrow (am watching this series again), “DPP YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY!!!!!”
Have a great weekend folks and Happy New Year
After I had greeted the esteemed exotic herbalist who doubles as the landlord of this blog, I spent like a century of minutes plus one third of an hour meandering on the keyboard of my Chinese made gadget, one of the few with a RAM of 20kb, without putting the ideas on the screen. One has to admit that even for well-groomed scribes, writing an introduction will always be a painstaking ordeal especially if it reveals your political leanings. Not that I count myself as gifted in the realm of crafting fallacies to make them look like great ideas on paper but for over a year now following Richie Online (should change name of course as he is not even above poverty line) I have realized the effort that him and many other guest writers apply is something that should not be taken for granted. I was always tow-poking on Richie in the past for his lack of clarity on this idea or the obvious spelling mistake on that sentence, and he used to bluff me to say he is not at a grammar school to care for a Dausian literary style. When I go back to read some of the posts on the blog, I get to appreciate why he used that particular idea or imbedded a particular style. To cut the chase, when one does not have preconceived ideas or premonitions over a particular argument then can he be a better judge of an argument. That is why anonymity sometimes preserves the integrity of the person who presents an argument as he or she is able to avoid being victim of ad hominems. Not a bad introduction either.
Introduction to 2017 especially for majority of Malawians has not been rubicund either. Plenty of issues on the local front if one care to use freebasics.com for Facebook. Clicking it while writing I could not miss a story about what they term as the ‘Closure’ of a reputable and historic Times Group’s Media houses for the sin of not paying what belongs to Caesar back to the devil himself. Funny how the majority of hashtag fanatics reacted of course, with a crowd (as usual) blaming Sanjika for punishing the company because of its long leash in the Maize-gate (which was what I wanted to write about); while sober cadets applaud MRA for working vigilantly to ensure there is medicine at the hospitals for our phini-cutters (who fondly call themselves surgeons) to work on. Perhaps those with an inquisitive brain can connect dots that since Dr. Chakwera was allowed to saturate Times TV with tantrums about maize-gate and Big Kahuna’s 1km air polluting convoy having hybrid bazooka-proof Lexus cars in an interview with the Brian Banda on Saturday, the ruling cast has been experiencing hypertension and had to retaliate. A long winded clarification from the new Minister of propaganda, the lord of Latin dictionary and highly trained twister, Nicholas Dausi, has failed to stall the bleeding. Any prophet worth his salt can prophecy that within the next few days our own Senior Chiefs will be on the MBC to put zip down Chakwera’s mouth. Since the details are scanty, one can only assume that there is fishy business especially the timing of MRA dogs to bark on Times. In the words of Gogo Che Bingiman Ayedaya (just made up) one should remember to wash his hands after stealing ndiwo.
The word ‘stealing’ is not enough if we are to describe the experienced long-fingered friends in shiny tailored suits who work at Capital Hill. Cashgate was referred to as ‘looting’ of public funds and a bunch of souls are being paraded to the dock to answer for the sins of the mysterious mother who pocketed 60% of the loot (well if MBC is your trusted source). and there was a K577bn fiasco which was reduced to K229bn after an audit to be the money unaccounted for during the reign of the fake Ngwazi who took permanent residency in the soils of Mpumulo wa Phokoso at Ndata. Among those mentioned in the files were 7 ministers in the current administration and Kamlepo thinks the files will be cremated by the president since his trusted lieutenants are in the forefront of committing the vices. My last post last year here, I pointed that Malawians liked to debate on mediocrity and waste too much time arguing for the sake of it to be seen as if they are doing something. Well I have to commend the media for smelling a dead rat in the recent purchase of maize from Zambia in which an elite group of officials were pocketing large amounts of money as commission by buying from a middleman. Since the story is well documented, I won’t spend time demonizing those involved, and especially in the myopic leadership of DPP for backstabbing us.
I was tempted to join a bandwagon of social media commentators who are calling a recent ruling by the Mzuzu Court to suspend ‘bulldozer’ Dr. George Chaponda from his ministerial post. The controversial injunction faults the Purezidenti for instituting a useless commission of inquiry to inquire a person who is still conducting his duties and outrank the officers in commission. Well, resigning in Africa is a word that is not in the dictionary because if the likes of Chaponda and Admarc boss’ hearts were as clean as guwa la ku Vatican, they would have dusted their bottoms to pave way for investigators and then would be able to laugh at the devil for tempting them. But alas, every politician in Malawi is a thief and they would try every trick in the book to manipulate their way out of trouble. The political system in Malawi is rotten to the core and the only remedy can be the use of parliamentary democracy where the head of government is grilled every opportune day in the national assembly. Our trust in this government, and those that will be ushered in 2026, should be halfhearted knowingly as we can only pray that this dog or that will steal only a few and leave the rest for us to scramble. If January is this barbaric for DPP, I bet they will be having diarrhea when the days turn into months. Lawyer for government (attorney general) has promised to challenge the court ruling in earnest, backing the thief. He said, let’s not forget the president has prerogative to hire or fire a minister so much so that the courts have muddled against the executive powers blah blah blah, once a thief….
Talking about lawyers, people of Blantyre through their councilors agreed to get rid of their mayor, his Worship Noel Chalamanda, for doing so much in the city. I liked this guy for being one of the few with real intentions of making the difference in the society. Councilors are not on government payroll apart from honorarium they get when they meet to agree on the revised city rates. And it’s a fact most of these junior politicians think that being a councillor is a stepping stone to being an EmuP, and we shall see scores of them lining up to challenge who is who in the parliamentary race. And this dude humbled himself to leave the poshy doors of Litigation firms in order to serve the city. Well we can argue, but if we can assess the performance of the city councils in Nyasaland, Blantyre can get a distinction. Perhaps his collaboration with BEAM led to Gertrude Mutharika being awarded PhD (honoris causa) for sweeping in the city. And his comrades especially the majority DPP councilors thought that he has failed and should be replaced. There are reports that he was working alone and did not take any other councilors in trips overseas. Chithumba chimafunika kugawana. He has left an indelible mark and it will be a tall order for Mr Ndipo to match the standards. I wonder why we are so obsessed with the politics of poverty.
This is a step backward as young people with integrity will be unwilling to step into political leadership as the old-guards are still in the dancing circle. If he was accorded another term it would have been a vote of confidence and thus rid Blantyre of mediocrity it will witness from this year. In the words of the Arrow (am watching this series again), “DPP YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY!!!!!”
Have a great weekend folks and Happy New Year
Friday, 6 January 2017
The Bachelor's Chronicles
It is yet another good Friday and this is the first Richie Online
(I think we should change this name, though) post with Richie himself. Yeah. I couldn’t
have left this to some failed prophet or to the resident lawyer.
This first post signifies a new beginning for the blog this
year for reasons that may or may not be explained depending on whether I get
carried away with my narrative or not. For some reason, I have made it a point
that articles should be prepared by Thursday or by 6 am latest owing it to my not
so flexible schedule in the New Year. In fact I have dedicated this whole piece
to telling you how exciting life is in the New Year. I know some are frowning at
this because they are used to reading the all serious posts from this blog.
Please, people. Sometimes it is good to keep a Friday a Friday. There are
college students here, who spend their week reading Chang or Lenninger or some
books on Insurance. We also have that group of people we happily call civil
servants and another interesting group of people called job seekers (entrepreneurs
and politicians are mad that I haven’t mentioned them). All these need a break
from reality and sometimes we need to be generous enough to do the needful.
I do not think I managed to send Happy New Year Messages to
all of you. Happy New Year, guys. I hope this year brings in some financial breakthroughs
for you. Of course I hope that the prosperity will come along with the
realization that Richie Online needs some funding for its weekly undertakings
and the desire to act on such a revelation.
Unlike any other New Year I have gone into, 2017 feels
really new and it is because this year seems to be all about a great transition.
For the past two years, I unrealistically wrote in my plans that I wanted to
achieve financial independence, but that was as much as it could go. This year,
however, I just feel like I am obliged (or rather I will be forced) to come to
the realization of this because of the situation I have put myself in.
Some of you who follow the person behind the articles may
know that I transitioned into being an exotic herbalist (Hope’s way of saying
medical doctor) based at the “fancy” Queen Elizabeth Central hospital. That
came in as a relief because I was tired of answering the question as to when I
was finishing medical school or s to where I was working when in fact I was
still in school. The burden is now relieved.
Being a Blantyre based person (if you are the sort of person
who believes that Lunzu is part of Blantyre and not Mwanza as I think), many
thought I would be operating from my parents’ in Lunzu. Me and my dad had other
ideas, though and for that reason I ended up moving out of the house on day 3
of my work. A lot of “black history”
(find out what black history is; I am sure the urban dictionary has nice explanation) has happened in between the
first of December (when I started work) and now, but the summary is that I have
ended up in some humble abode in Chitawira from which I write this epistle.
Ideally many would expect someone who is moving out at my
stage to stay with some buddy for a little while before moving out and starting
a solo home. Well. Me and a few other people who are major shareholders in my
life decided that it was good to go solo from the word go. That was the birth
of the bachelor phase of my life. Pretty interesting, this one.
I feel so compelled to share about my daily experiences but I
have just noted that the more I am open and honest with people, the more funny
ideas they develop about me. That being said, I will not talk about how life is as originally planned, but rather how people responded or reacted when I shared a piece of my life with them.
I recently made a couple of posts on my social networking accounts (one on Facebook and the other on Twitter) on how life is. The two posts got me under scrutiny with people questioning my sanity (and some my relationship status… Mumdziwe Ambuye ndi akuphunzira ache omwe). In the longer Facebook post, I was just narrating on how I can wake up and stay for hours without speaking to anybody as there is no one around in the home. I must say I intentionally added an element of humor to it (which one Zaziwe failed to grasp) but the level of reaction to the post was just through the roof, which I didn’t expect. On a lighter note, I found my boss laughing at the post at work. At least someone had gotten what that was about (despite the fact that there was some truth in it).
I recently made a couple of posts on my social networking accounts (one on Facebook and the other on Twitter) on how life is. The two posts got me under scrutiny with people questioning my sanity (and some my relationship status… Mumdziwe Ambuye ndi akuphunzira ache omwe). In the longer Facebook post, I was just narrating on how I can wake up and stay for hours without speaking to anybody as there is no one around in the home. I must say I intentionally added an element of humor to it (which one Zaziwe failed to grasp) but the level of reaction to the post was just through the roof, which I didn’t expect. On a lighter note, I found my boss laughing at the post at work. At least someone had gotten what that was about (despite the fact that there was some truth in it).
The tweet? It was hatched when I was bored with the long
wait for a turn to pay for my goodies for the “lunch yamadzulo” and breakfast
for the next day. While on the queue on the till (pa Peoples ya pa Chitawira
ija) I noticed that there were guys around the same age as me who had baskets
with contents similar to mine; a couple of sausages (or chicken wings), doughnuts
for breakfast, a packet of First Choice or Ching’ombe milk and for some a bottle
of Chibuku (ati kuli cha chocolate masiku ano…. Koma zidakwa inu…). That sort
of shopping is only done by a person who does not have a “cooler” and it is
usually done bachelors. Usually daily. So… What did I post? I cannot remember
the exact words, but I mentioned something to do with me being able to recognize
who is married and who not from just checking their shopping basket. Reaction?
Another outburst of laughter.
Interestingly, these are realities that are with us today.
Some of you are in school and you will have to go through this. You might have
to start life on a very low note, leaving the comfort of the parents’ house
where you have everything to your own place where you hardly have anything. No
TV. No fridge with nice food and thobwa (I miss that). No company. Just
nothing. Sounds like a sad life, but it is very possible to enjoy every moment
of it because it makes you grow, in one way or the other.
The fact that I will walk out of this bedroom to an empty
living room which we could comfortably play football on with my friend Max
makes me think more about the future and how best I can go about filling it;
selling one kidney, robbing a bank, starting
business and all. Got options lined up for this.
On the other hand, this slice of bread I call my mattress on
this narrow bed hardly gives me any ideas of inviting a companion anytime soon
in this little abode of mine. All in all, I am happy here.
I am the atypical bachelor of Chitawira at some point I feel
like dragging one Thomas Chibade to court. That man once misled the nation when
he sang a song titled “Ndiowawa ubatchala” but I can say I have all evidence to
the contrary. I don’t think that I and all the other fellas with whom I buy Chibuku cha chocolate are feeling the
pain Che Nkhumba talked of in his song. Ndizokoma, nginizi.
So, what do we learn from all this? Probably nothing, but we
could just say life is what you make.
Ndi mmene waimvelera, pa Chichewa chomveka bwino.
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