Greetings.
It is the last Friday of the year and that makes this the last article of the year. As such, I am inclined to wrap up the year with a word of gratitude. The support I have received from Richie Online Readers has been overwhelming and I have learnt to appreciate the value that all of you have put on these articles. Every Friday I do get reminders that I need to provide a read in the form of a Richie Online article and while others have made it a norm to be reading every Friday, there are some who have confessed that they let the articles accumulate and read three or four in a row. That is all awesome and it fuels the team to provide the best it can. You have all been awesome, and I guess it is high time we made you all “Fact-based Opinion”, “Richie Online” and “I am the Venomous Hope” t-shirts with a link at the back.
Today’s read…
My observation has it that people still haven’t calmed the festive season hype. With the New year around the corner, people are still moving barbecue stands around in readiness for the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations. I on the other hand am disappointed with the Mayor of the city of Blantyre who has remained mum on how the city is going to transition into the new year. The people of Blantyre miss Noel. Away from the celebrations, however, I have noticed a general sense of readiness for the year from my circle.
I happen to be part of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Class of 2016 and this is a class that joined the College of Medicine on the 6th of December in the year of 2010. I like to think of me and fellow members of this class as people who have been walking a pretty much predetermined path for the past 7 years and counting, having had to finish the studies and complete internship to be eligible to practice. For me and a few others, 2018 offers us a chance to spread our wings and fly as it is the year that most will finish their clinical internships. Outside the class of 2016, the other members of my circle are also making a lot of plans ranging from moving out through changing jobs to buying cars. All this makes me think that 2018 is one of those years that a lot of people are looking forward to for all the right reasons.
Interestingly, 2018 will see us move to within a year closer to the 2019 elections. This entails that there will be more than enough politics for us to enjoy or loathe. Both the opposition and the ruling will be in full campaign mode with or without the official opening of the campaign period by the electoral commission. We will see a lot of conventions and enjoy the drama thereof. I am still not sure if the whole period will contribute anything to our thought processes and help us make informed decisions in the 2018 votes. On the other hand, I feel like the coming year offers us a good platform for observing and listening to our potential leaders as we await for what I think will be yet another interesting election after the 2014 one.
The end of the year has seen an eruption in memes about failed goals and appeals of what shouldn’t go into the new year. The most popular of these things have been about those people who received promises or prophecies of good fortune (and marriage) from their spiritual leaders. Many have gone on to produce nicely designed picture messages and some have even recorded videos to mock those who have received such prophecies. I am not too sure as to whether we should be throwing out mean memes to our friends for whom prophecies did not come through, but I think we have a lesson or to to learn from such experiences. Some of these lessons have something to do with how we manage our expectations and how we gauge who to expect one from. I know that this is a sensitive one considering that there is the involvement of a Supreme Being and “His servants“ but I guess we all know that not all of us who are shouting the name of God are doing it for Him.
There has been another group that has been throwing out unsolicited advice on what we should leave behind in the year 2018. The interesting one was about slay queens (probably normal HD-happy girls too) having pre-birthday, birthday and post birthday photo shoots along with luncheons, dinners and swimming outings just for one birthday. We all saw those pictures and on a couple of times they were accompanied by praising captions for the birthday girls. On some occasions, pictures of similar situations always had the hashtag #SuadGoals in the caption. This hater who made this post was talking about how people celebrate these birthdays with so much hype as if the birth of the people in question brought us salvation from the frequent blackouts. Someone also made a post on how we need to quit some of the time wasting habits like unnecessarily attending gatherings like rallies, funerals and weddings, spending too much time on social networks and spending too much time on football or political chats among others. This one was probably more solution oriented although some may find it impractical.
Looking at the things that people are proposing change in and people’s goals for the year, one would wonder whether the changes are programmed to change the moment the 7 at the end of the calendar year number gets replaced by an 8.
The main point here is just that if we want our fortunes to change in the coming here, we should change the way we do things. On the other hand, significant changes like those do not happen overnight and they need to be planned over a period.
I am sure that this has been too long a read. I am wishing you a Happy and Prosperous 2018. I do hope that you have attached feasible plans to the goals and aspirations you have for the year.
By the way… I want to be in a squad too. I mean… Who doesn’t want to go out to Kamuzu View for a braii in a custom squad t-shirt?
Friday, 29 December 2017
Friday, 22 December 2017
Lessons from a Wasted Year
Greetings.
It is the 22nd of the month of December in the liberal year of 2017 and a quick check of the calendar shows that after this one (Friday) we have one more Richie Online Friday. This is the reason that I have decided to give the year a closing article in case I will be incapacitated next week. I mean.. I wouldn’t give the Rabbi (Venomous Hope) a chance to write the last article of the year. Got to say thanks to him for covering me up and giving us things to read when being a doctor morbidly took the better part of me though.
Having come to the end of the year like this, it is not rather unusual for every normal human to sit down and reflect upon the year’s highs and lows. I am pretty sure that most of Richie Online readers have already starters and that some will join in this reflection exercise. Rather interestingly, I will not be part of the bandwagon this year and this has happened for the simple reason that I do not have a yard stick for that kind of reflection. To make it simple, I for some reason did not have any plans (written or otherwise) or goals for the year. In view of that, I feel like I have no gauge for measuring my achievements or failures in the year. Whatever happened happened and whatever didn’t happen didn’t happen. On to the next one.
Some of you might have seen a couple of my social media posts dubbing the year as a year of liberals. What I was trying to say was that it was a year which was not bound by any sort of self-regulatory measures.
Talking of achievements and failures, I have wavered between the extremes for most of the year and this year has been flat with no significant crests and troughs. There have been no significant changes in my life in the year (apart from kusintha nyumba kawiri ndi kusintha ma department katatu). Walked in broke and I am still broke. Walked in single and I am still single. Started the year and intern Medical Officer at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and I am still working at the same hospital. The lack of significant changes coupled with the fact that I had no written plan for the year sort of makes me think that this has been a wasted year. While it might not have been completely wasted, something tells me that it probably could have been better had I scribbled some blueprint for the year.
Being a medical doctor, I spent most of my time a work. The four major departments I have been in have taught me an interesting lesson about purpose and selflessness. To be honest, medical work can be hectic and in as much as I had not expected it not to be any less tougher than it is, I can confess that I am not fully used to the hectic schedules of hospital work. I have at some point considered quitting blogging in order to redeem some personal time as my schedules keep getting more and more hectic by the day. Rather interestingly, it is through the same hectic work setting that I have learnt the importance of a good work ethic and the importance of commitment. I have had to overstay in the hospital when I could have left because I just had to sort out a thing or two on a number of patients and this has always been fed by the joy of seeing people recover from their ailments and return to normal function. This has in turn taught me that “small” as I may think I am, my little action can bring a major difference into someone’s life, be it at work or otherwise. Thinking about that makes me smile but at the same time it gets me scared when I think about the potential of negatively affecting people through the same reflexive actions of my daily life.
Away from work, I did not have much of a personal life to celebrate through the year. I spent much of my life in the routine of the same old places. I was either at home, work, church or at some place cooling the night of while listening to some live band. It wasn’t much of a progressive life if you look at it from my angle. While I was busy with my routines, there were many people who were making actual progress in their lives. Some of my friends opened successful businesses and others graduated from this thing of riding a couple of minibuses to work and got their own metal horses. While some of us were toiling in our singleness, others were proposing (and posting HD photos of the events), getting engaged and even getting married. Away from such, a look at my account balance didn’t really tally with the fact that I had spent about half a year receiving some sort of salary. At some point I snapped out and began to ask myself as to what I had been doing with all the days, weeks and months of the year thus passed. The reflection didn’t last that long as I quickly remember there none of that was in my plans for the year; or rather that I had no plans at all for the year. The guys who were doing it all probably spent a lot of time and money in the background planning whatever we saw in the open. I might have dwelt on these thoughts to console myself but these thoughts made me re-evaluate the importance of forging my own path and moving at my pace in my own lane. More often we tend to beat ourselves by rating ourselves using other people’s achievements as our yardsticks. This year has taught me otherwise. While it is good to look at others and emulate the good they do, it is important to make our own life paths with clear goals. If we are to be beating ourselves for lack of progress, it should be based on our own set goals and life plans.
The last big lesson I learnt this year was one on independence and self-reliance. When I was starting work in December last year, I was still a spoon in my parents’ house. Three days of into work, I decided to leave my parents place in Lunzu. At first, I settled with one friend of mine but I later moved into a lonesome less than a month later (sanandithamangitse but he left for school in SA). I enjoyed the lone wolf mode for about 6 or 7 months after which I joined forces with Lord Isaac in our conquest of the Brookside Flats where we happily live now. There was something interesting about the time I was living alone. Having worked for a period without any salaries, it was difficult for me to sustain life and more often than not I found myself knocking at my parents’ door seeking financial bailouts. That, of course, changed with time as I got to pick myself up along the way after making that determination to be financially independent. Looking at life in retrospect, I realize that financial independence was probably the least of my worries then as I had another issue I needed to settle; emotional independence. Rather unfortunately, it is a bit difficult to explicate this situation without stepping on a few toes but in short, there was a time that being away from dating got the better part of me and made me feel incomplete. That almost made me fall into a chain reaction that would have led into a downward spiral. Surviving such a situation has made me graduate into someone who appreciates completeness of the self. If you are to ask me what I have learnt from such situations, it is that everyone needs to strive for financial, social and emotional independence as it is important to oneself and people around.
Here we are in the very last days of the year 2017. If you are to ask me, this has been a wasted year and I have hardly done anything worth showing to myself. On the other hand, I feel like there might be some people who have looked at me and thought that I was doing the right things. Indeed, it might be a wasted year, but I have learnt a lot of lessons on living for others, defining one’s own life and living by the definition and lessons on self-reliance.
It is my hope that your year has been better than mine and that you have done more than I have. More importantly, I hope that we (you and me) will achieve more in 2018 as we move in our own self-defined lanes as we chase our dreams.
Merry Christmas to you and all the best as you make your 2018 yardsticks.
Richie
It is the 22nd of the month of December in the liberal year of 2017 and a quick check of the calendar shows that after this one (Friday) we have one more Richie Online Friday. This is the reason that I have decided to give the year a closing article in case I will be incapacitated next week. I mean.. I wouldn’t give the Rabbi (Venomous Hope) a chance to write the last article of the year. Got to say thanks to him for covering me up and giving us things to read when being a doctor morbidly took the better part of me though.
Having come to the end of the year like this, it is not rather unusual for every normal human to sit down and reflect upon the year’s highs and lows. I am pretty sure that most of Richie Online readers have already starters and that some will join in this reflection exercise. Rather interestingly, I will not be part of the bandwagon this year and this has happened for the simple reason that I do not have a yard stick for that kind of reflection. To make it simple, I for some reason did not have any plans (written or otherwise) or goals for the year. In view of that, I feel like I have no gauge for measuring my achievements or failures in the year. Whatever happened happened and whatever didn’t happen didn’t happen. On to the next one.
Some of you might have seen a couple of my social media posts dubbing the year as a year of liberals. What I was trying to say was that it was a year which was not bound by any sort of self-regulatory measures.
Talking of achievements and failures, I have wavered between the extremes for most of the year and this year has been flat with no significant crests and troughs. There have been no significant changes in my life in the year (apart from kusintha nyumba kawiri ndi kusintha ma department katatu). Walked in broke and I am still broke. Walked in single and I am still single. Started the year and intern Medical Officer at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and I am still working at the same hospital. The lack of significant changes coupled with the fact that I had no written plan for the year sort of makes me think that this has been a wasted year. While it might not have been completely wasted, something tells me that it probably could have been better had I scribbled some blueprint for the year.
Being a medical doctor, I spent most of my time a work. The four major departments I have been in have taught me an interesting lesson about purpose and selflessness. To be honest, medical work can be hectic and in as much as I had not expected it not to be any less tougher than it is, I can confess that I am not fully used to the hectic schedules of hospital work. I have at some point considered quitting blogging in order to redeem some personal time as my schedules keep getting more and more hectic by the day. Rather interestingly, it is through the same hectic work setting that I have learnt the importance of a good work ethic and the importance of commitment. I have had to overstay in the hospital when I could have left because I just had to sort out a thing or two on a number of patients and this has always been fed by the joy of seeing people recover from their ailments and return to normal function. This has in turn taught me that “small” as I may think I am, my little action can bring a major difference into someone’s life, be it at work or otherwise. Thinking about that makes me smile but at the same time it gets me scared when I think about the potential of negatively affecting people through the same reflexive actions of my daily life.
Away from work, I did not have much of a personal life to celebrate through the year. I spent much of my life in the routine of the same old places. I was either at home, work, church or at some place cooling the night of while listening to some live band. It wasn’t much of a progressive life if you look at it from my angle. While I was busy with my routines, there were many people who were making actual progress in their lives. Some of my friends opened successful businesses and others graduated from this thing of riding a couple of minibuses to work and got their own metal horses. While some of us were toiling in our singleness, others were proposing (and posting HD photos of the events), getting engaged and even getting married. Away from such, a look at my account balance didn’t really tally with the fact that I had spent about half a year receiving some sort of salary. At some point I snapped out and began to ask myself as to what I had been doing with all the days, weeks and months of the year thus passed. The reflection didn’t last that long as I quickly remember there none of that was in my plans for the year; or rather that I had no plans at all for the year. The guys who were doing it all probably spent a lot of time and money in the background planning whatever we saw in the open. I might have dwelt on these thoughts to console myself but these thoughts made me re-evaluate the importance of forging my own path and moving at my pace in my own lane. More often we tend to beat ourselves by rating ourselves using other people’s achievements as our yardsticks. This year has taught me otherwise. While it is good to look at others and emulate the good they do, it is important to make our own life paths with clear goals. If we are to be beating ourselves for lack of progress, it should be based on our own set goals and life plans.
The last big lesson I learnt this year was one on independence and self-reliance. When I was starting work in December last year, I was still a spoon in my parents’ house. Three days of into work, I decided to leave my parents place in Lunzu. At first, I settled with one friend of mine but I later moved into a lonesome less than a month later (sanandithamangitse but he left for school in SA). I enjoyed the lone wolf mode for about 6 or 7 months after which I joined forces with Lord Isaac in our conquest of the Brookside Flats where we happily live now. There was something interesting about the time I was living alone. Having worked for a period without any salaries, it was difficult for me to sustain life and more often than not I found myself knocking at my parents’ door seeking financial bailouts. That, of course, changed with time as I got to pick myself up along the way after making that determination to be financially independent. Looking at life in retrospect, I realize that financial independence was probably the least of my worries then as I had another issue I needed to settle; emotional independence. Rather unfortunately, it is a bit difficult to explicate this situation without stepping on a few toes but in short, there was a time that being away from dating got the better part of me and made me feel incomplete. That almost made me fall into a chain reaction that would have led into a downward spiral. Surviving such a situation has made me graduate into someone who appreciates completeness of the self. If you are to ask me what I have learnt from such situations, it is that everyone needs to strive for financial, social and emotional independence as it is important to oneself and people around.
Here we are in the very last days of the year 2017. If you are to ask me, this has been a wasted year and I have hardly done anything worth showing to myself. On the other hand, I feel like there might be some people who have looked at me and thought that I was doing the right things. Indeed, it might be a wasted year, but I have learnt a lot of lessons on living for others, defining one’s own life and living by the definition and lessons on self-reliance.
It is my hope that your year has been better than mine and that you have done more than I have. More importantly, I hope that we (you and me) will achieve more in 2018 as we move in our own self-defined lanes as we chase our dreams.
Merry Christmas to you and all the best as you make your 2018 yardsticks.
Richie
Friday, 15 December 2017
FILIBUSTERS, 50+MY VOTE and ZION
Some long paragraphs by the Venomous Hope
This latest ad hoc Friday sermon has come about because the blogger has, what he calls, 'a very tight schedule,' something usually peculiar to DziPPani cadates and bootlickers who applaud the president for gracing whatever function in spite of his so-called infinite roster of engagements. It will be convenient, however, to start by congratulating Super League relegation candidates Masters Security Fc for defying logic by entering the CAF Confederations Cup in spite of the axe on their neck that will see them out of the elite league. We can safely speculate that it took sniffing a large dose of weed produced illegally in Nkhotakota to make the club hierarchy decide joining the continental competition when they are well aware the calibre of players at their base is not up to scratch. I will hope they're planning to overhaul the squad and possibly poach top players at Bullets and Silver Strikers, assuming they will be able to pay them as grumbling about unpaid allowances from this club featured prominently in the news than their wins.
Many a soul will agree that Masters Fc's madness is not an isolated case in as far as public decisions are concerned in Malawi. Earlier this week the Minister tasked with confusing the public released a statement that pretended to deflect media reports that government's most senior servant wanted to upgrade his Spartan office to something more exquisite and elegant, all to the obscene tune of K67m. Not bad if we take Dausi seriously that the current office furniture was the same that the likes of Justin Malewezi have used in their capacity as Secretary to the Cabinet, mpando mwina mukubisala makoswe ausinthe. However, the fact that the company hired to do the renovations is also owned by the secretary raised eyebrows on the veracity of the minister's statement. This unprecedented level of corruption is, like Masters Security, relegating the country beyond the failed state category. Indecisive action from a myopic administration has enslaved Malawians deep into the shackles of poverty to the extent that the same poverty is used as a campaign tool by the same overrecycled politicians when they come in our streets to seek a new mandate.
Many have cited high illiteracy levels as a crucible for high level of incompetence that has become a norm in Nyasaland.
Politicians play on the ignorance of majority of Malawians to advance their mediocre agenda, and at the same time, hide their grave sins by sacrificing the pawns (where's Loot-e-pal?). A rare voice of reason, usually from the opposition, who don't have a choice anyway if they can ever wrestle the throne, and the Civil Society organizations- mostly briefcase ones with hidden agenda to be handed that big fluffy scone at some point in time before they retire, is only heard in urban centres, where a small portion of the citizenry resides, on media platforms that operate as opposition parties themselves. In this vein, the large peasant majority's only media choice is the antediluvial MBC Radio 1 found using juju on medium waves as there's no FM signal. And for them, these blackouts only have a borderline impact on their daily lives. That's why all ruling caste managed to ignore the noise from Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and others who waged a war on over the legislation of Electoral Bills, government knew it could easily fudge the opinion of a large cross section of voters. The goal posts this time around changed because PAC flexed its spiritual muscle by cajoling her member religious bodies, more especially the Catholic Church, to endorse PAC's planned demonstrations. That move flickered a wave of fear into the brains of DPP as they were sure the news would reach to remote places where you can only find a borehole because there's a Church nearby or a primary school because some monks felt sorry for the kids in that village. We all know how the DPP sweated in the run up to the scheduled 13th demos on fake Churches, prophets and excommunicated reverends and paraded them on our wretched state run MBC tv and radio to counter the views of PAC and it's allies. We all saw petitions from pitiable chiefs and Civil Society organizations on DPP payroll- all trying to confuse us so that the Electoral Reforms Bills should continue gathering dust in the name 'nationwide consultations.'
When that was apparently going to fail, the DPP played it's remaining ace, obviously by cheating it's way in parliament. Bringing all the 6 related bills to parliament was a calculated risk for it prayed to whichever gods available that the demos should no longer have a moral agenda and they should be able to shoot all of the bills down in the chamber. By crook, it has achieved both as the planned demos were postponed indefinitely owing to 'government's good faith' in accepting their demands. It also bribed majority of independent and PP eMuPs whose only clever act was knowing they're on the last leg of their terms and will never be elected again, ofcoz unless they find a world-class witchdoctor. These idiots allegedly accepted a small fortune of 200grand from the state house to help shoot down all these Bills prepared by the same DPP cabinet and presented by it's own minister. What is folly is how the minister turned himself into a filibuster by indulging into long winded speech in urging legislators to support these bills when it was just a ploy to achieve the opposite. He will enter into record books as the most incompetent minister who failed to sell his own bills. But we cannot blame him, it's the 50+1 that is hated conscientiously by DziPPani.
When one gathers the pieces of the arguments around the so-called 50+1 electoral principle, they all lead to the idea that implementing it will significantly ameliorate problems that hang around every election, especially questions about legitimacy of the winner. Proponents think that if at least more than half of the voters choose a certain candidate then he or she will be widely accepted and embraced unlike the current First Past the Post (FPP) where the incumbent Sanjika tenant got the keys by scooping a meagre 37% or something thereof. DPP still thinks that an obvious strong run in the southern region coupled with kugawana mavoti in the centre if 15 presidential candidates will enter the fray (Umodzi Party will come to the party I here), then they will get another mandate as they can be confident of stealing some votes kwa Wimbe in Kasungu. The proposed legislation will be hard for them as grumbling Malawians will go for a lesser evil in the event that no clear winner was found in the initial ballot. Weighing the two systems 50+1 is better as it reduces the impact of tribal or religious lines being defining factor as we have witnessed in all general elections in the country, but it is not a solution to that can ensure our democracy is bearing positive fruits for a largely neglected society drowned by poverty.
For any average Malawian like me, my vote doesn't have the necessary impact on policy and economic transformation as we still thieves masquerading as public officials swimming in the luxuries sprinkled from our sweat. What people want to see is a government that is willing to do the bidding of its citizens as per campaign promises. Now, the electoral reforms will only change the dimension of electing leaders and not winnowing trash leaders from the few honest ones. It's no longer a secret that people enter politics not serve but as income generating scheme amidst lack of employment elsewhere. To cut the chase, Malawi can benefit more of it followed a proportional representation model like South Africa where parties (and not individuals) compete and whichever entity gets most seats is allowed to form a government. Not that this system is 100% perfect but it ensures a number of things.
Firstly there's no buying of votes in Parliament nor you can find some idiots saying 'anthu kwathu andiuza ndigwire ntchito ndi boma' so joining the bandwagon of beggers at Sanjika. Secondly it ends all talk of so-called independents. Seriously there's no independence in politics, either you support the government or you hate them- more than 20 Mps in Nyasaland won on independent ticket which is a blow to the numbers of those in opposition for checks and balances as these people are easily swallowed by DziPPani. Voting parties will ensure intraparty democracy as it ensures vibrant party systems, tactics, well meaning manifestos and vivacious political alliances osati (mbofyo ya migwirizano which has seen Udiyefu buying a casket). Crucially, this system can help take the ruling party to task because the president will be expected to answer for the sins he and his compadre have committed. Aristotle in his 'Politics' treatise wrote that the principle of justice is what should be the underlying maxim for any political system, and our political system with it's unaccountable flaws has promoted injustices, poverty, and underdevelopment. Even if 50% plus my vote comes into play we will just be divorcing a devil and marrying his brother.
And finally across the ocean one Donald Trump chose to disturb the peace in Zion by unilaterally declaring that the USA will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a country imported after World War II. Palestinians who had lived in the Middle East since the destruction of the Jewish temple by Emperor Nero in 70 AD were forced live in tiny Gaza Strip and infertile Westbank when United Kingdom and other western powers, 'on humanitarian grounds,' decided to rally all Jacob's descendants to return to their promised land where Arabs were already thriving. The bone of contention since the occupation of Jews has been Jerusalem which is seen by 3 major religions as a Holy City, don't know about anzathu a Mpingo wa Aroni. Yaser Arafat negotiated a two state solution that is yet to be endorsed nor implemented and so was the city of Jerusalem which for decades has been divided between Arabs and Jews and everyone seemed happy. Until Trump. He has let the can of worms out and violence is now order of the day. The military might of Israel through American support has always intimidated Palestinians and they can't do anything other than claw in fear and wear masks and suicide bombs to blow up anything that looks like 'made in Israel.' Trump must desist trash talk if he will get the respect of us here in Chilowamatambe otherwise he will end up like Chaponda.
So NASA says they've discovered a new planet that is closer to the sun, let's make our first lady an ambassador of that new planet.
Enjoy the weekend folks
This latest ad hoc Friday sermon has come about because the blogger has, what he calls, 'a very tight schedule,' something usually peculiar to DziPPani cadates and bootlickers who applaud the president for gracing whatever function in spite of his so-called infinite roster of engagements. It will be convenient, however, to start by congratulating Super League relegation candidates Masters Security Fc for defying logic by entering the CAF Confederations Cup in spite of the axe on their neck that will see them out of the elite league. We can safely speculate that it took sniffing a large dose of weed produced illegally in Nkhotakota to make the club hierarchy decide joining the continental competition when they are well aware the calibre of players at their base is not up to scratch. I will hope they're planning to overhaul the squad and possibly poach top players at Bullets and Silver Strikers, assuming they will be able to pay them as grumbling about unpaid allowances from this club featured prominently in the news than their wins.
Many a soul will agree that Masters Fc's madness is not an isolated case in as far as public decisions are concerned in Malawi. Earlier this week the Minister tasked with confusing the public released a statement that pretended to deflect media reports that government's most senior servant wanted to upgrade his Spartan office to something more exquisite and elegant, all to the obscene tune of K67m. Not bad if we take Dausi seriously that the current office furniture was the same that the likes of Justin Malewezi have used in their capacity as Secretary to the Cabinet, mpando mwina mukubisala makoswe ausinthe. However, the fact that the company hired to do the renovations is also owned by the secretary raised eyebrows on the veracity of the minister's statement. This unprecedented level of corruption is, like Masters Security, relegating the country beyond the failed state category. Indecisive action from a myopic administration has enslaved Malawians deep into the shackles of poverty to the extent that the same poverty is used as a campaign tool by the same overrecycled politicians when they come in our streets to seek a new mandate.
Many have cited high illiteracy levels as a crucible for high level of incompetence that has become a norm in Nyasaland.
Politicians play on the ignorance of majority of Malawians to advance their mediocre agenda, and at the same time, hide their grave sins by sacrificing the pawns (where's Loot-e-pal?). A rare voice of reason, usually from the opposition, who don't have a choice anyway if they can ever wrestle the throne, and the Civil Society organizations- mostly briefcase ones with hidden agenda to be handed that big fluffy scone at some point in time before they retire, is only heard in urban centres, where a small portion of the citizenry resides, on media platforms that operate as opposition parties themselves. In this vein, the large peasant majority's only media choice is the antediluvial MBC Radio 1 found using juju on medium waves as there's no FM signal. And for them, these blackouts only have a borderline impact on their daily lives. That's why all ruling caste managed to ignore the noise from Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and others who waged a war on over the legislation of Electoral Bills, government knew it could easily fudge the opinion of a large cross section of voters. The goal posts this time around changed because PAC flexed its spiritual muscle by cajoling her member religious bodies, more especially the Catholic Church, to endorse PAC's planned demonstrations. That move flickered a wave of fear into the brains of DPP as they were sure the news would reach to remote places where you can only find a borehole because there's a Church nearby or a primary school because some monks felt sorry for the kids in that village. We all know how the DPP sweated in the run up to the scheduled 13th demos on fake Churches, prophets and excommunicated reverends and paraded them on our wretched state run MBC tv and radio to counter the views of PAC and it's allies. We all saw petitions from pitiable chiefs and Civil Society organizations on DPP payroll- all trying to confuse us so that the Electoral Reforms Bills should continue gathering dust in the name 'nationwide consultations.'
When that was apparently going to fail, the DPP played it's remaining ace, obviously by cheating it's way in parliament. Bringing all the 6 related bills to parliament was a calculated risk for it prayed to whichever gods available that the demos should no longer have a moral agenda and they should be able to shoot all of the bills down in the chamber. By crook, it has achieved both as the planned demos were postponed indefinitely owing to 'government's good faith' in accepting their demands. It also bribed majority of independent and PP eMuPs whose only clever act was knowing they're on the last leg of their terms and will never be elected again, ofcoz unless they find a world-class witchdoctor. These idiots allegedly accepted a small fortune of 200grand from the state house to help shoot down all these Bills prepared by the same DPP cabinet and presented by it's own minister. What is folly is how the minister turned himself into a filibuster by indulging into long winded speech in urging legislators to support these bills when it was just a ploy to achieve the opposite. He will enter into record books as the most incompetent minister who failed to sell his own bills. But we cannot blame him, it's the 50+1 that is hated conscientiously by DziPPani.
When one gathers the pieces of the arguments around the so-called 50+1 electoral principle, they all lead to the idea that implementing it will significantly ameliorate problems that hang around every election, especially questions about legitimacy of the winner. Proponents think that if at least more than half of the voters choose a certain candidate then he or she will be widely accepted and embraced unlike the current First Past the Post (FPP) where the incumbent Sanjika tenant got the keys by scooping a meagre 37% or something thereof. DPP still thinks that an obvious strong run in the southern region coupled with kugawana mavoti in the centre if 15 presidential candidates will enter the fray (Umodzi Party will come to the party I here), then they will get another mandate as they can be confident of stealing some votes kwa Wimbe in Kasungu. The proposed legislation will be hard for them as grumbling Malawians will go for a lesser evil in the event that no clear winner was found in the initial ballot. Weighing the two systems 50+1 is better as it reduces the impact of tribal or religious lines being defining factor as we have witnessed in all general elections in the country, but it is not a solution to that can ensure our democracy is bearing positive fruits for a largely neglected society drowned by poverty.
For any average Malawian like me, my vote doesn't have the necessary impact on policy and economic transformation as we still thieves masquerading as public officials swimming in the luxuries sprinkled from our sweat. What people want to see is a government that is willing to do the bidding of its citizens as per campaign promises. Now, the electoral reforms will only change the dimension of electing leaders and not winnowing trash leaders from the few honest ones. It's no longer a secret that people enter politics not serve but as income generating scheme amidst lack of employment elsewhere. To cut the chase, Malawi can benefit more of it followed a proportional representation model like South Africa where parties (and not individuals) compete and whichever entity gets most seats is allowed to form a government. Not that this system is 100% perfect but it ensures a number of things.
Firstly there's no buying of votes in Parliament nor you can find some idiots saying 'anthu kwathu andiuza ndigwire ntchito ndi boma' so joining the bandwagon of beggers at Sanjika. Secondly it ends all talk of so-called independents. Seriously there's no independence in politics, either you support the government or you hate them- more than 20 Mps in Nyasaland won on independent ticket which is a blow to the numbers of those in opposition for checks and balances as these people are easily swallowed by DziPPani. Voting parties will ensure intraparty democracy as it ensures vibrant party systems, tactics, well meaning manifestos and vivacious political alliances osati (mbofyo ya migwirizano which has seen Udiyefu buying a casket). Crucially, this system can help take the ruling party to task because the president will be expected to answer for the sins he and his compadre have committed. Aristotle in his 'Politics' treatise wrote that the principle of justice is what should be the underlying maxim for any political system, and our political system with it's unaccountable flaws has promoted injustices, poverty, and underdevelopment. Even if 50% plus my vote comes into play we will just be divorcing a devil and marrying his brother.
And finally across the ocean one Donald Trump chose to disturb the peace in Zion by unilaterally declaring that the USA will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a country imported after World War II. Palestinians who had lived in the Middle East since the destruction of the Jewish temple by Emperor Nero in 70 AD were forced live in tiny Gaza Strip and infertile Westbank when United Kingdom and other western powers, 'on humanitarian grounds,' decided to rally all Jacob's descendants to return to their promised land where Arabs were already thriving. The bone of contention since the occupation of Jews has been Jerusalem which is seen by 3 major religions as a Holy City, don't know about anzathu a Mpingo wa Aroni. Yaser Arafat negotiated a two state solution that is yet to be endorsed nor implemented and so was the city of Jerusalem which for decades has been divided between Arabs and Jews and everyone seemed happy. Until Trump. He has let the can of worms out and violence is now order of the day. The military might of Israel through American support has always intimidated Palestinians and they can't do anything other than claw in fear and wear masks and suicide bombs to blow up anything that looks like 'made in Israel.' Trump must desist trash talk if he will get the respect of us here in Chilowamatambe otherwise he will end up like Chaponda.
So NASA says they've discovered a new planet that is closer to the sun, let's make our first lady an ambassador of that new planet.
Enjoy the weekend folks
Friday, 8 December 2017
Action: The Missing Piece
It t is a wonderful fly day (or Friday as you all call it). Some of you were probably thinking that we were not going to have a read for reasons ranging from the surprise Wednesday article through my busy working schedule to my Friday habits. All those have been defied and I have managed to create time for my readers who I love as much as I love my dear spouse.
On to the day’s business.
About a month or so ago we had something called UMP Awards and UMP festival. UMP may not be known to many so I will do a bit of explaining. The acronym stands for Urban Music Party and it was started by Zizwa and Kabuzi, the guys who formed the Biriwiri duo of the Daily Daily fame. The UMP is a company (or just a brand, really) that organizes yearly award shows for artists, producers and all those outstanding people who made music happen in the year.
To be honest, I never took interest in the festival in the early days of its inception. This year, however one of my friends got nominated for a category and I was very keen on helping him win. I sacrificed a couple of hundred kwachas and gave him a couple score votes in a bid to make him win against the heavyweights. The interest in the voting process got me flipping through the other categories and checking if there was anything or anyone worth voting for. Zinazi ndiulula. I ended up voting for Mizu Band for the band of the year category, BFB for producer of the year and Apse Mtima as song of the year. Those were probably useless details, but anthu amenewa anaitha this year anyway.
The reason I am talking about all this hibber jabber is the chain reaction of thoughts that emanated from some cyber discussions that I had with my friends about the Awards. At some point, one popular radio DJ in his neutrality posted about the awards urging his fans to vote in the process. Instead of picking up their phones and sending texts to the designated numbers to vote, the guys began voting in the comment boxes. Some keyboard warriors got on with it and said they were not going to vote because the awards were not credible. One would understand if they considered the people who scooped awards in some categories in the recent past. What they had forgotten was that it was probably their lack of voting and the winner’s campaign skills that had made their favorite lose. Being the keyboard warrior I am, I gave a sarcastic comment and told people to go and vote other than complain about something they had power to influence. Got a few likes and positive replies with that comment.
That discussion ignited a memory of how our very own Nyau King has never gotten the most in terms of awards from the international nominations he gets year in year out. I must admit that I am not Grin’s biggest fan but I feel like his hard work needed to get him more than what he has now. Here is what happens. He gets a big nomination on the African stage. He even goes on to organize and host a party where he woes the half-drunk patrons to vote for him in the awards only to get below satisfactory results. It is interesting how some of us have wanted our boys to get these pieces of polished metal when we have done nothing to make it happen.
Reflecting upon all this made me realize that this whole thing of not voting for things like music awards (which are rather trivial) is a reflection of an even bigger problem that we have as Malawians. We simply do not like to work for what we want.
Translating this whole issue of choice into the political scenery, there are some who opt not to choose national leaders despite having a candidate of near similar attributes to their ideal leader. I have even heard of people who would want not to vote in 2019 just because they are feeling the pinch of living under the DPP government. Sad for them, if they carry on with such an idea what they will end up doing is to passively re-elect the same folks they wanted out. More often than not, this whole premise to ideas of apathy originates from the fact that people think that their action or effort is inadequate. In these cases, people like to think about the cup and lake analogy. What someone made me realize recently is that a few cups into a big space do not matter much, but if the 17 million of us (or at least people who were able to out of that) were to pour a cup into Lake Malawi, the level would change significantly. Well. In a way.
One Henry Kachaje (that entrepreneurship coach) has on a number of occasions given examples of how people get excited about his seminars. He shared on how people marveled when he taught them how they could make their first million with K10 000.00 (plausibility ya iyiyi tidzaikambiranabe) only for them to sit on the ideas. The year is going towards the end and most of us will be drafting resolutions and 2018 goals but very few of us will take action to make those happen. We will find ourselves thinking of what a wasted year 2018 was a year from now when all we needed was action to bring our dreams to reality.
Lately, I have observed how much young us young people like to talk about how other people are succeeding. We like to discuss the Range Rovers so and so drive and the sort of houses they live in but not of us get into a serious discussion and get to enquire as to how they got there, so that we can learn from them and forge our own paths from such. Just like the people who wanted some artist to win the artist of the year award without for them, we expect to gain that academic excellence without sweating for it. We want to have the perfect relationship without putting out much of an effort. We want to be “there” spiritually without doing what it takes to be so and we want to get that fat account without getting our brains to work and hands dirty. We want to have things change in our lives and in the world when we are not willing to take that baby step in changing them. We lack this spirit of being people of action.
There are people all over preaching about how we need to dream big. Perhaps what we need to now focus on is the action bit. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that are dreaming in color but the only thing standing in between them and their dreams is the lack of action. There are many who know how best to solve our problems as a nation, but the reason we are still here is that they are sitting on the know-how of the same.
Someone once said that if you want to change the world, you need to start with making your bed when you wake up. What he was trying to say was that it is starting out to doing the simple small things that fuel us to do even bigger tasks that can make a lasting change in our lives and the world at large.
Think about it…
You probably have a thousand ideas of how you can make your life or your country better. Lets forget about the 999. What if all of us set out to work on one idea at a time? Perhaps its not about what we dream but the action we take.
Have a wonderful weekend.
On to the day’s business.
About a month or so ago we had something called UMP Awards and UMP festival. UMP may not be known to many so I will do a bit of explaining. The acronym stands for Urban Music Party and it was started by Zizwa and Kabuzi, the guys who formed the Biriwiri duo of the Daily Daily fame. The UMP is a company (or just a brand, really) that organizes yearly award shows for artists, producers and all those outstanding people who made music happen in the year.
To be honest, I never took interest in the festival in the early days of its inception. This year, however one of my friends got nominated for a category and I was very keen on helping him win. I sacrificed a couple of hundred kwachas and gave him a couple score votes in a bid to make him win against the heavyweights. The interest in the voting process got me flipping through the other categories and checking if there was anything or anyone worth voting for. Zinazi ndiulula. I ended up voting for Mizu Band for the band of the year category, BFB for producer of the year and Apse Mtima as song of the year. Those were probably useless details, but anthu amenewa anaitha this year anyway.
The reason I am talking about all this hibber jabber is the chain reaction of thoughts that emanated from some cyber discussions that I had with my friends about the Awards. At some point, one popular radio DJ in his neutrality posted about the awards urging his fans to vote in the process. Instead of picking up their phones and sending texts to the designated numbers to vote, the guys began voting in the comment boxes. Some keyboard warriors got on with it and said they were not going to vote because the awards were not credible. One would understand if they considered the people who scooped awards in some categories in the recent past. What they had forgotten was that it was probably their lack of voting and the winner’s campaign skills that had made their favorite lose. Being the keyboard warrior I am, I gave a sarcastic comment and told people to go and vote other than complain about something they had power to influence. Got a few likes and positive replies with that comment.
That discussion ignited a memory of how our very own Nyau King has never gotten the most in terms of awards from the international nominations he gets year in year out. I must admit that I am not Grin’s biggest fan but I feel like his hard work needed to get him more than what he has now. Here is what happens. He gets a big nomination on the African stage. He even goes on to organize and host a party where he woes the half-drunk patrons to vote for him in the awards only to get below satisfactory results. It is interesting how some of us have wanted our boys to get these pieces of polished metal when we have done nothing to make it happen.
Reflecting upon all this made me realize that this whole thing of not voting for things like music awards (which are rather trivial) is a reflection of an even bigger problem that we have as Malawians. We simply do not like to work for what we want.
Translating this whole issue of choice into the political scenery, there are some who opt not to choose national leaders despite having a candidate of near similar attributes to their ideal leader. I have even heard of people who would want not to vote in 2019 just because they are feeling the pinch of living under the DPP government. Sad for them, if they carry on with such an idea what they will end up doing is to passively re-elect the same folks they wanted out. More often than not, this whole premise to ideas of apathy originates from the fact that people think that their action or effort is inadequate. In these cases, people like to think about the cup and lake analogy. What someone made me realize recently is that a few cups into a big space do not matter much, but if the 17 million of us (or at least people who were able to out of that) were to pour a cup into Lake Malawi, the level would change significantly. Well. In a way.
One Henry Kachaje (that entrepreneurship coach) has on a number of occasions given examples of how people get excited about his seminars. He shared on how people marveled when he taught them how they could make their first million with K10 000.00 (plausibility ya iyiyi tidzaikambiranabe) only for them to sit on the ideas. The year is going towards the end and most of us will be drafting resolutions and 2018 goals but very few of us will take action to make those happen. We will find ourselves thinking of what a wasted year 2018 was a year from now when all we needed was action to bring our dreams to reality.
Lately, I have observed how much young us young people like to talk about how other people are succeeding. We like to discuss the Range Rovers so and so drive and the sort of houses they live in but not of us get into a serious discussion and get to enquire as to how they got there, so that we can learn from them and forge our own paths from such. Just like the people who wanted some artist to win the artist of the year award without for them, we expect to gain that academic excellence without sweating for it. We want to have the perfect relationship without putting out much of an effort. We want to be “there” spiritually without doing what it takes to be so and we want to get that fat account without getting our brains to work and hands dirty. We want to have things change in our lives and in the world when we are not willing to take that baby step in changing them. We lack this spirit of being people of action.
There are people all over preaching about how we need to dream big. Perhaps what we need to now focus on is the action bit. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that are dreaming in color but the only thing standing in between them and their dreams is the lack of action. There are many who know how best to solve our problems as a nation, but the reason we are still here is that they are sitting on the know-how of the same.
Someone once said that if you want to change the world, you need to start with making your bed when you wake up. What he was trying to say was that it is starting out to doing the simple small things that fuel us to do even bigger tasks that can make a lasting change in our lives and the world at large.
Think about it…
You probably have a thousand ideas of how you can make your life or your country better. Lets forget about the 999. What if all of us set out to work on one idea at a time? Perhaps its not about what we dream but the action we take.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Wednesday, 6 December 2017
51
A lovely Wednesday it is.
I decided to throw in a surprise article in a bit to apologize for a crime I probably did not commit. You see… I failed to send something last Friday for reasons related to work and my personal laziness. I probably should have listened to my friend Max and said goodbye to all of you considering the irregularities that will hit the flow of Richie Online articles. We might try to bring them every Friday, but let it be known to you that it may not always work. Ku Gulupu kwavuta.
Interestingly enough, the Friday on which I failed to nourish readers happened to be a very important one as it was World AIDS Day (I love the way the French name this disease; Syndrome Immuno Deficitaire Acquis, with funny accents in the words, of course). I actually wanted to write a long article (backed with scientific facts and statistical models) on why it is stupid to assume and aim for an HIV free planet in 2030 in line with the fact that some deluded folks have set that goal. We are way past World AIDS Day but the one thing I would like to share is the loud echo of some semi-structured chats and random Facebook posts.
A shallow look at the historical epidemiology of the HIV pandemic shows that the disease took away a lot of lives in the 90’s because people did not know about it. Most of the people who had enablers for procuring sex (along with their spouses) got the virus as they were caught unaware. In those days, people used to do whatever they want sexually as they felt that the only thing they were susceptible to were the treatable sexually transmitted diseases everybody knew about. This is probably we have a lot of “90’s men” who are infected and affected by the virus. The point I am driving home is that these people were taken and are infected with something they were not aware of. You and I know about HIV and AIDS and we hardly have any excuse for contracting the virus or not receiving treatment adherently when it’s due. Let’s act civilized and play it safe.
That is enough HIV for now. This article wasn’t meant to be about HIV, anyway.
I have lately become increasingly interested in local politics following the boom in interesting developments in the local political scene. Malawians sleep, eat, drink and dream politics, anyway and as such I had to be trendy and begin to follow politics. Lately there have been rumors about an unusual alliance between the blue and orange parties. We got some interesting comments from some corners of the society while we were treated with some deafening silence from others. The brainy people told us that the idea of the alliance was conceived by the ruling party in a bid to ensure the amassment of a majority of the votes should 50%+1 come to light. Good strategy considering the 5-1 defeat to the black rooster, right? Somehow. As a Malawian, I feel like we should be worried about this. We have always talked of the yellow, blue and orange camps as the UDF group of parties and if they finally become a thing, they may actually end up getting a landslide victory leaving the country at the mercy of recycled politicians who have mastered the art of plundering public resources (I said it). Anyway. That is a topic for another Wednesday or Sunday or whatever day the other article will show up. Let us talk about 50%+1.
If you have been paying attention to anything in the country, you might have heard about the Electoral Reforms Bill. I am no lawyer but from the little I know this is a new proposed legislation governing electoral processes in the country. I am not sure of what else is in the bill other than the much touted 50%+1 clause. What basically that means is that for someone to be declared winner in the national elections, they have to scoop no less than half of all the votes plus one vote. Akuti akatero ndiye kuti the candidate has been chosen by the majority of the people. Should that not happen, the two leading candidates go for a re-run. M’mene ndaimvera inetu. Correctors are free to do so in the comment box.
Some have accused me of being a DPP sympathizer owing to my lack of support for the 50+1 thing. If you do not get my argument, you might also paint me with the same brush but if you think about it critically, this system is useless and a waste of time and money for a nation like ours. This country should be run by the guy who gets a simple majority of the votes as has been the case since the advent of democracy. Period.
My brainy friends who are also against “51” have used interesting arguments beyond the comprehension of my loosely folded brain. People have talked about resources and some have added the possibility of voter apathy in run-off elections. Others have provided even more complex arguments that I tend to forget upon getting. I on the other hand have a simple thought that has got me asking myself whether this whole thing is good and what we are trying to achieve by re-defining “majority” in electoral terms. Of course my answers were nothing and nothing.
Here is the idea. Bringing in the 50%+1 system may mean that the CEO for our country will be chosen by the majority of the voters in the country but the thing has no effect whatsoever on the quality of the leader(ship) and governance in the country. If you think about it, it will be the same politicians who will be competing and whether they are voted in by the majority or not, they will still remain with the same traits in as far as leadership skills and passion for the people are concerned. If they are egocentric, they will not change just because they were voted in by a majority. Our leaders are not accountable to us, anyway so we should not have false hopes that things will change when we introduce the new system.
In as far as I am concerned, the problem we have as a nation is that we do not have leaders who have the interests of the nation at heart. Some of you might say a lot and tout about your party leader but I hardly believe that they would be any better given the mandate for one term. If anything, I feel like we shouldn’t be investing too much time, money and emotions into the process of replacing one thieving dictator with another in our fake democracy. If someone has gotten more votes than everyone else, let them get the seat at Casterly Rock (Kamuzu Palace) and plunder when they can. If they do anything helpful and praiseworthy, let us clap and make them life President like Yoweri Mu7 and soldier on; ignoring any imperialist lectures on how we should run our democracy.
I have not talked about how desperate some will be to make a win out of one run ending up with extreme measures like rigging or costly alliances like the one we heard is cooking on the sidelines. Zonsezi tizidziganizira ndithu.
I am told that people (with full blessings and encouragement from men of the cloth of course) would like to hold peaceful demonstrations in a bid to push parliament to table the reforms bill in this sitting. Richie Msowoya wakanitsitsa kuti he will not allow bills to be bulldozed by some “mob” into his house and I am told that some law experts are saying that the bill is not ready for parliamentary debate. This may just be a delay tactic for all we know but if it is true, we might want to avoid adding some half-baked hibber jabber into our constitution.
If you are planning to be part of the demonstrations, you have the full blessings of Maharaja Richard Kamwezi but what you should know is that you will be fighting for a change in how you choose the leader; with very little if any change on who gets chosen. That change will be meaningless, if you are to ask me.
The whole article in one sentence?
The process of reforming the electoral processes will mean nothing if it has no bearing on the quality of leaders that will be chosen... and so far this seems to be the wrong direction we are headed.
Anyway. This is politics. I am just a humble Medical Officer intern at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Let me go back to serving… Zinazi zitichedwetsa.
I decided to throw in a surprise article in a bit to apologize for a crime I probably did not commit. You see… I failed to send something last Friday for reasons related to work and my personal laziness. I probably should have listened to my friend Max and said goodbye to all of you considering the irregularities that will hit the flow of Richie Online articles. We might try to bring them every Friday, but let it be known to you that it may not always work. Ku Gulupu kwavuta.
Interestingly enough, the Friday on which I failed to nourish readers happened to be a very important one as it was World AIDS Day (I love the way the French name this disease; Syndrome Immuno Deficitaire Acquis, with funny accents in the words, of course). I actually wanted to write a long article (backed with scientific facts and statistical models) on why it is stupid to assume and aim for an HIV free planet in 2030 in line with the fact that some deluded folks have set that goal. We are way past World AIDS Day but the one thing I would like to share is the loud echo of some semi-structured chats and random Facebook posts.
A shallow look at the historical epidemiology of the HIV pandemic shows that the disease took away a lot of lives in the 90’s because people did not know about it. Most of the people who had enablers for procuring sex (along with their spouses) got the virus as they were caught unaware. In those days, people used to do whatever they want sexually as they felt that the only thing they were susceptible to were the treatable sexually transmitted diseases everybody knew about. This is probably we have a lot of “90’s men” who are infected and affected by the virus. The point I am driving home is that these people were taken and are infected with something they were not aware of. You and I know about HIV and AIDS and we hardly have any excuse for contracting the virus or not receiving treatment adherently when it’s due. Let’s act civilized and play it safe.
That is enough HIV for now. This article wasn’t meant to be about HIV, anyway.
I have lately become increasingly interested in local politics following the boom in interesting developments in the local political scene. Malawians sleep, eat, drink and dream politics, anyway and as such I had to be trendy and begin to follow politics. Lately there have been rumors about an unusual alliance between the blue and orange parties. We got some interesting comments from some corners of the society while we were treated with some deafening silence from others. The brainy people told us that the idea of the alliance was conceived by the ruling party in a bid to ensure the amassment of a majority of the votes should 50%+1 come to light. Good strategy considering the 5-1 defeat to the black rooster, right? Somehow. As a Malawian, I feel like we should be worried about this. We have always talked of the yellow, blue and orange camps as the UDF group of parties and if they finally become a thing, they may actually end up getting a landslide victory leaving the country at the mercy of recycled politicians who have mastered the art of plundering public resources (I said it). Anyway. That is a topic for another Wednesday or Sunday or whatever day the other article will show up. Let us talk about 50%+1.
If you have been paying attention to anything in the country, you might have heard about the Electoral Reforms Bill. I am no lawyer but from the little I know this is a new proposed legislation governing electoral processes in the country. I am not sure of what else is in the bill other than the much touted 50%+1 clause. What basically that means is that for someone to be declared winner in the national elections, they have to scoop no less than half of all the votes plus one vote. Akuti akatero ndiye kuti the candidate has been chosen by the majority of the people. Should that not happen, the two leading candidates go for a re-run. M’mene ndaimvera inetu. Correctors are free to do so in the comment box.
Some have accused me of being a DPP sympathizer owing to my lack of support for the 50+1 thing. If you do not get my argument, you might also paint me with the same brush but if you think about it critically, this system is useless and a waste of time and money for a nation like ours. This country should be run by the guy who gets a simple majority of the votes as has been the case since the advent of democracy. Period.
My brainy friends who are also against “51” have used interesting arguments beyond the comprehension of my loosely folded brain. People have talked about resources and some have added the possibility of voter apathy in run-off elections. Others have provided even more complex arguments that I tend to forget upon getting. I on the other hand have a simple thought that has got me asking myself whether this whole thing is good and what we are trying to achieve by re-defining “majority” in electoral terms. Of course my answers were nothing and nothing.
Here is the idea. Bringing in the 50%+1 system may mean that the CEO for our country will be chosen by the majority of the voters in the country but the thing has no effect whatsoever on the quality of the leader(ship) and governance in the country. If you think about it, it will be the same politicians who will be competing and whether they are voted in by the majority or not, they will still remain with the same traits in as far as leadership skills and passion for the people are concerned. If they are egocentric, they will not change just because they were voted in by a majority. Our leaders are not accountable to us, anyway so we should not have false hopes that things will change when we introduce the new system.
In as far as I am concerned, the problem we have as a nation is that we do not have leaders who have the interests of the nation at heart. Some of you might say a lot and tout about your party leader but I hardly believe that they would be any better given the mandate for one term. If anything, I feel like we shouldn’t be investing too much time, money and emotions into the process of replacing one thieving dictator with another in our fake democracy. If someone has gotten more votes than everyone else, let them get the seat at Casterly Rock (Kamuzu Palace) and plunder when they can. If they do anything helpful and praiseworthy, let us clap and make them life President like Yoweri Mu7 and soldier on; ignoring any imperialist lectures on how we should run our democracy.
I have not talked about how desperate some will be to make a win out of one run ending up with extreme measures like rigging or costly alliances like the one we heard is cooking on the sidelines. Zonsezi tizidziganizira ndithu.
I am told that people (with full blessings and encouragement from men of the cloth of course) would like to hold peaceful demonstrations in a bid to push parliament to table the reforms bill in this sitting. Richie Msowoya wakanitsitsa kuti he will not allow bills to be bulldozed by some “mob” into his house and I am told that some law experts are saying that the bill is not ready for parliamentary debate. This may just be a delay tactic for all we know but if it is true, we might want to avoid adding some half-baked hibber jabber into our constitution.
If you are planning to be part of the demonstrations, you have the full blessings of Maharaja Richard Kamwezi but what you should know is that you will be fighting for a change in how you choose the leader; with very little if any change on who gets chosen. That change will be meaningless, if you are to ask me.
The whole article in one sentence?
The process of reforming the electoral processes will mean nothing if it has no bearing on the quality of leaders that will be chosen... and so far this seems to be the wrong direction we are headed.
Anyway. This is politics. I am just a humble Medical Officer intern at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Let me go back to serving… Zinazi zitichedwetsa.
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