Editors Pick

Editor’s Note

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 16, 2014
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It is an open secret that we have been invaded by prophets and word is spreading like wild fire of prophesies making huge differences in believers’ lives. It is nothing new to see people, particularly women, rushing to a ‘man of God,’ as they have become to be called, for solutions. Naturally, these problems are marital as women are the first to salvage whatever is left of evidently irreconcilable differences.

My story today is a fascinating turn of events concerning one young family I am told sought divine intervention to their somewhat challenging, but once marital bliss now turned physiological torture. Admittedly, I do not have a bag bursting with details but I do know (from the woman’s story) that theirs did not turn out to be happy ever- afters.

The young couple reportedly sought the face of God through a self-acclaimed prophetess in one of the townships in Blantyre. As would be customary I presume, the couple visited her on several occasions, possibly attending her services so they could hear the voice of God about their situation. Whatever must have been their expectations, what came clear from their fellowshipping is not what believers expected and something that hit the woman the hardest.

Lo and behold, it must have hit her like an underground train because her voice said it all. Her prince charming had suddenly seen new light and headed straight for it. Hubby and prophet became an item in a twinkling of an eye, leaving her in the cold. Their very hope towards possible reconciliation and betterment of their union had become the object of her hatred.

Battered, hurt, frustrated and evidently incensed, the young woman found herself knocking on various doors in the hope of bringing her man back home, all in vain. This man was unstoppable and the woman of God was on fire. Wedding bells became audible. Before long and as word has it, irate neighbours, concerned citizens and all who heard of this tale disallowed their supposedly holy matrimony from taking place, as long as he was someone else’s husband. This did not stop the lovebirds as they eventually got married, by the moonlight.

Now, without being judgemental or wearing the holier than thou robe, is this the kind of help believers are looking for? Are we going to attribute this act to an instruction from God, that his servants should wreck other marriages?

In my little knowledge, I believe that the Bible is clear on various aspects of life, including the warning to guard against deceivers. The ability to discern too is spelt out in the Bible. With the sudden boom of prophets and prophesies becoming trendy, now is the time to activate those spiritual antennas lest we cry foul.

We do not need to be rocket scientists to depict danger.  We need spiritualism, but it has to be the right kind. Examples of deplorable acts by faith and spiritual leaders are many. With desperation comes vulnerability to brain washing that can be fatal. Let us take charge of the situation before we have a repeat of the Ndirande fire massacre of a family in the name of spiritual emancipation.

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 16, 2014
2 minutes read
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Caroline Somanje

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Editors Pick

Editor’s Note

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 9, 2014
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Has anyone ever wondered about some women’s insatiable appetite for good and priceless items yet they have a hard time letting go of their fiscals?  These items range from designer clothes, jewelry, cars and, yes, expensive alcoholic beverages at every outing. Spending they love on condition it is someone’s money.

Most will even have a hard time picking a store, meal or drink if they are footing the bill. But the moment someone else picks their tabs or shows interest to do so, all hell is likely to break loose with overzealousness at unwarranted choices. They not only unravel amounts of greed but let out assumptions that the generous fellow has the capacity. They believe, by virtue of being feminine, they can bulldoze any account.

It is baffling to figure out why women exhibit innocence and vulnerability when it comes to paying when in essence they would be spitting venom at any cash on display and brag about it later. Theirs remain clenched fists at releasing payments even when they have been paid same allowances with the men folk at a workshop or work outside duty stations.  They will manipulate, even if it means seductively, until they get what they want.

They have the art of convincing anybody how broke or needy they are soon after signing for allowances right before their victim, who  winds up spending all he has just to please a stranger.

Picture a woman seated at the counter with a bottle of beer, which she sips for a good two hours with the hope of attracting company or indeed “donors” to sponsor her eloquent habits that almost drive other people bankrupt. The blunder her unsuspecting victims make is to walk straight into her lures and begin paying through their nose to impress. Suddenly, strange names such as tequila, zappa, mojoritoes begin to fill the air as the cheap beer disappear from the scene. One would be lucky if the women imbibers settle for the average cider or spirit. Of course, this does withstand the fact that there would be the egocentrics that dangle the monetary carrot in front of the women and beg them to ‘punish’ them with improbable demands.

My point is, why do women go through the trouble of fighting for equality and equity when their actions are to the contrary? Can we blame these men taking advantage of us when we become the first on the offensive? Whatever happened to pride and a sense of individualism rather than the dependency syndrome that exposes us to atrocities beyond reproach? This is in no way condoning violence or abuses by the way. All I’m saying is women have the same wisdom, intelligence and know- how to earn as much or even more than the men folk to enable them treats from time to time.  If offers come, let them flow naturally without sexual inducements.

There are no hard and fast rules about who takes who out, let alone who picks the tab. Let there be no vulnerabilities or liabilities in so far as fun is concerned, lest we be misconceived.

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 9, 2014
2 minutes read
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Caroline Somanje

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Editors Pick

Editor’s Note

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 2, 2014
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Just who is our government answerable to, if I may ask? Is it donors? International enquiries? Surreptitious well-wishers? Whatever the answer, one thing for sure is that voters, taxpayers and bona fide citizens of this country top the list. Attitudes by this government portray the contrary. It is as if this important section of people does not exist or are mere liabilities. To stress my point, last month when Nation on Sunday broke the story on the dubious dealings of the sold p6residential jet, State House has been very defensive and lived in denial for too long.

Such is the myopia of our administrators disregarding those who determine their employment in favour of strangers who seem to call the shots. The national inquest into who has been funding those presidential trips, how strange planes were hovering around our poor soils and indeed if procedures were followed went unheeded, coupled with unlimited scorn of media outlets that ‘dared’ to probe dealings by the powers that be.  We were told that taxpayers have not been tabbed in the deal; hence, it was none of their business But just as that matter was about to fizzle out, as is the norm, the British Government stepped it and demanded an explanation from the Joyce Banda administration. Again, as soon as the international media built its own hive around the matter to exert pressure and, as expected, ears flung open and “they” started listening. It matters less at this point that they gave half baked truths. That was when the nation learnt that government has indeed been chartering with costs hidden as usual. Whatever happened to the well-wisher story?

Clearly, without international intervention, we would have been deprived of the “feel good” pleasure from an unrelenting administration to finally eat its own words on the charters, including the very one it sold. Is government still lying or it finally decided to let the cat out of the bag? We will never know because it seems that government has mastered the art of clarifying a matter with more vagueness. This is one of typical examples of which master our masters serve.

And believe me, this Cashgate saga we are reeling from would have been another forgotten story had thieves not stolen a portion of the taxpayers’ money. Thank heavens they robbed the wrong entities; hence, justice will be swift. You can nonetheless see government’s allegiance on this matter. It is not to you or me or our poor grandparents or aunts in the village. They are not remorseful to us, the intended beneficiaries of this public purse. Its obligation is to anyone with currency to offer such as the British, Common Approach Budget Support (Cabs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Why else would it send the executive summary of the preliminary forensic audit report to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before its own people? Or at least simultaneously?

Evidently, Malawians matter very little to their government, which will not waste time to proffer explanations on a seemingly docile populace. Docile as we may seem or such portrayed, our day of reckoning shall present itself sooner or later. Who envisioned there would be cashgate, referendum and indeed multiparty politics after 30 years of the so-called slumber? Time always tells.

Caroline Somanje Send an email February 2, 2014
2 2 minutes read
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Caroline Somanje

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2 Comments

  1. I fail to understand what the author meant when she wrote “And believe me, this Cashgate ……justice will be swift”.

    1. When I see flagged mecedenz benz passing through ..I dont see leaders inside..I see thieves..they belong to prison not in the corridors of power..

Chichewa

Editor’s Note

Caroline Somanje Send an email January 26, 2014
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Election time is here and campaigns are, inevitably, the order of the day. It is a time when most contenders,  faced with the daunting task of meeting would-be voters, also validate their significance. Names and faces come onto the scene with unending promises. The joke for me has been the supposed act of favour to the electorates when a good number of our Parliamentarian aspirants assert to have been moved by community requests to contest.  Some even go to the extent of abandoning their parties upon primary election failure, again all in the name of succumbing to more pressure from subjects to go solo as long as they make it for their sakes. Such benevolence! But sweet as it ought to sound, I have my reservations.
You see, I have heard this line many elections before, suffice to say it is just an excuse to justify one’s presence on the ballot. Theirs has been and will always be a hunger for supremacy and self enrichment so they will say anything to outwit their opponents, hoping the electorate will pick them. Voters too, in my view, have perfected the art of scheming frantic candidates who, if they have the means, want to buy their way to the August House. That is how all these: “I am here on demand” and “we choose you” sentiments come into being. It is a game that is played over and over; same script but different players.
Most of these contenders are adults who require little persuasion about what they ought to be doing at particular times, including whether or not to contest for a parliamentary seat or indeed any other elective office elsewhere. My suggestion would be for one to simply present themselves to the challenge without much ado about whose persuasion or mandate they are bowing down to because, trust me, the Malawi Electoral Commission could not care less  if you were sent by your dead ancestors so long as you paid their contesting fees.
On a totally different discourse, I have loved Stella Fowowe’s definition and subsequent analysis of midlife crisis on Page 6. I must say it did shed some light about some wandering times of life’s travels, experiences and expectations. I have often wondered exactly what some peers meant when upon faced with the intricacy of a decision they justify it to be the consequence of this highly misapprehended and, I must admit, exaggerated piece of  tottering emotion.
Take for instance a married person, male or female who endeavours to seek solace in the arms of another and oops, they fall in love. Trouble in paradise begins. This trouble would be in reference to marital shake up and pressure from their double lives. The misery becomes evident on the poor souls as the weariness of their adventures takes their toll. Succumbing to the pressure becomes the only option but which side of the temperature would they go? Stay or leave? What if either side will not relent? The lies must continue. The pretence orchestrated. Then it hits them. Yes, how could they forget? They were undergoing their midlife crisis. The experiences are typical of people their ages, or are they? Are the two men or women in one’s life a phase that will inaudibly slip away one morning and the life returns to what it was? I am just thinking aloud.
Indeed midlife crisis is a passing phase with all its hullabaloo. My prayer is that whatever name they may call your own crisis, may it end amicably and pleasantly. n

Caroline Somanje Send an email January 26, 2014
2 minutes read
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Caroline Somanje

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Editors Pick

Editor’s Note

Caroline Somanje Send an email January 19, 2014
1 2 minutes read
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There is an appalling tendency by most public officers to undermine the integrity of journalists when confronted with a matter of public interest. Public officers entrusted with public information, meant for public consumption erroneously safe guard it in an apparent display of loyalty, responsibility to the appointing authority and paymasters. Such is their deep rooted arrogance, disrespect and lack of rapport in response to uncomplicated enquires in the course of one’s duty.

The level of antagonism is a clear manifestation of an attempt to slay the truth, which serves no purpose other than triggering more unprecedented revelations, much to the deep injury and embarrassment of a regime. The shooting of missiles in form of mumble jumbled refutations, press statements or superiority fraught responses gives the impression that the journalistic side is vulnerable, disarmed and characterised by a bunch of no good citizens who can be pushed around.

I recall one journalist being blatantly told by State House press officer Steve Nhlane that he did not see his interest in an issue he was pursuing unless “you have been appointed their debt collector and you are pushing for payment on their behalf”.   This was in response to an alleged non- payment of a K214 million bill by a South African company for iron sheets it supplied to President Joyce Banda’s Mudzi Transformation Trust.

Then there is the overly played prank of officers always being in meetings even as they sit at home gazing at the sky, enjoying some programme on television or indeed socialising on whatsApp instead of attending to some ‘boring  inquest’.

Nhlane’s pomposity is not an isolated incident.  There are many instances I could make reference to but I trust the point has been driven home. Public officers are neither created as mere personal image boosters nor pulpits for wealth accumulation through their fat allowances. These are offices that should be accompanied with positive responsibilities, show of respect, good mannerisms and discipline by their holders without wielding unnecessary hostility and weaponry.

When one has been caught pants down, defenses are in order to act as face savers or image salvagers. This should be done prudently, not in wanton statements laden with degrees of personalising issues or fibbing. It is of no use to shout: “it was not me” even as overwhelming evidence point to the same. I recall the endless phones calls I got from some officer after I wrote an incriminating story against the powers that be. I was bombarded for having fed the nation with lies and relied on information that ‘they’ referred to as utter lies and baseless.  Naturally, official refutations followed but as a newspaper, we were on the right side of history. The last one must have fallen heavy on their shoulders, prompting me to make the calls this time on what they had to say.

“Well, let us forget that this story ever happened or written,” was one of the defeated responses I got. “No administration is perfect,” so went on the tone.  I made it clear to them that the next time journalists make an inquisition, no public officer should assume it to be a ball game and attempt to dribble before understanding a game plan. Study your opponent carefully to avoid stepping on your own foot or scoring an own goal due to lack of tact.

Transparency goes a long way in bridging communication gaps and nurturing peaceful co-existence. It is never personal. The media is the Fourth Estate. Remember the power of the pen!

Caroline Somanje Send an email January 19, 2014
1 2 minutes read
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Caroline Somanje

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One Comment

  1. Hmm. The author seems pretty peeved. Govt officials in successive Malawian regimes are full of shit, and the author should know that. Every country has leaders and bureaucrats they deserve. We vote in our idiotic leaders election after election. They in turn recruit bootleakers to serve them (not us), and that completes the vicious circle. No rocket science here.

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