MALAWIANS ARE NOT DOCILE—USI

Comedian Michael Usi, popularly known as Manganya, has, in the past, been in the political news following revelations that different political parties want to have him in their fold. EPHRAIM NYONDO caught up with him on issues revolving around arts and politics in Malawi.

You are a comedian and while you have produced political satires, you have never gone public with your political ambitions. What is it that you do which attracts politicians to keep knocking on your door?

Nothing basically. But I can confirm that I have been having private meetings with a number of politicians. Most of them come to seek my assistance in getting funds from donors for development activities. This is the case because most donors, especially the Danish, are quite interested in how I have managed funds through Adra projects. In fact, when the Danish Embassy was closing, they recommended Adra and mentioned my name as a symbol of how development aid should be managed. So, most of these politicians, based on what I have said, come to me to get my hand if they want something from donors. And I can tell you that I have disqualified a number of them. So, when they go back, they carry home a different version of me, the comedian.

What do you mean you have disqualified a number of them?

Yes, most of these politicians are without principles. If I had to be dancing to their tunes driven by opportunism and greed, I could have long been a sell-out. I didn’t want that. I want to make a difference in life. That is why I have a great respect for Professor Matthews Chikaonda and Retired Chief Justice Richard Banda. To me, they symbolise the kind of leadership Malawi needs.

So why have you been turning down offers from politicians?

There is hardly a party, currently, that has a strategy and will take Malawi out of poverty. Not even one. They all play the same game. They talk differently, but they mean the same. I don’t want to be part of this.

What is it that you have learnt from these politicians that makes you conclude so?

When in power, serving the nation comes secondary to almost all these parties. Safeguarding their political power to accumulate [wealth] is what is primary to them. If I am lying, why is it that everybody becomes excessively rich when they get in power? The answer is simple: We have politicians running political parties with entrenched strategies of self-enrichment. Until we change the current crop of politicians, we will be singing the poverty alleviation song for centuries.

So it is the political leadership that is wrong?

Of course. Some of us had the privilege to travel wide and discuss development with a number of renowned individuals across the globe. What I have noted is that in Malawi, the job of development is solely in the wrong hands of politicians. There is hardly room for technocrats. That is why today we have missed the opportunity of the Chinese gesture. Instead of negotiating with the Chinese to help us construct big dams to revolutionarise the country’s irrigation sector, we are busy letting the Chinese build us stadiums and parliaments—things we least need at our level of development. I guess the politicians do this deliberately because they know with irrigation, people will be self- sufficient, and as a result, it will be difficult to control them.

Next year, Malawians will be choosing a president to lead them in the next five years. Any word for the voters?

Simple: Malawians, don’t again, sell your birthright. You remember the biblical story of Isaac who sold his birthright to his young brother because of food—something that is perishable? As 2014 draws close, there will be bicycles, spoons, clothes—all of them perishable nothings—being distributed. Malawians should be careful. They have sold their birthright to handouts for a long time. Remember what happened to Isaac after selling his birthright? He turned into a vagabond.

Artists, like yourself, command a great following from the public, and often, people listen to you. Do you think artists in the country have helped to make a difference to the country’s politics?

Frankly speaking, we have not. Because of poverty, most artists end up being bought. As a result, they become mouthpieces of political parties of the time. Can you be independent in such a way? You cannot speak with neutrality. In my case, I can say whatever I find important to the nation without fear or favour because it is common people, not political parties, that are my masters. This is the case even with academics. Before joining politics, they speak with their brains but after joining, they speak with political party colour brain.

You are joining politics…

No. As I am speaking today, I don’t have intentions. I enjoy teaching people—and I will not stop.

Your last word?

The spates of development we see are merely by chance not choice or strategy. Malawians have been taken for granted so long. But the message for a person who will lead Malawi after 2014 is that, Malawians are not the docile people we used to know. One day they will rise and refuse to sit down until they get what they deserve. Trust me.