Pride goes before a fall

Once there lived a king cobra in a small hole. When he was small he ate little creatures. As he grew up he began to eat eggs, lizards, frogs and rabbits. And when he grew up further he started to eat even other smaller snakes. His pride grew with him.

All small animals began to fear the king cobra. This boosted up his pride. He began to think “Now I am the most powerful creature. I am the king of the forest. All animals fear me. Let me move from this small hole to a bigger place”.

He searched for a place to suit his size and status.

Finally he came across a big tree. He selected the tree for his house. He saw an ant hill near the tree.

He thought “Why should there be an ugly ant hill near my royal house?” He hissed aloud “I am king Cobra, the king of the forest. I order the ants to vacate immediately”. There was no reply. He got wild and struck at the ant hill.

What a surprise! In a minute, thousands of ants swarmed up the king cobra biting him everywhere. The king cobra could not bear the pain. He ran away.

Last week, two stories dominated the headlines apart from the bloodsuckers’ saga. The ruling party was defeated heavily in by-elections held on Tuesday and the Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) decided to drop sharp shooter Mwawi Kumwenda from the Queens squad to this year’s Fast5 World Netball Series.

The developments were received with mixed reactions on the streets. However, I will not belabour you with DPP’s loss. The party needs time to recover from the loss and its leader APM also needs ample time to reflect on the embarrassing result.

So let us look at the issue of this so-called netball star, who has been expelled from the national netball team after she reported late to camp.

Let us not forget that this will be the second time for Mwawi to miss a major netball tournament as in 2014 NAM also dropped her for the World Cup netball trip accusing her of lack of discipline after she asked NAM to give her colleagues their training and game bonus arrears.

Despite protests on various platforms from netball fans nationwide, NAM general secretary Carol Bapu told the media the team, without Mwawi, is ready for this year’s tournament as the coach has named a quality squad which has the capability of delivering good results.

Malawians can fault Mwawi all day long, but the bottom line is that the relationship between the star and NAM has hit a new low. The mess ahead of the tournament, could have been avoided if one of the parties was humble enough to listen to the other. As we all can see, pride was at stake here.

We on the streets feel NAM and Mwawi make a toxic mix which is not  good for netball in the country. Therefore it is  good that these parties should remain apart for some time for the team to succeed. Its high time Mwawi focused on her international career. and created room for new talent. In fact, the girls have for many years been star performers in international competitions with or without Mwawi.

We on the streets also believe that our netball coaches must accept change. In life all things come to an end. Super heroes of yesterday, cannot be superheroes today.

As the Fast 5 netball series rolls into motion today, fans in the country will accept nothing less from the Queens.

If results are terrible, heads must roll at NAM.

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On recycled politicians

This week, Harry Mkandawire, the former vice-president of the People’s Party responsible for the Northern Region has re-joined opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

“I am interested in MCP because the party’s leadership speaks against nepotism which is common in the Democratic Progressive Party,” Mkandawire told The Daily Times on Tuesday.

Of course, Mkandawire has been publicly showing his support for MCP as he was seen at Lazarus Chakwera’s rally in Chibavi Township in Mzuzu.

Some political analysts say MCP is gaining momentum after roping in so-called ‘high profile politicians’ such as Sidik Mia, Salim Bagus, Nick Yiannakis, among others and winning the three by-elections last week.

But youths on the streets fear for MCP.  With 19 months before another election, roping in recycled politicians can be Chakwera’s own undoing. With such old and outdated tactics, MCP risks losing the gains made last Tuesday.

The number of recycled politicians who are now joining the party in the hope of resurrecting their dead political careers will soon crowdout able young men and women who have fought hard to rebuild the party when the veterans were in the wilderness.

Word on the street is that, old habits die hard. MCP will never change. n