In the past several weeks, I have been following up on several issues of note. First was the reported announcement by the Minister of Sports that government is keen to rehabilitate six former Malawi Young Pioneer (MYP) bases. These former MYP bases, according the news item I was reading, were in all the three regions of the country.
Now, in this country when you hear something is being done in all the three regions of the country, it appears good. It is like the man with three wives. If he buys a chitenje, he must buy three chitenjes, one for each wife. And so this man must always be aware that doing one thing to one woman and denying the same to the others is recipe for disaster. Following this train of thought, minister Enoch Chihana said government was rehabilitating former MYP bases in all THREE regions of the country.
This far, I am sure even Chihana does not see anything wrong with what he was quoted as saying. So, we come to the details; don’t they say that “the pudding is in the eating?” So we go on, shall we? The news item lists the following as the six former MYP bases in all the three regions: Neno, Namwera in Mangochi, Hewe in Rumphi, Kamwanjiwa in Mzimba, Chitipa and Chiradzulu. You may have seen the problem by now! If not, where is the Central Region here? There is no base in the Central Region that is to be rehabilitated. Maybe we were talking about four regions (having included the Eastern Region)? But even then, the statement would not have read, in ALL the three regions of the country. All means all.
I was pleased to learn that President Joyce Banda is seeking more Chinese investment. This was reported to have been said when a shopping mall was opening in Lilongwe. I would implore the President not only to seek more investment, but also go look for it wherever she can get it. There are people in government who know where these things we are opening came from. I am not just talking about simple answers as: Bingu brought these investors. I am talking about issues like: how did it happen? What was said then? What was not said then? What was done? What visits were made? Who was called to come into the country? One does not need to copy exactly all aspects of the past, but to learn from it.
I was confused when I read in the newspapers that Mzondi Mvula, a magistrate, had sued the Chief Justice and the Attorney General and dragged them to court on a contempt of the court charge. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no small matter. If the Chief Justice ended up being found guilty or arrested and thrown in prison, what sort of country would we have? This is like what French General Berthier did in 1798. These things shake the world. Chief Justices should never be arrested and I am happy the matter was resolved without any handcuffs.
