Think of pads as well, lady MPs
July 1 2021.
It has been an eventful week, full of twists and turns on so many fronts? Look at the stunning action at the Euro 2020 if you think I am bluffing!
The South African Constitutional Court sentenced former President Jacob Zuma to 15 months in jail for contempt. The ruling from the Constitutional Hill came after Zuma defied an order to appear before a commission investigating allegations of financial abuse during his tenure.
Sending the Msholozi from Nkandla to a correctional facility reminds us of the stark reality that nobody is above the law.
The chicks of wrong doing always come back to roost. When power is lost, mostly, evil deeds that were veiled come into the open.
Former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) governor Dalitso Kabambe and three other top executives at the Central Bank were knicked for their alleged involvement in shady deals. Kabambe, an heir apparent to Peter Mutharika as president of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has since called the arrest persecution.
Only time will tell. The law, they say, is like a stick in a fight. Whoever has it will whip the opponent but once it is taken away from them, they will bear the thrashing.
A couple of weeks ago, the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiative (Cdedi) organised demonstrations where people in Mulanje and Thyolo were asking for their land back. During the week, we hear Lujeri Tea Estate has given back land to about 5 000 people in T/A Njema’s area in Mulanje.
This is a good development as the fight against land alienation in the estates continues. The wish is that government should do its part so that more estates must emulate the gesture to ease the land pressures in Mulanje and Thyolo.
On Tuesday, women legislators pulled up a surprise when they went into the house dressed in primary school uniforms to raise awareness on problems girls face. Not only did that bring lighter moments to see MPs like Susan Dossi not only in Kunyondo Primary School uniform from her Chikwawa West Constituency, but also carrying a bottle filled with roasted maize. On her bag is a strong message: “Give me books not a husband”.
The uniforms were a rainbow not only for colour but also kind. Some chose uniforms from local education authority schools while others opted for the Phoenix stitches.
One can only imagine how the male parliamentarians could have looked in shorts, with their legs that are made strictly for walking! But then, the dress up will make no sense if it was just a fashion show. If girls are learning in mud and grass-thatched classes because their parliamentarian, who may be a woman, chewed Constituency Development Funds, the gesture will have no meaning.
In future, the parliamentarians may also think about using that opportunity to raise funds to buy at least two reusable sanitary pads for each school-going girl from Nsanje to Chitipa! It may sound like a weird idea, but girls, especially in the rural areas, abscond classes at that time of the month because they don’t have pads. While they are away, boys are advancing.
The Speaker should have ‘fined’ each lady Parliamentarian K300 000 for bending the parliamentary dress code. The money collected could have been used to buy sanitary pads for the girls countrywide.
A story is told about how one girl wanted to buy sanitary pads like her friend. But she came from a poor background. She had an idea, she found a boyfriend who gave her money for sanitary pads. In exchange, she slept with the boy, unprotected. She got pregnant. She never used the pads.
Let us talk about these things. n
