Thoughts on the anthem
President Lazarus Chakwera has been busy the past few days. It is interesting that the President is patronizing more and more church events.
It is a great thing to be led by a pious person. The servant leadership principle has deep roots in the Bible.
It is simply amazing grace that the President can attend the laying of a foundation for the Assemblies of God headquarters on a Thursday. How sweet the sound it is to hear that Chakwera is not picky-choosy on which church to attend, and contribute in cash for the on-going projects.
As the President continues his travels, some of which would have well been carried out by members of his Cabinet, we hear more often that National Anthem, God Bless Malawi.
So often have we listened to this solemn hymn that the lyrics have gone deep into our hearts that they have lost meaning as it were. Our enemies, in that Fred Sauka composition, have remained hunger, disease and envy.
The land has been at peace. Even where fuel prices sky-rocket at obscene proportions, peace reigns in the land. God is, indeed, keeping this land at peace.
Our hearts are joined as one and we are free from fear. Yet, we are not free from the fear that the very people we invested power upon are slowly turning their heads against us.
The cost of living is rising daily. Essential goods, like cooking oil, continue to fetch high prices.
It is apparent that we have sung this single verse of the anthem far too long. It is high time we looked at verse two of that sacred song.
Our own Malawi, this land so fair,
Fertile and brave and free
Talking about fertility of the land, one can’t help but think of the elusive prices of fertiliser. The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in particular promised a universal subsidy, unlike its ally, UTM Party which promised fertiliser at less than K5 000. Either way, it was all a farce as those under the Agricultural Inputs Programme will buy it at K7 000 while those that are not so lucky will have to part away with close to K40 000.
There is a particular part in the second verse that pricks the heart. It goes:
Wood and forest, plains so broad and fair
All beauteous Malawi
There has been a tug-of-war after construction works for the Kenyatta Drive has resulted into the felling of Mibawa trees. It has been a funny week hearing some of the arguments coming from the MCP camp. Can trees cry, one of them wondered.
The party promised to uphold the rule of law. By law, any project is supposed to have an environmental impact assessment. It is doubtful that such was conducted for the road project.
The explanation that the fallen trees will be used to make desks does not make sense. It is another indication of how far the Tonse Alliance will go to sugar-coat every one of their bitter pills.
As a matter of fact, by defacing the Capital, the MCP is going against the dream of its founding father Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The design of Lilongwe was to be a ‘garden city’. Those crying for the Mibawa trees are not necessarily against development. One can only imagine Blantyre without the jacaranda trees that line the streets!
