While you were away
When my place of work had ‘unlimited’ resources, there were these sticky paper message pads. If it happened that someone came in, or phoned while you were away, the secretary would write you a message, which started with: “While you were away….” I would like to use the same thought to welcome Amayi by updating her what was going on while she was away with Senior Chief Malemia and others in the New World.
Amayi, while you were away, many things happened. I am not saying you are responsible but just in case the people that need to update you fail to do so. Firstly, the University of Malawi selection was released. I will not go on to talk about the fact that the main campus (Chancellor College) is in your home district and including Domasi College which is part of the University of Malawi now, the main issue is that the government sponsored student list was much shorter than has been the case lately.
Some people think government has baby-sat the nation too long by giving scholarships and sponsorship willy-nilly. This group of people is giving examples of children being sent to kindergarten (which as an early childhood teacher yourself you know is very important) at a fee of K200 000 per term. And yet these students when they go to the University of Malawi, they were paying K25 000 and getting K33 000 monthly support from Treasury, and a book allowance.
Then there is the other group that celebrates merit and says if an individual gets the six points, eight points and so on that our children are getting now, it should be incumbent on your government to reward them. As you know Madam President, in my days getting six or seven points was a rarity. The only person I know got seven points at my school (HHI Secondary School) was Arnold Makanda.
Madam, there was the Mponela Bedgate that people wanted your government to be embarrassed about. It took the whole VP Khumbo Kachali and Secretary for Health Dr Charles Mwansambo to go talking to people. Madam president, Dr Mwansambo was teaching as I grew up. He was my superior while I was working at Kamuzu Central Hospital in those days. I left government, he continues. As I do not know whether he was involved in the decisions to transfer the beds (I doubt he was), and because he continues to be my boss in many ways, I have chosen to leave him alone.
This is where I turn to the VP Kachali. About five days after the scandal, someone wanted to insinuate that the VP was involved in the Bedgate. But someone in government knew better and said the VP was not involved “after all, since Sunday he had been on the campaign trail in Mzimba.” That was a Thursday. While that statement was meant to show that the transfers occurred while Kachali was in Mzimba, it did not persuade me to think he could not have engineered the whole thing. Most importantly, I was worried that you were away, and the VP, instead of being Acting President, reduced himself to a constituency governor.
