About Malawi

The anticlimax set in rather quickly following Janet’s departure 3 weeks ago, her last week culminating in a crowning finale as we got to watch Lucius Banda in concert (second time for me) right next door to Ntcheu, i.e. his home town Balaka! This was made even more symbolic by the fact that most of our roadtrip had been animated almost entirely by him singing on the only player we had in the car- a cassette player, with the only cassettes available to buy here being local Malawian or Zambian music. It would be unfair to isolate lack of choice as the reason for listening to him though, as he is really good. Interestingly, he is also running for president it seems. Unfortunately, his party aren’t really showing much of an interest, while the current president has brutally sidelined him in response to a song on his latest album, where he indulges in a rather defamatory soliloquy on the president’s unpopular politics. Hence not only does the album get banned from airing on Malawian radio, but the entire artist’s work. To his relief, that doesn’t stop him being played all day (and night) all over Malawi on CD (...and tape)!
That sets the scene nicely for me to talk a little about politics for the first time here. Yes, it takes less than a week here to crack that one, but has taken 4 months to put in words. We have what is officially a democratically elected president in multi-party style election. Except that around the time of the elections, he, Bingu wa Mutharika, has quasi-monopoly of the media and the country’s resources. He is in his second term now, and won the last elections in December with an overwhelming majority. Since then, he has imposed himself in somewhat more of a dominant style and has been pushing for some changes that never really seemed to have any public consent. For one he is planning on changing the Malawian flag to one that suits his own eccentric taste- a move that will cost a small fortune to the economy, without any economic benefit as far as anyone can see it. Rumour has it the flags are already here in containers, while awaiting for the final bill to be passed. Secondly, as in many African countries, the president tends to affirm his authority by displaying pictures of him looking imposing in every office in every town. He is also on billboards everywhere boasting about some achievement or other. Whether this serves as a reminder to everyone that he is there watching you or mere propaganda I can’t tell. But what I can predict is that soon these pictures (must number thousands) will all have to be taken down and replaced with new ones, because, he has just been awarded some dubious professorship in China. He now boasts the title of Prof in front of the already present, Ngwazi Right Honorable President Dr... Ngwazi in fact being an appellation the former leader/dictator Dr Hastings Banda used to connect himself more to his people. Bingu now likes to compare himself with this still very popular past leader (remembered by many guide books for banning long hair for men, or skirts for women, or worse even the song Cecilia from S&G!). Bingu, of course, is also famous for the latest gay marriage saga that even made it to the European news. In a 180 move, highly likely to have been motivated by a strong pressure from the UN chief, Bingu pardoned the gay couple, who a week later had been sentenced to the severest possible term- 14 years IHL. The ensuing week, he declared publicly that for such “evil acts”, the law rightly punishes but God forgives! Speaking of marriage, Bingu too made the news this year at the grand age of 75, when he decided to get engaged on Valentine’s day and remarried in April. He hosted a royal banquet, paid by the state of course, with more than 5000 guests, and turned up in a flashing new Limo. All the papers had messages for each of the two events posted in them for the happy couple, most of them being from government offices and parastatals! The TV channel at that time, played similar reels of repetitive messages as much as they did actual programmes. Meanwhile, special glossy magazines were printed and distributed to remind people (in case they lived under a massive rock that only allowed glossy mags in) of that holy union. Let me not get too carried away with this bleak analysis because I might get expelled from the country soon. In his defence though, from talking to a few Malawian friends, a lot of positive changes have been made since Bingu’s arrival (“his predecessor was essentially a shameless thief who would even circulate counterfeit money in the country”), especially the quality of the roads. But when you ride a motorcade of 15 shiny 4x4s everytime you travel, if you’re not in your state-purchased private jet, you want your ride to be a smooth one!
Besides politics, one other item that’s featured prominently on the agenda here has been football. Of course there’s the world cup, but personally, I’ve also managed to join the hospital team lately and am finally back to weekly matches. Last time I was doing that goes back to more than 10 years ago and it feels great. As for the world cup, I shall save that for the next time, when I have fresh news from the hosting nation itself. Pepani!