On October 14th the Malawi Police Service arrested 21 year-old Gabriel Kondesi for owning and operating a radio station in Soza Village in the southern district of Mulanje, without a licence from the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA). On Friday October 16th Mulanje Second Grade Magistrate Aristotle Lameck Mkwapatira ordered Kondesi to pay a MK50,000 fine ($357), or serve a 10-month imprisonment sentence, according to an October 20th story by journalist Lucas Bottoman in the print edition of The Daily Times. Unable to pay the fine, Kondesi was sent to jail, and a media frenzy erupted.

Kondesi interviewed. Photo by Jack Mcbrams.

The story stunned Malawians both online and offline, who expressed their shock and anger on blogs, listservs, chat forums and other social media forums such as facebook. By Monday October 19th Kondesi was released after his family and well-wishers in his village raised the money and paid the fine. His family sold their television set, a DVD Player, bags of cement, and also borrowed money from other members of the community, according to Nyasatimes, The Nation and The Sunday Times. Details about the story have since been emerging, and a facebook group has been created, by Daud Suleman, to express support for Kondesi, and raise awareness about “what African youths can achieve through applicable necessary technologies.” The group had 380 members as of Friday (Oct. 30).

Thus far it has emerged that Kondesi dropped out of school in the 7th grade, and has since been operating his Pachikweza Radio Station, made out of crude gadgets that included “an old cassette player, a Nokia 1110, capacitors, two aerials and transistors,” according to Clifton Kawanga in The Sunday Times. Kawanga writes that Kondesi was employing up to ten other young people, whom he paid whenever he had the money. Listeners in the community were paying MK20 (approx. $0.007) to have letters read, and MK50 (approx. $0.003) for letters advertising business. Kawanga adds that MACRA charge $150 for community radio licences.

Malawian papers differ on which frequency Pachikweza was broadcasting, with one paper saying it was on 98.5FM, and another paper saying it was on 105.1FM. The radio station could be heard well beyond his village, crossing the national border into Mozambican territory.

It has also transpired that Kondesi did visit the offices of MACRA in 2007, but no one there helped him. “I travelled to Blantyre two years ago and the people at Macra said they would communicate with me through the Mulanje District Commissioner but I have got nothing up to now,” The Nation quoted him as saying.

Immediately the story broke out, blogger Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda wrote on his blog:

This guy is a genius! Why condemn him to prison when he did not know that what he was doing was wrong? A suspended sentence would have been better.

I, therefore, would like to call for his immediate release from prison. These are the kind of guys whom we should sponsor to ensure that their spirit of innovation is well nurtured for the good of the country and the world at large.

Also reacting to the story and calling Kondesi a genius was Joe Mlenga, writing on his blog:

I'm glad to learn that well-wishers and his family have managed to pay the 50-thousand Kwacha fine imposed by a court for the unlicensed radio. I appeal to the broadcasting community and business fraternity to help this young man achieve his dream of operating a radio station. Who knows what innovation Gabriel will come up with next given proper resources.

Other Malawians have expressed their support in various ways, including Gospel Kazako, Managing Director of Zodiak Broadcasting Station, who contributed money to reimburse the family for the loss they incurred in trying to find the money to pay Kondesi's fine. Kazako was quoted by Nyasatimes as saying: “As broadcasters, we need to support fellow broadcasters whenever they are in trouble. I don’t actually understand when courts should grant suspended sentences but, as a radio man, I am here to appreciate that this boy is a genius.”

And according to the facebook group “in support of Pachikweza Radio Station“, more support from other Malawians has been pouring in already, with several people drawing inspiration from the success story of William Kamkwamba, who also had to drop out of school before his genius could unleash itself. Eddie Mombera has written on the group's page that Kaphuka Private Secondary School, one of Malawi's elite private secondary schools, has offered Kondesi “a scholarship for all his secondary education,” promising to support him through to the University of Malawi's Polytechnic, Malawi's premier engineering school. An article by Lucas Bottoman in The Daily Times of Friday October 30th quotes both Kondesi's father, Jonas Kondesi, and the Managing Director of Kaphuka Private Schools, Mr. Jackson Kaphuka, as confirming the scholarship.

Mombera later added on the facebook page:

There is a small grouping of people running SMEs accross the country which i belong to. We had a summit in Btown this week and we were so moved by the boys arrest such that we contributed over a Mk100,000 [approx. $714] for his release but when we heard that he was… out, we decided to run a fund for him so that he can go back to school.

On Wednesday October 28 Caroline Kandiero reported in The Daily Times that MACRA had since given Kondesi a free licence, and had also promised to fund the radio station for up to MK10 million (approx. $71,500) in equipment and infrastructure. The article quotes MACRA's Acting Director General Mike Kuntiya as saying, “We do not expect to spend more than K10 million, but we also need to visit the place and conduct surveys to see what will be needed.” And on the facebook page started to support Kondesi, McDevis Kamende, who once taught secondary school mathematics and geography, and now works as a micro-finance banker, has offered to help Kondesi with school lessons to enable him study toward Malawi's secondary school exit examinations: “I will donate 40 hours of part time education -Maths & Geography to Gabriel so that he sits for MSCE in three years time.”

Dr. Kalua examines Malawian kids. Photo: Vision2020 IAPB

We start with Dr. Khumbo Kalua, an eye care specialist, university professor and researcher. Dr. Kalua informs that The University of Malawi's College of Medicine has recently introduced a graduate training program in Ophthalmology. The number of ophthalmologists in the country has also increased, with three new ophthalmologists trained within the last two years. One of them is Dr. Khumbo Kalua himself. The new Minister of Health, who is also a new member of parliament, Dr. Moses Chirambo, is himself an ophthalmologist, and for many years was the only one in the whole of Malawi.

The new developments in the training program and increase in specialists are a result of a program known as Vision 2020 Right to Sight, which Malawi has been pursuing for a number of years now. Dr. Kalua writes:

Malawi has been active in VISION 2020 activities since 2000, and has successfully organised VISION2020 workshops for Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Malawi completed the VISION 2020 five year Eye care plan in 2004, and progress has been made towards achieving goals to eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020 in Malawi.

Based on the 3 pillars of VISION2020, in terms of disease control, Childhood blindness was set as one of the major priorities and a Paediatric Ophthalmology unit was planned to be developed in Blantyre.

Another Malawian blogger also blogging about health care issues is Stabbily Msiska, a Malawian nurse currently studying in Norway. Stabbie, as she addresses herself, started blogging in March this year after arriving in Norway. Her 15 years as a midwife-nurse, she writes, have taught her about the simple, free things that matter to women whether in Malawi or in Norway:

As an experienced para 3, i really missed the support of a midwife who could greet me and put herself in my shoes during antenatal, labour and postnatal periods. Having travelled miles away from my home and live in this scandinavian country, i have really appriciated that there are some things that cost nothing but are important for all midwives to do in the whole world. A smile, greetings, giving of comprehensive information, explaining procedures, respect, empathy, sympathy.With these little non costly commodities, our hospitals will be wonderful places for women.

Malawian Nurse-Midwife, Stabbie Msiska

But health care in Malawi also presents difficult problems especially to ordinary Malawians who cannot afford expensive private doctors. Joe Mlenga writes about a distant relation of his who recently hanged himself to escape deep financial problems he was ensnared in. According to Mlenga, the man was still alive when people found him. They quickly took him to the hospital, where they found nurses and other medical personnel having their dinner.

They reporterdly went on with their business of eating the evening meal as Rogers lay in poor condition. By the time the medical staff had finished enjoying dinner and started to check on Rogers, he was no more.

Sadly, Joes writes, such stories of negligence are not uncommon in Malawian hospitals, as per an incident he personally witnessed.

On one occasion I personally saw a mother holding a very ill young son rush into the hall of the referall hospital in Blantyre, QECH, to alert medics about the need for a trolley or a wheel-chair. Nobody seemed to care and the woman ended up handling the trolley herself…she was later assisted by a minibus conductor whose vehicle had kindly agreed to make a diversion to the hospital!

Another blogger, Kondwani Munthali, expresses his frustration with a Government plan to study the feasibility of turning an old ship on Lake Malawi, the MV Chancy Maples, into a mobile hospital. According to Munthali, the idea has been proposed by some Scottish donors, who want the Malawi government to pay for the study at a cost of MK50,000,000 (US$357,143).

As much as I have respect for the Ministry officials K50 million can do a lot. Train at least 10 doctors, 200 medical assistance and 100 Nurses. Or better still can equip Lifuwu Hospital with drugs for five months.

How we lay our priorities should reflect the poverty and needs of Malawians. I find it very sick to spend over US$300,000 to conduct a feasibility study of a ship and may be another US1 million to rehabilitate and equip a vessel when there many urgent needs including a need for a cancer machine.

This sickness mr. president should be stopped. Save the lives of the poor first and let the Scots pay for their own pet projects without invloving the poor. How many people will the mobile hospital on the lake serve, how much will it cost to operate and how will it generate sustainance income. In the end we will spend more on maintaining this odl vessle over peoples lives.

The plight of the health industry in Malawi is making one blogger skeptical of the entire image Malawi is building about its economic gains in the last few years. Alick Nyasulu, an economist, raises questions about the much-touted economic growth Malawi is said to be experiencing. He argues that the economic growth is not benefiting ordinary people, especially the poor, as indicated by socio-economic ills which appear to be on the rise, including cases of armed robbery and domestic abuse. He particularly cites problems in health care as evidence.

An emergency case in Ntchenachena, Chididi and Mposa are a death sentence though the economy is growing.

Their is a health and education crisis in this country. Rich folks go to those elite facilities to access health services and education for their families. I am not being jealousy wish for the riches. Over 80 per cent of Malawi’s population lives in rural areas whose health centres are often manned by an enrolled nurse without adequate medication. Distances to such facilities plus the state of rural roads complicate the situation. I am not being sadistic but to say that health services are equally bad as education especially in the rural areas. Unfortunately, this is where the majority of our people live and resigned to a life that offers no hope and future.

For Mzati Nkolokosa, HIV/AIDS is still on the rampage, but there is light at the end of tunnel. He starts with the devastation the epidemic has caused:

I have lost friends and relatives to AIDS. This condition has devastated us. AIDS has killed professionals who will never be replaced.

Those of us with some knowledge of the University of Malawi understand that AIDS has devastated the education sector. As students we could see a professor losing weight, his hair becoming pale, missing classes, or a course being missed by students because a professor (the only one who can teach that course in Malawi), is not well.

Hard times. In my village in Liwonde, people with money are gone. Business men who were flourishing in late 1980s and early 1990s, are all gone.

He ends on a positive note:

Now there is hope. Treatment is making parents llive longer and raise their chidlren, kids who would otherwie have been orphans. Awareness is also high. My generation is making brilliant choices. Prevalence is now at 12.5 percent in Malawi.

But the sweeter news is that in the age group 5 to 11, prevalence is one percent. This means that if we can raise this age group with meaningful education that helps them avoid AIDS, we can create an almost AIDS free generation for the future.

Through her eponymously titled blog, Ms. Semu-Banda blogs with a purpose to “bring awareness and change to Malawi's social and economical problems,” according to a description from her nomination published in an announcement on the BlogHer website. The description goes on to say that Semu-Banda's writing has influenced development projects, citing “the improvement of monitoring programs to get rid of child labour in the tobacco industry”, and “an increase of treatment to women suffering from fistula,” as examples.

Pilirani Semu-Banda

In her most recent blog post, Semu-Banda wrote about poverty as the key issue that was “uppermost” in the minds of most Malawians as they prepared to vote in Malawi's fourth multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections on May 19, 2009.

Semu-Banda is an award-winning journalist whose stories focus on marginalized groups and individuals, and on social problems including child labor and exploitation, inequality, and human rights abuses. In December 2008 she received an ‘Every Human Has Rights' Media Award, presented by Internews Europe, in France, for her story “Playing with Children's Lives: Big Tobacco in Malawi.” Attending the ceremony and presenting the awards to her and other winners were The Elders, who according to The Daily Times included former US president Jimmy Carter, former Irish President Mary Robinson, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Also receiving an award at the event was Malawian journalist Gabriel Kamlomo, of Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), for an investigative radio report he did on a clinic that accidentally transfused HIV-infected blood to a then 2-year old child, in May 2007. ZBS is so far the only Malawi-based radio station that transmits both on airwaves and on the Internet in real time.

Semu-Banda has previously won an Education Journalism Award, and has on two occasions been voted Malawi’s best female journalist. The BlogHer International Activist Scholarship award is the first known international award to be won by a Malawian blogger for a blog. At this year's BlogHer annual conference Semu-Banda will join fellow award winners on a panel titled “Leadership: The BlogHer ’09 International Activist BlogHer Scholarship Winners Share Their Work”, on Saturday July 25, 1.30-2.45pm. The BlogHer conference will be held at The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, in downtown Chicago.

The Selection Committee for the 2009 International Activist Scholarship comprised 7 judges, who included Georgia Popplewell, the Managing Director for Global Voices Online. The other judges were Denise Tanton, Elisa Camahort Page, Julie Ross Godar, Kim Pearson, Nelly Yusupova, and Jenifer Scharpen. The selection committee “were looking for sites that were, in fact, bloggy, and for those that had a specific activist intent.” And they have high hopes for what this award entails for other bloggers: “We are convinced that we can all learn practical advice about affecting social change via blog from our scholarship winners…and we can all walk away inspired by their courage, their perseverance, and their accomplishments!”

The blog Chingwe's Hole reacts to both disproved predictions, then goes through a list of six aspects that make the May 2009 elections historic. According to Chingwe's Hole, key structures of Malawi's institutions performed well. And in marking the probable end of the political career of the 77 year-old leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), John Tembo, these elections also ended the era of the nationalist generation that has ruled Malawi since 1964, a point also made by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza. Tembo is reported to have already been put forward as the MCP's candidate in the next elections in 2014, according to Chris Banda on the Internet forum Malawitalk. Chingwe's Hole's third aspect is that the voting pattern was driven by substantive matters of development, over personalities, and more poignantly for many bloggers as well, over ethnicity, Chingwe's Hole's fourth and fifth historical aspects of these elections. The last aspect deals with how the punditry overestimated the strength of the main challenger, John Tembo, in his party's alliance with the United Democratic Front (UDF). On this point Chingwe's Hole unleashes pointed criticism:

And finally the elections have exposed the vacuity of some of the political punditry in Malawi. Our most cited political pundits simply do not know what they are talking about… They kept analsising politics along the same old lines and seemed to base their views based only on whim srather than research and reflection. Listening to our oft cited “political analysts” the coalition was supposed to be a formidable force; the elections would be a a”close call”; Bingu had made a fatal mistake chosing a Southern as running mate; the economy growth had not benefitted the majority etc . . .

As one of the pundits who predicted a strong showing for the MCP/UDF alliance and its candidate John Tembo, Boniface Dulani makes a confession mid-way through the vote counting when it is becoming apparent that Bingu wa Mutharika is defying expectations:

I must confess I did not expect the margin of victory that appears to be emerging from the election results as currently being announced. For all intents and purposes, Mutharika appears to be headed for a strong landslide performance. While Bingu is performing strongly in the northern region as predicted, he has also performed just as strongly in the central region and the southern region.

For Greenwell Matchaya, the incumbent's victory across the entire nation might be the beginning of the end of politics of ethnicity:

In the first place, the size of Bingu’s victory in the presence of a seemingly powerful opposition alliance is the first I have ever heard of in Africa. Furthermore, the fact that there were no any reported cases of rigging, makes his win even more credible and even more and more wonderful. Bingu’s party, the DPP, won the presidential election with roughly 2,730,630 votes while the MCP/UDF alliance scooped circa 1,270,057, almost 200,000 votes below half of Bingu’s votes [. . . ]The strong message arising from these figures is that Bingu was voted into power by the entire nation, raising postulates about whether good leadership styles could obliterate the tribal cancer that many of us thought was out to consume our political and everyday lives.

Clement Nyirenda also remarks on how the punditry got it wrong, and finds the voting pattern for the incumbent president's win epochal:

[. . . the pundits thought that John Tembo would garner more votes from the Southern region while beating Mutharika comprehensively in the Central Region, MCP’s stronghold. Mutharika was expected to carry the day in the less populous Northern Region.

At the end of everything, the pundits have been proved wrong because Dr. Mutharika was proclaimed the winner with more than 6o% of the vote. Since the advent of multiparty democracy, I have never seen a presidential candidate getting votes from all the corners of the country like this.

And words of awe continue with Cryton Chikoko, who writes in the third person with the alias “Rambler”:

Rambler has to confess he was not expecting Malawians to vote on merit. Admittedly Rambler wrongly thought that just like in the previous elections regionalism will rule the day. The 2009 elections have come to him as a pleasant surprise. A fresh breath in our politics.

Victor Kaonga pays tribute to the role that radio stations played in informing listeners of the results during the long breaks waiting for the Malawi Electoral Commission. On Malawian Internet listserv forums, appreciation for the role of radio stations has especially focused on Zodiak Broadcasting Station, which broadcasts across Malawi, and recently started streaming live on the Internet. Listserv discussions have also widely debated what parliament might look like, given the large number of highly educated Malawians who have been elected to parliament, a topic also discussed by Chingwe's Hole. On the Internet forum Nyasanet, the question of who will be chosen to fill cabinet posts is being debated on the basis of the intelligentsia voted into the legislature, which is being likened to an academic symposium. Blogger Kondwani Munthali has already provided his dream cabinet list.

In the first development, Dr. Muluzi already served two terms from 1994 to 2004, but he claims the constitution allows him to run again, a claim that has received mixed reactions in the country. In the second, former presidents of Ghana and Mozambique, John Kuffour and Joachim Chissano, are attempting, unjustifiably, according to the blog Chingweshole, to prevent what they fear might be a potential violent conflict in the run up to the elections and possibly in the aftermath.

However, eclipsed behind all this drama are two breakthroughs that in early February everyone was talking about as two Malawian firsts: a woman running mate on a major presidential ticket, and another woman as a presidential candidate in her own right. The two women are Hon. Joyce Hilda Banda, currently serving as Malawi's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Hon. Loveness Gondwe, a member of parliament and president of the newly formed, break-away New Rainbow Coalition Party.

While Hon. Loveness Gondwe's candidacy had been speculated about and expected, it was the choice of Hon. Joyce Banda that shook the country when the incumbent president Dr Bingu wa Mutharika presented his nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission on February 6th, and it became known that the Hon. Joyce Hilda Banda would be Dr. Mutharika's running mate. This was after names of running mates for the main contenders had become a much-discussed guessing game in which it appeared each of the candidates was unsure who to choose, waiting to see who the other would pick first. It was a “stage-managed” and “secretive” process, according to blogger Boniface Dulani.

Much of the speculation on who was going to be Dr. wa Mutharika's running mate centered around Malawi's Minister of Finance, Hon. Goodall Gondwe, a highly respected economist and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official widely regarded as the brains behind Malawi's economic and agricultural turn-around since 2004, alongside Dr. wa Mutharika himself. Hon. Goodall Gondwe was recently awarded a prize as the best performing finance minister in Africa in 2008. Adding to the anticipation was the fact that Hon. Goodall Gondwe comes from the northern region of Malawi, seen as historically marginalized given its relatively smaller population compared to Malawi's two other regions, the center and the south.

Malawi's first president, Dr. Hasting Kamuzu Banda, came from the central region, where political power was concentrated throughout his 30 year rule. From 1994 to 2004 the center for power shifted to the southern region, where erstwhile president Dr. Bakili Muluzi, hails from. Current president Bingu wa Mutharika, who comes from the southern region, is seen as having given the northern region a much-denied political boost, with Goodall Gondwe's finance portfolio being seen as one such example. It was therefore a point of much debated anticipation as to whether Mutharika was going to select a northerner as his running mate.

Hon. Joyce Banda–Hunger Project Photo

Reactions to the news created a heated debate especially on Internet forums, where it was quickly observed that Dr. wa Mutharika's choice of Hon. Joyce Banda was a departure from the norm in which the vice president since 2004 has always been from a region other than the president's. Some also saw it as a betrayal of the northern region, a loyal constituency. Blogger-Journalist Bright Sonani observed:

Its no longer a secret. The Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP has finally come out in the open expressing disappointment over President Bingu wa Mutharika’s choice of Joyce Banda as his running mate instead of Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe, whose name was at the centre of debate as the likely person to pair up with the DPP leader.

Some claimed the president had played a “regionalistic” card”, while others suggested that the president was being pragmatic as well as promoting gender equality, noting that in fact Hon. Joyce Banda's husband, former Chief Justice Richard Banda, is himself a northerner.

Other reactions focused on her achievements and rise to influence, observing that she was the 1997 recipient, together with then Mozambican president Joachim Chissano, of the Africa Leadership Prize, awarded by the New York-based Hunger Project.

The blog Malawi Politics went on to add that:

This appointment follows service as a Member of Parliament and Minister for Gender, Children's Affairs and Community Services where she fought for Malawi's recently enacted Domestic Violence Bill, which had failed for seven years previously. In addition, she designed the National Platform for Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the Zero Tolerance Campaign against Child Abuse.

The Honorable Joyce Banda has advanced legislation and generated educational opportunities to assure the economic well-being of countless women and girls and forever changed Malawi.

But for blogger Isaac Ziba, a self-identifying northerner himself, it did not matter that Hon. Joyce Banda came from the south. Ziba saw the move as part of a much needed “exorcism” the country needs to undergo to get rid of the “regionalism” mentality:

I, for one, am happy with the pick of Joyce Banda as running mate of and to President Dr Bingu wa Muntharika in the forthcoming general elections. This is because I totally believe that Malawi can and should be one and Malawi can be treated as one country – with only one fragment – Malawi. There are those that think Malawi can only be represented if Malawi has three fragments – the North, the Centre and the South. We have tried this platform for ages on end – it is not working for our people – and we do need - not just a paradigm shift but a paradigm change in the way we do not only our politics but our national endeavours as well – including on the development front.

Mzati Nkolokosa, another blogger-journalist, identifies himself as not coming from the north by listing his friends who are from the north, in a post titled “My Friends from the North.” He says his generation, aged between 25 and 35, is ushering in a new Malawi which looks at ideas rather than region. He points out that sports in Malawi is currently dominated by administrators from the north, but Malawians of his generation have no problem with that, as long as they are delivering the goods:

My generation does not care that Mutharika and Banda are from the South just as we don’t mind that Sports Minister Symon Vuwa Kaunda, Fam president Walter Nyamirandu, Fam CEO Charles Nyirenda, Fam administrative officer Sugzo Nyirenda and Flames coach Kinnah Phiri are from the North.

Whether they hold their meetings in Tumbuka or Tonga, my generation does not care. All we care is that they have delivered and continue to do so. They have turned the Flames from perpetual losers to winners. They are in their positions on merit, not based on place.

Petroda gas station in Malawi. Picture by Fukula Hastings Nyekanyeka

The first query on why gas prices in Malawi remained high even after the drastic reductions in other parts of the world appeared on a Malawian email listserv in November 2008. In a November 10th, 2008 response to that query, Chinthu Kalua stated that the issue had to do with the speed of transmission of prices from oil producers down to the Malawian consumer, a process he said dealt with market forces:

The speed of price transmition from the source to Malawi will determine the length of time it takes for the prices in Malawi to fall. Also the low prices you see being beamed on our TV screens are based on futures markets and thus the effect on our petrol stations will be felt much later.

Soon the question started appearing in the Malawian print and broadcast media, compelling the government to respond through the Malawi Minister of Finance, Goodall Gondwe. Gondwe was quoted in Nyasatimes, a Malawian online newspaper, as telling a Malawian radio station, Capital FM, that currently gas prices in Malawi were already lower than those in neighboring countries, and reducing the prices in Malawi would encourage smuggling, which would disadvantage Malawians. He also said there were indications that gas prices would soon rise again, and that Malawi therefore wanted to keep the prices stable.

More commentary appeared on the email listserv Nyasanet, with one Malawian issuing an ultimatum to government to reduce gas prices in accordance with global trends, or risk the wrath of voters in the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections on May 19th, 2009. That post attracted a lot of comments, with some commentators supporting the sentiment, and others opposing it.

In the last few days blogger Boniface Dulani has picked up the issue in an article on his blog, which has been republished in Nyasatimes. There the article has also attracted a significant number of comments. Dulani lays out his argument by providing the prices of gas in Malawi's neighbouring countries as well as in the United States.

The rationale behind the demand for fuel price reductions is simple and straightforward. In June this year, the price of a barrel of crude oil on the international market peaked at a whopping $147 a barrel (approximately 159 litres). Understandably, the pump price for petrol products across the world skyrocketed. In Malawi, the pump price for a litre of unleaded petrol shot up to the current K251.20. In neighbouring Zambia, the same was selling at ZK9,646 (equivalent to about MK 420) a litre. In the United States, the cost of a gallon (about 4 litres) shot up to a record $4.20.

Dulani goes on to provide the figures for the reduced prices of gas in Zambia, which at its peak was nearly double that of Malawi, and today the price in Zambia has come down to almost the price in Malawi, whereas in Malawi the price is still at its peak of MK251 per litre (approx. US$1.80). He also argues that the same trend has occurred in Mozambique and Tanzania, two other countries bordering Malawi. He ends the article by arguing that Malawi should abandon governmental control of gas prices and instead let prices fluctuate with market forces, which would also allow for differentiated gas prices in various parts of Malawi based on location, transportation costs and other factors. He also chides the Malawian public for not confronting the government on important issues, saying this would not happen in a country like Zambia, “where the people are more engaged and take particular interest in government decisions and demand credible explanations for decisions that affect their lives.”

So far in a space of hours, several comments have been posted in reaction to the article on Nyasatimes. Some agree with Dulani, while others disagree, pointing out that Malawi should act within its means and context, rather than copying from other countries for the sake of copying.

The Malawi Web Awards were conceived to acknowledge contributions that Malawians have made throughout the past year. The Malawi Web Awards mainly recognize individuals who helped in publicizing Malawi and raising awareness of issues affecting the population of the Warm Heart of Africa. This year the nominees raised awareness of Malawi in various areas (political, cultural, entertainment).

The announcement has been released via three formats: on Caleb Phiri's blog called Malawi Current News, on an event created on the social networking website Facebook, and on the video sharing website Youtube.

Amongst the tens of people nominated for various awards are Hazel Warren, a Malawian woman who this year became the runner-up in the Big Brother Africa 3 reality TV show, bloggers William Kamkwamba and Victor Kaonga, coach of the Malawi national football team, Kinnah Phiri, several TV and radio personalities, and music artists such as Lawrence Mbenjere featured in the video below:

There is time to vote in each category until Friday December 19th 2008 at 22:00 PM GMT. The results will then be announced on Monday December 22, 2008, on the Malawi Current News blog.

The news of Malawi's first ever web awards comes in the wake of an announcement earlier in the week that Malawi's former president, Dr. Bakili Muluzi, has created a Facebook profile, with the aim of connecting with young Malawians around the world. In addition to having a Facebook profile, Dr. Muluzi has also created a Facebook group for his supporters.

The current president of Malawi, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, also has a Facebook fan group, which has existed since May 2008.

“Development” has been exercising the minds of Malawian bloggers lately. The approach has taken the form of highlighting efforts of Malawians abroad, Malawi's much touted fertilizer subsidy program, Malawi's presence at the Olympics and Chinese presence in Malawi, and a philosophical discourse on the problems that accompany the adoption of westernization as a development paradigm at the expense of tested and effective African ways.

Developing Chitipa district

Edna Bvalani writes on her blog Tadala about a group of Malawians based in the United Kingdom who have teamed up to devote themselves to assisting in the development of one of Malawi's 32 districts, Chitipa. Titling her post Patriotism Spirit, Edna writes:

Most of the times you hear “people” asking their district assemblies, Members of Parliament or Non governmental organisations, to build them public toilets, school blocks, health centres and the list is endless. I strongly feel that Malawians are not patriotic in developing this nation. Think of cases where pupils are learning on an open ground or under a tree for many years. That school ever since it was opened, has produced cream of creams ranging from Doctors, lawyers, Managers, Executive Directors, Chief Executives and Entrepreneurs, the list is endless. But how come we are failing to mobilise ourselves to go back to our home villages and do something which will contribute to development.

The failure of the fertilizer subsidy program

The fertilizer subsidy program has attracted a lot of attention in the last three years, and has been a backbone of Malawi's development efforts, owing to the country's agro-based industry. Mercy Palamuleni comments on a Nyasatimes article that reported President Bingu wa Mutharika as admitting that his fertilizer subsidy program, much hailed around the world as a Malawian revolution, had failed. Mercy points out that subsidies work when strategically used as is the case in the West, but in Malawi wealthy farmers have the edge over poor farmers:

I understand that the main goal of the program is to help the small under resourced farmers. However, I always wonder how the average farmers are usually left out while the rich farmers can always find their way to coupons. I really wished our program would concentrate more on financing the average farmers who from readings seems to the majority of the commercial farmers. In the end, may be the system might be efficient if coupons are distributed to everyone.

Malawi in China, China in Malawi

Also featuring highly in Malawi's development efforts in the last year has been the Malawi Government's decision to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to Mainland China, a decision argued within the same development framework.

Buckaroo Thandi's starts with Malawi's participation at the Olympics. A friend texted her at 4am Malawi time from Wyoming, USA, about Malawian athletes being shown on TV, making Thandi regret not having a TV set. But the presence of China in Malawi is becoming central in Malawi's development discourse, and Thandi is mesmerised by what appears to her to be a strange site on the streets of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi:

I was quite surprised to see a truck ferrying Chinese construction workers in Lilongwe. I've heard about Chinese construction workers elsewhere in Africa but to me this was a surprising sight all the same. Am I being idealistic in hoping that they will teach us their unique skills in building and pass the construction mantle back soon after?

New roads, new silos

Victor Kaonga recently toured parts of southern Malawi, and saw new roads and new maize silos as evidence of development projects hatched and completed in the last few years.

[G]etting to Mangochi was a bit of a marvel for me as I travelled on the Golomoti Road for the first time after it was tarred. I thought the road makes a quite a beautiful drive through the hills of Dedza into the plains on the Western side of Mangochi.

Obviously once the road connecting to Monkey Bay is fully constructed, it will really shorten the distance between the country's capital Lilongwe and the Mangochi lakesides.

On the maize silos, Victor has posted a photograph of the new structures that are storing some of Malawi's surplus maize production in the wake of food crises in the last six years.

How westernization dilutes African wisdom

Mzati Nkolokosa goes philosophical in looking at the underlying fissures in the way westernization is interpreted as development, leading to the abandonment of African ways of doing things. Mzati goes down a list of Malawian practices which when closely examined seem to have performed much better than the western ways being sought after to the detriment of Malawi's cultural heritage. He provides examples in environmental conservation in contrasting areas which are denuded of their green vegetation versus those still lush and green, African traditional religions, African ways of governance which he argues are are equally democratic, Africans ways of caring for orphans, African ways of providing health care and safety valves, and African attire, among others.

Couching his analysis in development discourse, Mzati explains that:

Village heads are best suited to represent people in development matters. They know every person in their areas. Take your example. Your village head, most likely, knows where you live and work. He or she knows you by name. This is true of the rest of the people from your village.

Your village head knows the needs of the people better than a ward councilor. The challenge is that we have copied what we think are democratic structures from the West at the expense of our own democratic structures. This assumes that democracy is not African which is not true.

Mzati concludes by bringing together his examples into one overarching argument:

Not everything African is evil as we are made to believe. Using herbs as medicine is not evil. What is the difference between SP and a liquid from boiled peach leaves? They both cure malaria, only that the liquid has not passed through a factory. Is the herb at Limbe market evil because it did not pass through some factory in Mumbai, India?

It is time to reflect on our ways of life and discover those we believe will benefit us. There is a lot we are losing by abandoning everything African and adopting everything western. Agriculture is just one example. Manure from animal waste is a lot better than fertiliser that is destroying our land.

Victor in the studio

Malawian blogger Victor Kaonga, a broadcast journalist as well as a Global Voices author for Malawi, has issued an appeal for sponsorship to save his TransWorld Radio program where he interviews Malawians living outside Malawi in the Chichewa language. It is titled A Malawi Kunja kwa Malawi (Malawians outside Malawi). It has been running weekly since January, 2007.

Victor writes in his blog that the program is threatened with closure due to prohibitive costs of international calling rates and low Internet bandwidth in Malawi. He was able to meet the costs of running the program from his living allowances whilst in Sweden, where he was studying for his masters' degree in global journalism. Victor successfully defended his thesis and returned to Malawi in June, where he has continued the TransWorld Radio broadcasts.

In reminiscing about the program, Victor writes:

It has been a wonderful 18 (plus) months of programming with A Malawi Kunja Kwa Malawi. ‘Wonderful' in the sense that my understanding of the global role of Malawians has increased while at the same time imagining the impact of the absence of such Malawians at home.

Malawians are said to be an itinerant people, found in parts of the world both well known and obscure, a fact easily noticed in the geographies of the places where Victor has found Malawians to interview.

Victor gives a glimpse of the composition of the 76 Malawians he has hitherto interviewed, noting that they have represented various parts of the globe, including Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas, the Pacific and the Caribbean.

Malawians outside Malawi frequently discuss the role of the Malawian diaspora in Malawian affairs, and Victor touches on this sentiment when he lists the four ways in which the program is unique:

# This is the first radio programme in Malawi featuring Malawians abroad on a regular basis.
# It is a programme that helps link on air the locals with their relatives near and far.
# The programme also helps extend the influence and ministry of radio in Malawi.
# It is a programme that is in tune with the modern times in this ever-growing global village.

Victor expresses the hope that he will find the sponsorship needed to enable the program to continue, and one response to his post has already provided suggestions. Clement Nthambazale, another Malawian blogger currently studying for a PhD in Japan, has commented on Victor's post, launching with the hope that the program will be saved:

This programme MUST NOT die. I hope that you will be able to find some some sponsors who will help with production costs especially with the increasing number of listeners.

Secondly, I would like to let you know that you can phone at very cheap rates from Malawi to other countries.Sometime last year,I attended a Voice over IP Workshop which was organized by MACRA. After the workshop, I wrote a blog post highlighting the proceedings of the Workshop and my concerns on Malawi's delay in setting up a VoIP policy. Through this post, I got connected to Havar Bauck,who works for Vyke, a Norwegian company in the callshop and callback market…

The rumors of the coup plot are the culmination of a tense two-week period, during which parliament has been deadlocked, and peace talks amongst political party leaders, including the country's president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, have been thwarted over the contentious Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution. In this post, we explore the genesis and trajectory of this unfolding story, pointing out how some Malawians are doubtful of the claims, while others believe the coup to be a possibility.

Canceled trip to Dubai

The roller coaster of events started on Saturday May 10th, with online newspaper Nyasatimes reporting that President wa Mutharika would be embarking on an official tour of the Middle East, leaving behind a letter to be delivered in his absence to the speaker of parliament, instructing him to prorogue parliament. On Sunday May 11th, the president was reported to have addressed a political rally, where he warned that his predecessor, former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi, currently in the United Kingdom on a private visit, risked being charged with treason on his return for plotting to overthrow the government using Section 65 as a pretext.

The same day, listserv-based Makongolomwinani News Services (MNS) posted a one-sentence item on the Malawi listserv Nyasanet, announcing that President Mutharika had canceled the trip to the Middle East because the governor of the Reserve Bank, Victor Mbewe, had refused to release MK600 million (US$4 million) meant for the trip.

Rumors of arrests

On the morning of Tuesday May 13th one Nyasanetter, Lazarus Ndovi, posted the first mention of arrests, affecting former army commander Retired General Joseph Chimbayo, former Inspector General of Police Joseph Airon, former mayor of the City of Blantyre, John Chikakwiya, and secretary general of the UDF, Kennedy Makwangwala. It was later learned that former commissioner of Police Matthews Masoapyola, was also among those arrested, according to a Nyasatimes article. No mention of a coup was made in the posting, although the subject heading said the arrests were for “treason”.

The first blog reaction came from Kondwani Munthali, also on Tuesday May 13th, who used a major portion of his post to react to allegations made earlier by minister of information and civic education, Hon. Patricia Kaliati, insinuating that Munthali had leaked information to Nyasatimes for an article that claimed that the Malawi government was going to assist Zimbabwe clear a Chinese ship docked in Angola, carrying arms destined for the Zimbabwe military.

Munthali had written on his facebook page on Thursday May 8th, saying,

Kondwani will be arrested anytime on false allegations. The Minister of Information has told a press breifing this morning. Be ready for more news…

On Saturday May 10th he updated his status to “Kondwani very safecalm down now people-just someone trying intimidate me. But am good and safe and will remain for as long as God wants to be.”

On Tuesday May 13th he expressed new fears, writing “Kondwani is not sure where Malawi has gone to!!!Nobody is any longer safe!!” Towards the end of his blog post the same day Kondwani indicated that there had been arrests in Malawi, pointing out that he did not see how the arrests would “solve the political impasse”.

Skepticism creeps in

As interest in the issue grew on Tuesday, doubts started showing almost immediately. Chatonda Mtika, co-moderator of Nyasanet, posted his reaction to another set of allegations made by Hon. Kaliati purportedly accusing British and Taiwanese governments of planning to supply military hardware to the coup plotters. Mtika wrote:

muluzi has made no secret of his desire to see bingu vacate sanjika, so there is no news here. it is quite possible that muluzi may have been contemplating some “coup”, using opposition numbers in parliament, to bring down the government. but for kaliati to accuse britain of supplying artillery for the alleged coup, it is not only careless; it shows her luck of understand of what is happening around her.

Mtika went on to add that he did not believe that the Taiwanese government could be “that naive to think that the udf would automatically roll back the dpp changes once it took office. and, even if that were possible, taiwan wouldn't want to get her hands dirty in a bloody coup.

On Thursday May 15th Munthali posted another item on his blog, in which his incredulity of the coup story became apparent:

I would have been easily convinced if I did not know most of the people on the list. I mean the set up looks much of a comedy and I am sure conconted in a hurry. Lets wait and see how a convincing case can be built from unsigned documents, funny minutes and even dates which are 6th June 2008 on which the people attended a meeting to plot the “kupu”.

More doubts appeared from blogger Boniface Dulani, who posted an item also on May 15th, titled “Illusions of a coup.” Dulani outlined two grounds on which the allegations of a coup did not make sense, observing that for senior ranking military officers, there was no clear motivation to engage in a coup. Dulani's second reason for doubting the coup arose from the fact that Malawians will be going to the polls in twelve months, and thus Muluzi, whose party elected him as presidential candidate, having already served two terms as Malawi's first post-dictatorship president, could not be that impatient to return to office. Dulani wrote:

I am sceptical that Muluzi – notwithstanding his zeal and determination to get to the Presidency- would be so foolish as to think of a military route to the presidency when elections are only a year away.

Adding his voice to the growing doubts was Trevor Chimimba who on Friday May 16th wrote on Nyasanet in response to Dulani's post:

I may be out of touch with Malawi realities, but honestly, I sometimes do not understand what is going on in that country. If this experimentation with democracy is failing, it is important that the political leaders learn where to draw the line. Democracy 101.Leave the military out of politics.” Chimimba went on to describe some of the military officers arrested as personal friends of his whom he had a hard time believing would ever contemplate staging a coup: “Tell me that they have committed something else, surely it cannot be treason. These people should be home with their beloved families.” Chimimba concluded his post by pointing out that “President Mutharika is making the same mistake of other “expatriate” Presidents. He is isolating himself from the people and surrounding himself with sycophant advisers who see daggers where none exist.

Benefit of the doubt

Other reactions have sought a middle of the road approach, expressing the belief that the coup plot could be real. Nyasanetter Hesse Mhango, while acknowledging the need to be skeptical, given the president's history of coup claims, wrote about the credulity of a plot, given what he called the desperation of former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi:

There must be a plan B for getting to Sanjika as the candidacy of Muluzi is barred by the Malawi Constitution. Therefore, the zeal to get back to power spells real danger to Malawi because Muluzi, or those around him, show signs of desperation and are probably willing to do just about anything to achieve their goal. Let's no one forget that the whole process to change the Constitution was being done by means that were either borderline or outright criminal.

However, not all bloggers have found the coup issue worthy spending their time on. Blogger Buckaroo Thandi states upfront:

You know I won't make mention of the coup d'etat situation here, I'm wary of being coup d'etated myself so I'll go on ahead and say please read about it from reliable sources, speak to people who are in the know and pray that the nation will get over this with minimal damage. There is so much that needs to be done in Malawi, I hope to God a coup is at the very bottom of the list, we don't need fighting to solve anything.

Section 65, the heart of the matter

The eye of the storm, Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution, prohibits members of parliament from abandoning their party and joining another party in parliament without seeking a fresh mandate from their constituents. From September 2007 to April 2008, President Mutharika prevented parliament from meeting, fearing that once parliament met, the Speaker would invoke the dreaded section, and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would lose most of its parliamentarians, who joined the party by crossing the floor. The political temperature in Malawi has been high since President Mutharika formed the DPP in February 2005, nine months into his presidency, when he abandoned the United Democratic Front (UDF) whose chairperson and erstwhile Malawi's president, Dr. Muluzi, had plucked Mutharika from opposition ranks to campaign for him as the UDF's presidential candidate over other aspirants.

Civil society and Zimbabwe

Collins Magalasi opens his post on the Zimbabwe situation with the words “Our governments in Africa have failed us, and they will prove their failure further on Zimbabwe. In this case I see the citizens and civil society as the only hope.” Magalasi, Head of Policy at ActionAid International Malawi, writes about a recent meeting of Zimbabwean civil society organizations, at which was agreed a campaign of nonviolent protests across the country:

Noting that the ongoing anxiety and uncertainty around election results is a breeding ground for civil unrest, Civil Society has launched a massive national campaign to call for peace and respect for the voices of the people. Communities from all over the country will from now on be encouraged to converge in their local areas to conduct different non violent social actions such as marches, prayer meetings and public meetings. The colour white will be used as a show of support for the campaign and citizens are encouraged to wear white ribbons, scarves and apparel as a sign of support for peace in Zimbabwe.

Magalasi says civil society groups in southern Africa are joining in the action, with a demonstration planned at the Zimbabwe High Commission in Lilongwe, Malawi, among others.

Ownership of the problem

Austin Madinga finds it puzzling that everyone seems to be denying ownership of the problem, starting with South African president Thabo Mbeki’s statement that the situation was not a crisis, asking “the rest of the world to butt out and let Africans resolve the problems in an African way.” Yet, Madinga wonders, the Southern African Development Community, SADC, has washed its hands over ownership of the problem, saying it is really a Zimbabwean problem to be solved by Zimbabweans themselves. Wonders Madinga:

So it’s not a world problem but an African one? But wait, at the SADC meeting in Lusaka the head of states said it was a Zimbabwean problem that would be resolved by Zimbabweans. So it’s a Zimbabwean problem now? But Morgan Tsvangirai has been lobbying regional leaders to help resolve the problem. So it would seem it’s not a Zimbabwean problem after all! It’s a problem that seem to lack ownership.

George Ng’ambi takes Mbeki’s statement personally, and expresses why:

As a Malawian I am hurt by sweeping statements such as the declaration by Thabo Mbeki that there is “No crisis in Zimbabwe.” It hurts because the economic turmoil in Zimbabwe impacts negatively on Malawi but most importantly, Zimbabweans are like a family member. Our Malawian brothers and sisters settled in Zimbabwe for economic reasons and now consider themselves as Zimbabweans. We have also been at the mercy of some unspeakable dictatorial tendencies under Dr.Kamuzu Banda and no sane person would wish another country to go through the same hurt as we did.

Ng’ambi sees an eerie parallel with two other famously reported denials from Mbeki, first, the purported denial that the HIV virus causes AIDS, and second, the high rate of crime in South Africa:

Zimbabwe has gone through the worst economic period in history. The facts are there for everyone to see yet Thabo Mbeki deliberately chooses to wear blindfolds for the sake of personal relationship with Mugabe. As far as Mbeki is concerned nothing exists in his infinite wisdom. First, he denied that HIV/Aids existed, today, South Africa remains one of the highly ravaged nations with the epidemic. His persistent denials refused him the opportunity to institute HIV/Aids preventative programmes. Many children are now opharned and live in care. Second, he denied that crime rate is high in South Africa but the truth is that RSA is the worst country on armed robberies and gun crimes in the southern Africa. Today, he does not seem to appreciate that the situation in Zimbabwe is worth of a crisis.

Buckaroo Thandi makes a brief comment on some of the speculation as to why the election results have still not yet been released, alluding, without mentioning names, to criticisms about the Zimbabwe opposition’s deference to the West:

Some sources tell me it's for the best that Zimbabwe's results are not out yet. something about fear someone will be used as an instrument by the powers that be to effect certain purposes that will mostly only satisfy the powers that be. I say, prayer is the only answer here, too many pie eaters and only one pie.

Mugabe and the West both as root causes

Bennet Kankuzi sees the Zimbabwe issue a little differently, touting an article by Brendan O’Neill, editor of Sp!ked Online, as “a thought provoking and balanced view on the current contentious issue of Zimbabwe.” Without further editorializing, Kankuzi provides a link to O’Neill’s article, in which O’Neill does what has become characteristically rare in analyses on Zimbabwe; a detailed, documented description of how Western sanctions have crippled Zimbabwe’s economy.

Convening the Malawi parliament

Outside the views of Malawian bloggers on Zimbabwe, other Malawian bloggers focus on Malawi’s own political problems, as well as new developments in personal lives. On Malawi’s own political problems, new kid on the blog, Boniface Dulani, takes issue with President Bingu wa Mutharika’s claim that he is vested with the authority to convene the Malawi parliament.

The president prorogued parliament on September 7, 2007, before it had exhausted all its deliberations on pending bills. It has not met again since then, despite widespread concerns that another meeting was long overdue.

Dulani, a University of Malawi political scientist currently a Fulbright doctoral student at Michigan State University, uses a careful reading of Section 59 (1) of the Malawi constitution to point out that it is in fact the Speaker of Parliament who is vested with the power to convene parliament. The president can only serve a consultative role. Dulani points out that:

the president’s reading and interpretation of the Constitution is wrong. While he is correct to assert that he acted within his powers to have prorogued parliament after the passage of the Budget last year, he does not, contrary to his recent claims, have the power to decide when to convene Parliament. That authority belongs to the Speaker, with the president’s role limited to an advisory one upon being consulted by the Speaker.

Blogger moves to Japan

In recent blogger news, Clement Nthambazale writes about his move to Japan for his doctoral studies. Clement arrived in Japan in the first week of April, and has been getting acclimatized to scholarly life in Japan. He writes:

There are more than 25 students from more than 10 countries. Apart from Malawi, my nation and Japan, the host nation, other nations represented in this lab include Vietnam, China, Croatia, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Canada, Cuba, Brazil and Peru. I am so far the only member from Sub-Saharan Africa. But I have been informed that a Nigerian student will be joining us in October 2008. This is globalization at its best!

However our being able to physically meet for the very first time is not the subject of this roundup. Rather, our subject is the never-ending ingenuity of Malawian inventors and technology experts, while Malawian politicians continue to rely on traditional radio and newspaper presence, with hardly any presence on the Internet.

Dr. Cedrick Ngalande invents an electric charger

Victor Kaonga recently wrote on his blog Ndagha about Dr. Cedrick Ngalande, a Malawian aeronautics engineer who has just invented a generator that uses yeast and sugar to charge cellphones, laptops, and other electrical appliances in places where there is no electricity available. In Malawi consumer access to electricity is provided by a government parastatal, ESCOM, reaching a reported 7 percent of the Malawian population. As in many developing countries, especially in Africa, power is always intermittent, and a luxury enjoyed by a tiny minority of the population. Victor quotes Dr. Ngalande, describing his invention, as saying:

This gadget will be very ideal to developing countries like Africa where electricity is scarce. As you know, the growth of cell phone is fastest in Africa. The problem most Africans have is that they cannot charge those cell phones due to lack of electricity. Some have to walk long distances just to charge cell phones. My invention will make it easy for these people to charge their cell phones. Also, this generator can be used to charge $100 computers which are being introduced in Africa. It can also be used to charge or operate medical devices in rural Africa.

Soyapi Mumba creates SearchWith software

Another piece of exciting invention news comes from blogger Soyapi Mumba, a Malawian software developer, who starts by explaining why he has not posted on his blog for two months. He quotes Dare Obasanjo, who is said to have stated that “Writing Code Will Always Be More Important Than Writing About Code.” With that quip, Soyapi announces on his blog the release of SearchWith version 0.4, a personal software project he has been busy with for quite a while now. He explains the utility of SearchWith, which can be found at Mozilla Addons SearchWith site: (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2194), as a “search extension for Firefox, Thunderbird and Flock,” which enables users to “group search engines by service (content type) and search from the context (right-click) menu.” Soyapi writes:

Apart from big fixes, this version includes improvements to the Addressbar option especially in Thunderbird. Addressbar option now integrates well with Google's Feeling lucky feature.

Another enhancement in this version is that when you search with all engines for a particular service, SearchWith will automatically remember to pre-select all engines under that service, by default.

To select all engines or change this back, use the Advanced Search dialog which pops up when you hold down the SHIFT key while selecting a search service on the context menu or when you right-click without selecting any text.

Malawian politicians missing out on the Internet revolution

While Malawian inventors and technology experts pour their time and energy into technological advancements to benefit poor, disadvantaged communinties, as in the case of Dr. Cedrick Ngalande, or advancing Internet search engine software, as in the case of Soyapi, Malawian politicians have an almost zero presence on the Internet. Victor Kaonga writes in an article that generated a lot of comments on the Malawian Internet newspaper Nyasatimes, which he republishes on his blog, that no Malawian political party is known to have an official website, let alone websites or even blogs for individual politicians:

When it comes to politicians and parties, I was saddened to discover that no political party in Malawi owns a website, neither a blog which actually comes as a free package. I am sure our political parties in Malawi have money to have a website or if desperate then get a blog.

Kaonga cites a University of Malawi professor, Edrine Kayambazinthu, who points out that:

…most politicians in Malawi lack of access to computers, lack access to even the Internet. This “may explain why they shy away” from online communication. She pointed out that the politicians clamour for media access only through radio and newspapers which are readily available and do not depend on their individual literary skills and access.

Kaonga bemoans the poor quality of the official website of the Malawi government, contrasting it with other government websites where the President is available to answer questions submitted online, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni being an example. Kaonga wonders why Malawian politicians are Internet-shy, imagining that with general and parliamentary elections coming up in May 2009, one would have expected incumbents and potential candidates to extend to the Internet campaign efforts they have already started gearing for on radio and in newspapers.

It has been suggested by another University of Malawi lecturer, Chomora Mikeka, a technology researcher, that the cost of access to technology in Malawi is twice that of the Southern and Eastern African region. Most Internet access in Malawi is still dial-up, and wireless Internet in Malawi can cost anywhere between about US$80 to US$600 per month. The same goes for cell phone access, at around US$0.34 cents per minute, a cost so prohibitive most Malawians are reduced to an innovation called “flashing,” in which a caller dials a number and cancels it before the receiver picks up, so they can see a “missed call” message and then call the “flasher” if they have any airtime.

One would imagine that perhaps the high costs of telecommunication access in Malawi is partly a result of very few lawmakers fully appreciating the importance of hi-tech communications, which they apparently do not see much use for in their political careers. The Malawi Government recently announced the awarding of a US$23 million contract to a Chinese company Huawei Technologies to lay undersea fibre optic cables in Lake Malawi, in preparation for connection to the larger, sub-continental East African Sub-marine Cable System (EASSy), expected to become operational by 2009. according to Nyasatimes, the project to create a fibre-optic network for Malawi will take two and a half years.

News just in: In the Tuesday December 11 print edition of the Malawian daily The Daily Times, the Speaker of the Malawi parliament, Hon. Louis Chimango, is quoted as saying it is important for every single Member of Parliament in Malawi to be provided with a laptop computer. He is quoted as having said this after receiving a donation of 15 new desktop computers from the Taiwanese government, for chairpersons of parliamentary committees. The laptops would, according to Mr Chimango, afford MPs easy access to the Internet, among other opportunities. “In my view,” says the Speaker, “an MP without a laptop is like being in the driver's seat of a car which has no steering wheel or accelerator pedal.”

Coming to America: Update on windmill inventor William Kamkwamba

And finally, in the Wednesday December 12 edition of The Wallstreet Journal, African correspondent Sarah Childress writes about William Kamkwamba, the young Malawian who at age 14 invented a windmill for his house, and attracted worldwide attention. Among William's growing plans, writes Childress, he intends to build a new windmill powerful enough to pump well water, connect Masitala village to electricity from the windmill, and eventually connect others villages across the country.

This week William was invited to attend and speak at a one-day conference convened by two USAID-funded educational projects in Malawi, the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (MTTA) whose book donation to a school library near William's village started the entire William Kamkwamba phenomenon, and the Primary School Support Project: A School Fees Pilot (PSSP:SFP). The conference's main theme was to shape the way forward using lessons learned and knowledge gained from the two projects, with the participation of other stakeholders, including government ministries involved in educational activities in Malawi. Since William is still in school until this week, he was unable to go and attend the conference. Mr. Simeon Mawindo, the Chief of Party for both projects, and Dr. Hartford Mchazime, the Deputy Chief of Party for MTTA and mentor to William, are working to develop new policy directions that might benefit other young Malawians who are as talented and determined as William, but lack avenues through which to express their ingenuity.

And on his blog, William announces that he is headed for the United States of America for a short holiday, starting December 17 into the early days of the new year. He will be hosted by one of his American mentors, and will visit New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

The journalists are Eunice Chipangula, the erstwhile highest ranking woman at Malawi’s state broadcaster, Pilirani Semu-Banda who writes features for InterPress Services News Agency, (IPS), Penelope Paliani-Kamanga who writes for The Daily Times, and Stella, a first-name-only blogger working at an unnamed radio station.

Eunice Chipangula and two Malawian firsts

In February this year Eunice Chipangula started her blog, named Standing Upon God’s Promises. Chipangula inaugurated her blog with an entry introducing herself. She wrote about being the first Malawian broadcaster to win a British Chevening scholarship, which enabled her to go and study for a Masters degree in journalism at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Chipangula returned to Malawi, and rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Director General of Malawi’s national broadcaster, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. She was the first woman to assume the post in the history of MBC. Chipangula also mentions in her first post how she was transferred from MBC in January of this year, without an explanation, first to the Ministry of Foreign and International Cooperation, and later to the Ministry of Labor as Deputy Secretary.

What may come as a surprise to Malawians not too familiar with Chipangula is that she is, in her own words, “an ordained Pastor of the Oasis of The Lord International Ministry, overseeing Malawi.”

Since February Chipangula has published 9 posts on her blog, nearly all of them describing gender inequality and sexual harassment in Malawian homes and in the public sphere. Two posts are on topics outside gender; one on widening the provision for legalized abortion in Malawi, and the harmonization of labor policies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to deal with illegal immigration. A number of her posts are commenting on new changes suggested by the Malawi Law Commission, which held a constitutional conference in April 2007.

On the labor immigration issue Chipangula writes:

“The bottom line here is therefore that a lot needs to be done in terms of harmonization of national policies, legislations within and among states if the region and the world are to effectively manage migration and reap benefits for both migrants and states that will result into successful integration. Since cross-border labour migration is one of the most visible forms of migration, it requires significant attention within and between states in the region. Regional structures, mechanisms need to be put in place to manage or regulate labour migration between member states through a joint collaborative regional initiative or bilateral and multilateral arrangements.”

Chipangula adds that laws, policies and regulations for SADC states address labor and migration separately, and that no country has a harmonized approach to labor migration. She concludes her post by suggesting that SADC “and the world over need more and better migration policies- not more and better controls and policing.”

Semu-Banda and Malawi’s marginalized

Another female journalist peopling the Malawi blogosphere is Semu-Banda. In fact Ms. Semu-Banda started her eponymous blog in 2005, but only posted a profile and photos for the next two years. Starting in March 2007 Ms Semu-Banda has been posting on her blog some of the articles she writes and publishes for the African section of the InterPress Services News Agency, (IPS).

Unlike Ms. Chipangula, Ms. Semu-Banda has not provided an introduction as to who she is and what she does. Arguably Malawi’s best known feature writer outside of Malawi, Ms. Semu-Banda’s signature style is to write about Malawi’s poor and marginalized and their daily struggles. In a March 2007 posting, she wrote about two Malawians whose diminishing profiles exemplify the relentless poverty that is trapping many Malawians, despite adulatory praises coming from the International Monetary Fund, Jeffrey Sachs, and other high profile economic interlocutors.

Semu-Banda’s feature on poverty focused on Grace Kafere, an administrative officer who was laid off and was quickly reduced from above-poverty affluence to one-meal-a-day desperation, and Jackson Malire, a night watchman who has had to sell his bicycle and now walks long distances to work and other errands as his personal finances keep losing their economic power. Writes Semu-Banda:

“The dismal experiences of Karefe and Malire are not confined to their neighbourhood. Most Malawians are struggling in similar ways as poverty has worsened in Malawi, according to the most recent Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”

Semu-Banda goes on to point out how Malawi slipped from the 10th to 11th poorest country in the world, from 2005 to 2006. “The country is ranked 166th out of 177 countries on the UNDP’s Human Development Index.” A decade earlier, Semu-Paliani says the country’s rank was only slightly better, at 161^st place, indicating a slippage of five digits in the last 10 years.

A case of gender marginalization that Semu-Banda writes about is that of Chanju Mwale, a young female lawyer working as legal officer for the Malawi Defence Force, the first female to hold the rank of captain since the Defense Force opened its gates to women officers in 1996. Semu-Banda writes about how in 2004 Captain Mwale was severely beaten by a male officer, a lieutenant, junior in rank to Mwale, after Mwale rebuffed the lieutenant’s sexual advances at an end-of-year party. According to Semu-Banda, Mwale was dissatisfied with the way the Malawi Defence Force handled the assault, awarding her a miserly US$72 as compensation. Mwale took the matter up in the courts, and was still pending as of March 2007. Semu-Banda quoted Captain Mwale explaining the gendered nature of the assault she suffered:

“The problem is that the army is a male-dominated institution which does not take kindly to women being in high positions. The Malawi Defence Force was used to being an all-male team until 1996 when women were allowed to join the army. They just cannot accept that a woman is capable of working as hard as they do.”

Captain Mwale expressed her determination to fight from within, rather than quit, telling Semu-Banda:

‘‘People thought I would leave the army following the assault as I was badly injured and got little support from my superiors but I am staying. I will work at changing the perceptions. I know it is an uphill battle but I will not tire.”

Semu-Banda’s other features on her blog explore matters of human interest to ordinary Malawians, such as dwindling fish supplies from Lake Malawi, turning human waste into fertilizer, and the real, lived consequences of the seemingly eternal wrangle between Malawi’s former president, Dr. Bakili Muluzi, and current president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. From her posts we learn quite a few things of relevance about Malawians’ dietary needs. She informs that 1.6 million Malawians depend on the fishing industry, out of a population of 12 million, and that “fish provides Fish provides over 60 percent of the dietary animal protein intake of Malawians and 40 percent of Malawians’ total protein supply.

In another posting Semu-Banda describes a new initiative by farmers to turn human waste into fertilizer, observing that “faeces and urine, combined with wood ash and soil, are serving as a replacement for chemical fertilizers. This came as farmers who could not afford the standard fertilizers went in search of alternatives to increase the size of their yields.”

Even when she writes about Malawi’s politics and its leaders, it’s the ordinary people she trains her eye on. In addition to the Muluzi-Bingu rivalry causing a commotion in parliament during which then Speaker of Parliament Rodwell Mnyenyembe collapsed and died days later, in June 2005, the national budget has been held ransom to the never-ending quarrel, and several court cases have been pushed aside while the judiciary system handles political cases arising out of the duel of the “elephants.”

Coming to America: Paliani-Kamanga and her American dream

Penelope Paliani-Kamanga, our next subject, is another Malawian female journalist who has also set up shop in the cyberworld. Paliani-Kamanga’s blog, creatively named “PP COOL JAY cooler as the swimming pooler”, appeared on August 1, 2007, a month after her arrival in the United States to participate in the International Center for Journalism Exchange Program.

She is able to confirm her long-held picture of the United States as a glamorous and dream-achieving place, before encountering a side of the United States that would only be understood by a personal presence. Paliani-Kamanga writes the following about her first impressions:

After going through marathon daily boardroom briefings about a whole range of aspects of life here in the United States, I have come to revisit my perception of America. This is not merely the land of great opportunities, but the land of the free and the brave.

She finds that the American press is “free and is protected by the first amendment no one at all can create rules on how the press should operate.” She contrasts this, perhaps too stereotypically, with the Malawian press, saying “I feel if the media back home had such freedom there would be chaos. I am mesmerized by the way the press here stick to ethics despite the absolute freedom.”

A little later, reality begins to sink in, and she starts to observe, almost reluctantly, hidden aspects of the United States of America. Some of her perceptions begin developing question marks. “When I came here I could not imagine that some people in America are homeless or living on government support.” She finds that the United States “still battles with ethnicity and racial tensions on the individual and social levels, something one would consider Africans.” She also learns of crime in American cities: “Crime I am told is still rampant in most cities of America, as it is in Africa. Drug trafficking and gangs are major causes of insecurity amongst the African-American neighborhoods.”

Paliani’s blog has other entries, on how men in other countries are turning on the gains made in gender equity and claiming that men too are victims also, a new vaccine against cervical cancer, and another posting on men and gender.

Smile; you’re still on air

The last subject of this write-up is a Malawian female blogger introducing herself as Smiling Stella, who names her blog “Nambewe”. Her lone entry, dated October 6, 2007, takes readers into a frustrating day when Stella, a broadcaster, is forced to wing it, so to speak, on a live radio show after a computer malfunctions.

Learning everyday. Yes we learn everyday and anytime especially when we are stuck. I was on air some minutes ago and then one computer programme went off. Since I am new to the software, I did not know how to proceed. This made me to do the next live radio programme without help of the text messages. I know I angered the listeners who expected me to read their text ,messages. I can only say sorry. I have not yet fully figured how the software works. I hope to know that next week. Uh, lessons, lessons and lessons. What a day!

Besides journalists, there are several other Malawian women pitching up tents in cyberspace, who will be covered in forthcoming write-ups. For now, the female journalists are taking to cyberspace with a prominence that male Malawian journalists are yet to match.

Earlier he had dropped out of school after his parents were unable to afford his tuition fees. After achieving fame through the efforts of Malawian bloggers who first wrote about the story following a news item in a Malawian newspaper, and after hitting BoingBoing.net, Digg, Reddit, and Metafilter, William has now been featured on My Hero.

As videos from the TEDGlobal 2007 conference become available online, William’s speech at the conference can now be accessed through the conference’s website, on Youtube, on his blog, and also as a download. William has also been writing about how he is making use of the money people have been donating through his blog, using some of it for home supplies, as well as preparing to go back to school:

When planting season comes, I will use some of the funds to buy seed, fertilizer and urea for my family's crops of maize, ground nuts and beans.

I have also opened a bank account and put funds in so that my family is now prepared for medical, food or other needs and/or emergencies. I have started saving for the rest of private secondary school, boarding and university, too.

Still in the tech realm, Clement Nyirenda has had plenty of tech news to report about on his blog. Clement announces a campaign by bloggers around the world to unite against all forms of abuse, by blogging against this vice on September 27, 2007. Clement announces that the campaign is being driven by Blogcatalog. Clement also informs his readers that his blog is now viewable in ten major languages, by use of a free widget, from Google Translator Widget Blog. This makes Clement’s blog now readable in Arabic, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, French and Korean. The other piece of news Clement has for his readers is the forthcoming launch, on August 29, 2007 of MyLiveSearch, which Clement says technology enthusiasts have been waiting with bated breath for.

For Clement’s African readers and others interested in Africa’s technological solutions, the most exciting news is perhaps what Clement announces as the invention of a new, low cost computer that runs on solar energy.

Inveneo points out that over 2 billion people in the developing world live in rural and remote communities that lack basic access to information and communication technologies–telephony, computing, Internet access. In response to this need, Inveneo, a non-profit social enterprise, creates and sells highly affordable and sustainable ICTs that are specifically designed for organizations–governments,NGOs,private enterprises–that serve rural communities with vital services that include education, health care,economic development,relief and telecentres. This is great stuff! You can visit their site and make a paypal donation. Theirs is indeed a great cause.

Clement reports that the computer is already available in Uganda, for US$941, which the government there says is tax-free. Clement expresses excitement about this innovation, while also observing that the cost is too high for ordinary people in rural areas, the main target of the gadget. Clement ends his post by inviting the company, UK-based Inveneo Inc, to Malawi where he says it will be most welcome.

Moving on from the world of technology, the political atmosphere in Malawi has been hyper-charged for the past two months. No two terms have so dominated Malawian discourse in the last decade as have “Section 65” and “Budget.” Section 65 refers to the section in the Constitution of Malawi which forbids members of parliament from moving away from the party that sponsored them into parliament to another party also represented in parliament without a by-election.

President Bingu wa Mutharika, who himself left the party that sponsored him to win the presidency and started his own party, asked the courts to clarify the section, in the hope that the courts would rule in his favor as well as that of more than 60 members of parliament who also left their own parties to join the president in his new party.

The courts ruled on June 15 that Section 65 was indeed valid, and tension has been the order of the day in Malawi since then. The opposition has demanded that the constitution be followed, and have tied their demand to a refusal to debate and pass the national budget, which has restricted government spending.

Peter Qeko Jere comments on the impasse and writes on his blog about the need for government to go on and spend money even without parliament’s authorization:

Government need to spend money this time on all necessary services that will directly benefit the poor Malawians because this is about saving lives. When it comes to this process, we don’t play games because Malawians have the right to life and no one has the right to create a situations that would lead to many death just because they don’t want the budget. Life is life and we don’t play jokes with it. We only live once on this planet. Even those in opposition knows that we live once and that they should not do something sick this time around that will lead to death of many innocent Malawians as it happened in 2002 when they sold all the maize.

Austin Madinga finds confusing messages coming from the United Democratic Front (UDF), President Mutharika’s former party now consigned to opposition ranks. Madinga writes that the party released a statement calling on Malawi’s bilateral donors to withdraw aid, and when finally parliament started debating the budget, the same UDF praised the Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe for maintaining donor confidence, citing the importance of donor money for Malawi:

This statement is in stark contrast to a press statement from UDF that called on donors to pull the plug on aid.
My question is which is which? I believe in both instances it was UDF speaking. Please make up your mind, you are confusing us!

Also expressing his opinions about the political situation in Malawi is M’Malawi KuTheba, who switches back and forth between Chichewa, Malawi’s national language, and English, commenting on the budget debacle:

p/s: I pray soon or later the budget impasse kumudziku will be sorted out. Koma munthu mmodzi yemwe sindikumunvetsa ndiye ndi JZU, the guy only lost three mps to DPP but why all the fuss, mwina itamavuta UDF ndikhoza kumvetsa.

I pray soon or later the budget impasse back home will be sorted out. However the one person I fail to understand is JZU (John Zenasi Ungapake, president of opposition MCP—editor), the guy only lost three mps to DPP but why all the fuss, if it were UDF making such a fuss I would understand.

As for Malawi Politics, he hides little about what he thinks of current Malawian politicians, wondering why most of them are still active, having been recycled from the Malawi Congress Party:

Why does the young generation refuse to get involved?. To serve requires sacrifice. A lot of our brothers are in the diaspora building a future for themselves and their kids. There are a lot of them out there but I will give a brief Wikipedia biography of just two that I know personally.

He goes on to mention Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Professor Tiyanjana Maluwa, two Malawian scholars based in US universities with highly coveted achievements, as some of the people who could steer Malawi’s politics in a different direction if they were in Malawi. He also mentions Jimmy Koreia Mpatsa as an outstanding Malawian touted for having resuscitated Malawi’s national flag carrier, Air Malawi. He ends his post by inviting readers to suggest more names of young Malawian achievers who should be encouraged to take over politics from the old guard:

It is the intention of Malawi Politics to encourage our readers and contributors to bring up fresh names to this dialogue. Our generation should not so easily concede to the old Gladiators. Their time came and went. Africa and Malawi is looking for economic freedom and fresh ideas.

Moving on to another topic of interest for Malawians, Victor Kaonga, a Global Voices author, writes about the dilapidated conditions at his former secondary school, Rumphi. Victor visited the school recently and took pictures that leave no doubt as to the state of disrepair the school has fallen into. Victor issues a call for alumni of not only Rumphi Secondary School but also other institutions of learning in Malawi to link up with their former schools so as to create meaningful relationships.

May be a more strategic plan is needed to revive and maintain the campus-alumni relationship so that it is more mutually beneficially than the commonly parasitic which obviously lends itself to no progress at all. But the fact remains that alumni play a crucial role in offering among others resource, inspiration and expertise to their former institutions. This is probably where we could rescue the apparent embarrassing mother institutions.

Boy genius and the windmill at the TEDGlobal conference

The most exciting phenomenon in the Malawian blogosphere, as I am writing, is the 19-year-old William Kamkwamba. Five years ago William dropped out of secondary school just after two terms due to lack of money for school fees. Visiting a nearby school library supplied by the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (MTTA), a USAID project, he one day found a book on how to make electricity using home-made materials, and today he has not only built a windmill that is attracting attention around the world, he was also given a standing ovation at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference, held June 4-7 in Arusha, Tanzania. On his one-week old blog, which has already attracted comments from different parts of the globe, William describes how it all started with MTTA’s deputy chief of party, Dr. Hartford Mchazime, who was visiting one of his project’s schools, which turned out to be the one whose library William had drawn his original inspiration from. Dr. Mchazime brought journalists with him, and a story published in Malawi’s The Daily Times was picked up by other newspapers and bloggers around the world. Here is how William describes what has happened in his life in the last few weeks:

Unbeknownst to me until about two weeks ago, Soyapi Mumba, a software engineer based in Lilongwe brought the article to the attention of Mike McKay, his colleague who writes a blog called Hactivate, and Mike posted on his blog about the story in the newspaper. I found out recently that several other people also wrote about my story on their blogs, too.

Two weeks ago I used a computer for the first time. I learned about Google and searched for “windmill” and “solar energy.” I was amazed to learn how many entries there were for both subjects. My friends showed me how to create an email address and now I am on Gmail. Now I am practicing sending and receiving emails when I have access to a computer.

Soyapi Mumba attended the TED conference in Tanzania, and writes about the sessions at the conference, one of which featured William Kamkwamba:

Among these was a 3 minute Question and Answer session where the curator Chris Anderson asked William Kamkwamba questions regarding the Windmill he created for his home in Kasungu, Malawi at the age of 14. Through the Questions with photos on the slides, William told his story which made people shed tears and later, give him a big applause and a standing ovation.

Mike McKay himself posted on his blog Hacktivate an entry after receiving an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) message from Soyapi from the conference site:

Remember William Kamkwamba and his homemade Windmill made from bicycle parts?

After I made that post, Emeka Okafor invited William to attend the TED conference in Tanzania. Soyapi (who is also there) just irc’d me to say that William gave a presentation and received a standing ovation. People like Bono, Larry Page, and lots of other movers and shakers are there.

VOIP conference in Malawi

Still on technology, Clement Nyirenda describes how contrary to his fears, he was selected to attend a workshop on Voice over Internet Procol (VoIP)/SIP held recently in Malawi. While commending the instructor for a job well done, he voices his concerns that the future of VOIP in Malawi remains uncertain as there is no clear policy on how the technology can benefit Malawians in rural areas:

On the other hand, it must be pointed out that although the workshop was a great success, the future of VoIP technologies in Malawi is still unclear. In her opening address, the Minister of Information and Civic Education informed us that cabinet did not approve the initial VoIP policy because it did not specify the benefits of the technology for the rural masses. She challenged us to reshape the VoIP policy so that it addresses the concerns of cabinet. In light of this, most of us were of the impression that on the final day of the workshop, we would discuss the VoIP policy and the future of this technology in the country. But contrary to the general expectation, the workshop wound up without addressing these issues.

Feeling the airwaves again

Also bringing new technology know-how to Malawi is Sweden-based blogger Victor Kaonga, GV author, home in Malawi for the summer holidays. Victor is back on air at Trans World Radio, where the reaction from his listeners has been nothing short of amazing:

I am still humbled by the feedback from the audience. There are listeners from almost parts of Malawi; rural and urban listening to the station daily. Of special surprise to me was the number of text messages that came during the regards programme this morning (Tiwale) where I read not less than 100 text messages in 40 minutes!

While traveling across Europe and various places in Malawi, Victor keeps a keen, observant eye on what he calls a “human right” that is also a part of human nature. He finds himself comparing public rest rooms, and discusses the differences in the fees one pays for this “right”:

I am seated at Oslo Central Station and wondering if indeed I have to part with 10 Norwegian Kronor (equivalent of 220 Malawi Kwacha) as toilet fee. In Malawi's cities of Blantyre, Mzuzu, Zomba and Lilongwe, toilet fees arrange between 5 and 30 Kwacha. In one place in Mzuzu, men pay more than women for reasons difficult to put online. To think of paying 220 Malawi Kwacha for using a toilet sounds and is too much for a Malawian who finds the amount enough for two return trips from Area 25 residential area to City Center.

Public rest rooms being not the only item Victors finds himself making comparisons about, he also discovers, while traveling, that the Internet is not as cheap in Europe as it is made to be, going by the exorbitant fees he had to pay in cafes in Finland and in Norway. Back to technology, Victor updates his readers on his progress in a global online course he has enrolled in, and how he has finally succeeded in making his first podcast.

Burying a first lady

As Victor covered in the last Malawi round-up, Malawi has been mourning the death of Mrs. Ethel Mutharika, the wife of the Malawian president Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. Austin Madinga observes that despite everyone’s wishes that the recent death of Malawi’s first lady would unite all Malawians, soon after she is buried Malawian politicians are at each others’ throats yet again

:

For the past few weeks following the death of the first lady, there were calls from various sections of society for the goodwill displayed around the funeral to continue. Plenty people also commented that good would come out of all of it. I was one of those hoping good would come out but somehow I was not optimistic.

Continuing on the topic of the death of the first lady, Kondwani Kamiyala uses the occasion of June 14, Freedom Day in Malawi, to reflect on the death of Madamme Ethel Mutharika and the pacifying effect her death has had on the country:

As I write, we are in a mourning period for our First Lady, Madame Ethel Mutharika, wife to Bingu wa Mutharika, our President. She succumbed to cancer, and a month’s mourning was declared.

During this period, the nation has known great unity. Bingu’s predecessor Bakili Muluzi cut off his trip to the UK to attend Madame Mutharika’s burial on 9th June. The two have been at loggerheads since Bingu ditched Muluzi’s United Democratic Front (the party that ushered him to power at the 2004 elections) to form his Democratic Progressive Party. John Tembo, the opposition leader and leader of the Malawi Congress Party made a eulogy that praised the First Lady, while at the same time calling for continued unity. For once, it seemed even the rapists who have been making headlines for raping babies were so grief-stricken, since there was nothing about them in the press during this time. They had recovered a little bit of their senses, and were not out raping their granddaughters. For once, you would think Madame Mutharika’s call for the protection of the girl-child was making sense on them.

Also on the death of the first lady, Among The Trees praises her down-to-earth, non-flashy character:

She gave selflessly and sought no accolades. Not for her the prominent fashionista image more commonly associated with the wives of other national leaders. Hers was the more typical mother/grandmother/friend/counselor/teacher role. She led by example and this drew people to her. Her husband implicitly trusted her judgement particularly on the public podium as can be evidenced by an anecdote in Ko's tribute to her Even in our internecine local politics none sought to malign her character and rarely was she spoken of.

‘Penned or Armed Crime’: what’s the difference?

We move away from the sad story of the first lady to a daily concern amongst Malawians and people everywhere. KwathuNetwork waxes poetic and asks who does more damage, white collar criminals or armed robbers: The blogger provides an own answer:

Regardless of the situation, they are guilty of the same kind of crime…robbing the innocents. The armed robber with a gun and the pen robber with a stroke of a pen steal millions of Kwacha, all in effort to maintain their fallacious lifestyles. They both love the glamorous dinner dance and to fully participate or host such events, they must have the wherewithal to afford it. If compromising their integrity and mortgaging their conscience is what it takes, they gladly embrace it. If ruining the lives of millions is what it entails, they willingly accept it. If siphoning the financial resources or killing the manpower of the nation is the only option, they adopt it.

Feeding the nation

And contributing to the discussion on how to sustain the bumper harvest Malawi has registered this year, Soka Liyenda writes about how to more broadly deal with food security problems in the country:

The solution to food insecurity is like a puzzle, different pieces coming together to reveal the bigger picture. In my opinion food insecurity requires an integrated approach. Policy makers overlook education, and health, vital issues necessary to solve food problems. We live in a rapidly changing environmental, economical and political change. We have to continue updating and advancing to keep up with the rest of the world. If anything for food insecurity the principal focus should be on education. With education comes new perspectives and a better frame of mind to implement new techniques and to understand new technologies.

Remembering the heroes

Lastly, Malawi Politics writes about Malawian nationalists who led the struggle for Malawi’s independence, listing such names as Dunduzi Chisiza, Kanyama Chiume, and Atati Mpakati, a Malawian who was called a dissident by the Banda regime, and was killed by a letter bomb in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1983. Malawi Politics writes:

It is widely suspected that the parcel was sent by agents of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Malawi. Mpakati had survived a similar attack in 1979, which President Banda admitted ordering.