Having started blogging in 2007, his blog now has about 5,000 visits each day. In this interview, Victor Kaonga sought to hear more from Munthali about his blogging life and the MISA award.

Victor Kaonga (VK): Did you expect to be Blogger of the Year noting this was first time in Malawi that MISA had this category?

Kondwani Munthali (KM): Many people told me so. I rarely enter competitions and this one too did not require me to submit anything. It was done through voting. I felt honored that my peers thought I was doing a good job. But as I said, there are excellent bloggers whom I felt deserved the award, but Journalists in Malawi  thought I was better and that is a humbling experience.

VK: Why did you start blogging?

KM: There were two Malawian bloggers, Dr. Steve Sharra and Victor Kaonga whom I followed much when I was on a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 2007. They did not write much about news, but a reflection of issues that affected Malawi. I thought the blogs represented a freedom to share your opinion to a larger audience. But being a news person, over the years I do write less about my opinions and more news. It is a news blog now.

VK: Who have been your main readers?

KM: It is interesting that with time my blog has grown in terms of audience since I started linking my updates with my Facebook page and Twitter account. My blog visitors are mainly from Malawi which is very impressive. This is followed by the United States of America and for some reasons, I also have people in Romania who make part of the top 10 countries visiting the site. Individually, I am sure decision makers, diplomats, politicians and many ordinary Malawi read my blog. I get calls all the time or reminders that I have not updated the blog from various people. I feel honored to have many of these people visit my blog and pay attention to what I have to say.

VK: Do you ever feel scared because of blogging?

KM: Yes, Malawi went through political turmoil in the last 2 years. Even my company - Nation Publications Limited which has been very supportive at times thought some of us were being targeted by authorities because of blogging. The challenge is that people do not differentiate between opinion and facts. Very few people would accept that I have a right to express my opinion on any matter especially politics. I could get nasty reactions, comments or simply insults. I improved my security but thank God, nothing happened and now I am free to write what I want again!

VK: Would you share one or two highlights of the posts you written so far?

KM: The first one is an account of July 20. After Police beat us up alongside Civil Society leaders at Lilongwe CCAP, after seeing them chase and beat my camera man, that minute all I thought was running to survive. But later in the evening it dawned on me that we could have died and the situation did not look fine the following day. I started writing my account of events minute by minute. It has since been used as part of record of events of that day across the world.

The second is the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika and the suspense that engulfed the delay to announce his death. On Friday evening of 6th April after listening to speeches by then Cabinet Ministers claiming that then Vice President Joyce Banda could not take over, I wrote a piece around midnight appealing to those that had power that night to choose the constitutional way. I got a record number of telephone calls, some threatening but a majority thought I had written sense on the question of transition. When President Joyce Banda called for a Press Briefing that morning, I knew my country had evaded the worst. I would consider these two as my best pieces.

VK: Advice to bloggers especially in Southern Africa.

KM: The secret to writing is to keep writing, even when you don't understand what you write. The blog opens you up to a wider world. It helps us document our countries and region in our own words. We connect to the whole world and influence perception people have on our region. This is the time to keep blogging, until our story is told everywhere!

Global Voices Online and especially bloggers in Southern Africa wish to congratulate Munthali on this great award.

*Thumbnail: Kondwani Munthali receiving his award. Photo source: Munthali's Blog

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She was sworn in on Saturday 7 April, as Malawi's Head of State and Government, becoming first female president in the country and the SADCC region. Bloggers have generally received the transition with a lot of excitement.

In a detailed post titled ‘Joyce Banda I know and trust‘, journalist Kondwani Munthali chronicles his own admiration of Joyce Banda. Having known her from his youth, he states:

Joyce Banda speaking at the DFID conference in 2010. Photo shared on Flickr by DFID under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

The Joyce Banda I have come to know and respect, is the mother who speaks on empowering the poor from her heart. She does not read the script nor pretend she knows, she asks questions at every stage of her statement: 'sichoncho'.
The Joyce Banda who inspires me was the one who removed all the trappings of the Vice Presidency and went to sit down on a mat in Ndirande to condole a family of the victim of Police brutality.
The JB I know that well is the one who kept telling the people empowerment is possible even at grassroot sharing of livestock such as goats, cattle, small processing plants and mechanisation of farming.
The Joyce Banda I know is the one that could go and hug an old woman anywhere and feel confortable.
My favourate quotes of President Joyce Banda remain when she spoke after attacks on women in Lilongwe and someone tried to misintepret. She said it was a sympton of the larger problem among te youth.
When she walked almost a kilometre to see Atupele Muluzi, I asked her why she decided to walk, she said, “It is a necessary evil that we can be free.”

Richard Chirombo says that Malawians should expect more from Malawi's ‘accidental' President:

Malawi's ‘accidental' President, Joyce Banda, has set her feet to the peddle. Her first task, as it were, was to sack flamboyant Information and Civic Education Minister, Patricia Kaliati. For a woman who prides herself in gender emancipation, Banda set in motion the opposite instinct in her mantle. Malawians should expect more.

However, Gregory Gondwe takes a very different approach. After identifying key issues needing her attention such as foreign exchange, maternal health, media freedom, nepotism, propaganda and fuel, he makes a stinging attack on the president:

I am in deep doubt that you are any different fro your predecessors if going by your appointment of Dr. Benson Tembo is anything to go by. Here is a man who was in the management of MBC at the time Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda used it as a suppressing tool. Dr. Tembo is the same person who perpetuated his charge even under President Muluzi when he was the pioneer head of the then Television Malawi. You cannot describe how it operated then as professional. And this is the person you appoint again and knowing how you used to chastise workers at MBC when you were a cabinet minister for not covering you enough, I know we are back on the same circumstance for another vicious cycle.  The most unfortunate thing is that the grassroots are sensitive to any mistake that you will make and they will give you, your prize or God will do it on their behalf.

I wish you all the best your Excellency President Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda.

Yours Sincerely

Vitus-Gregory Gondwe

We must confess at this blog to being underwhelmed by the cabinet names that came out of Mudi House last Thursday. Only 13 names in the 32 member-cabinet are holding ministerial positions for the very first time. The rest, including President Banda herself and Vice president Khumbo Kachali – have either served in the Muluzi or Mutharika administrations. Meanwhile, eight of the ‘new' ministers have served in both the Muluzi and Mutharika cabinets.
While this gives Banda's cabinet a heavy dose of experience, it is not the kind of experience that inspires this blog, given the performances of our recent cabinets. Indeed, of the 19 members with prior ministerial experience, 15 have served, or were still serving in the late Mutharika's cabinet. Can we now expect these individuals to become better “performers” simply because their former mentor is no more? We have serious doubts about that.

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State Radio Malawi Broadcasting Corporation announced on Thursday evening that Mutharika (reported to have been 78) was taken to South Africa following a cardiac arrest on Thursday morning.

Mutharika has been under heavy local and international pressure to improve political and socio-economic situation for Malawi.

While business went on as usual in Malawi's towns, bloggers and other netizens in social media sites have received the news with mixed feelings.

On Malawi Fuel Watch Facebook group, one netizen wrote:

lol the president is gone and now petrol is being found!

Malawians have been queuing up for hours for fuel since 2010.

While another wrote:

Peter Mutharika [President's brother], let Joyce [Vice President] take over if status quo remains, we need fuel now…

Bingu wa Mutharika at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson released in the Public Domain.

Malawian journalist and blogger Rebekka Chimjeka reported that Bingu’s remains were to return to Malawi soon. She said that Malawi expects Vice President Joyce Banda to address members of the press. She has been updating her blog with news related to Mutharika's death.

Another journalist Kondwani Munthali refuted reports that Mutharika was admitted at Milpark Hospital in South Africa:

Malawi is at crossroads. President Bingu wa Mutharika was never admitted at Milpark Hospital as suggested by Government as it has been found.
All indications, medical, DPP, family and others sources indicate the President sadly passed away yesterday and he is at a funeral home in South Africa.
Medical records from Milpark Hospital indicate 16 people were at the Intensive Care Unit this morning at the Hospital and none of the President.

He prayed for Malawi hoping that the constitution will prevail:

There are reports of some people in the ruling party trying to force Parliament to convene and change the constitution not to allow the Vice President to assume office.
It is the prayer of this blog, that constitutional order will prevail and that the Legacy, Honour and Dignity of the President will be honoured by allowing peace and constitutional order to prevail.

The prophecy by Nigerian TB Joshua in February about death of an African president created fears for Malawi and many believers seemed to have intensified that God intervenes in the situation.

*Update 1: Malawi's Vice-President Joyce Banda has confirmed that President Bingu wa Mutharika has died and declared 10 days of mourning. Under the constitution, Vice-President Joyce Banda takes over. However, government spokesperson says that she cannot succeed Mutharika because she is not a member of the ruling party. She was expelled from the ruling party in 2010 after a dispute with Mutharika's attempt to position his brother as his successor.

Malawi Voices reported that army chiefs have agreed to follow the constitution by supporting Joyce Banda:

The Malawi Defence Played a crucial role, General Odillo chaired a meeting with military chiefs and unanimously agreed follow the constitution. The General Informed Joyce banda, Peter Mutharika and Goodall Gondwe that the army will uphold the constitution anything other than that will not be entertained. Team of soldiers was on stand-by at Kamuzu Barracks and a few others went to guard the Veep's residence. This plus US govt direct pressure on Peter Mutharika deflated “Peter and Goodall's plans”

A group of Cabinet ministers appeared at a news conference on Friday night to declare that Vice-President Joyce Banda cannot succeed President Bingu wa Mutharika.

This is the first time Malawi will bury a sitting president.

*Update 2: Following death of President Bingu wa Mutharika last Thursday, Malawi sworn in Vice President Joyce Banda as its president at the Parliament in Lilongwe on Saturday 7 April, 2012. She becomes the 4th but first Malawi's female president and will serve for the remainder of Mutharika's term to May 2014.

Malawi's first female president Joyce Banda. Photo source: Friends of Joyce Banda Facebook page.

Malawians across the world have rejoiced over the smooth transition amidst fears that Peter Mutharika was to be unconstitutionally endorsed as president.

President Joyce Banda is the second female president in Africa after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.

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In a special interview with Global Voices Online on why he is so keen on using Facebook, Kita said that Facebook helps him connect with as many people as possible on important issues affecting the nation:

Being on social network is no longer an option these days. Updates which used to take days or months to come by are now accessible just within seconds. So just as I benefit from other people's updates, I also feel oblidged to update my friends likewise and if you are in a priviledged position where information easily gets you, why not share it if its is good for public consumption!

Wapona Kita, Malawi's most followed lawyer on Facebook. Image source: Kita's Facebook page.

Kita added that he has reached the maximum number of 5000 friends on Facebook and still has got 2000 friends requests to confirm.

I value all these friends for what they are and what I can give them in terms of  sharing information in an acceptable manner

Bloggers such as Mbachi Joyce Ng'oma posted messages in support of Kasambara. The arrest and detention of Ralph Kasambara, a former attorney general, came after a fracas at his law practice with people he says were hired by the Malawian government to attack him and petrol bomb his office .

Kita, a resident partner at Ralph and Arnolds Associates in Lilongwe, rose to fame when took on a case involving Jim Jumani Johannson who claimed to be the son to Malaw'si former President Kamuzu Banda. Last year, he challenged the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority on its fuel price hike which saw upward adjustments of more than 20 percent on the pump price.

According to Internet World Stats, as of 31 December, 2011 there were 716,400 Internet users in Malawi. Currently, there are 127,740 Facebook users in Malawi. Malawi ranks number 134 in the ranking of Facebook statistics by country.

Following the fuel shortage crisis in Malawi, one netizen, Frederick Bvalani, created a Facebook group as a tool for citizens to update one another on latest fuel supplies at gas stations.

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At the beginning of the year most Malawians did not expect that the fuel lines would be even longer at the end of the year. This has reflected the growing economic challenges in the country subsequently affecting people across the country.

The temperature in the political sphere became even hotter as the year progressed with campaign for the 2014 presidential election already set amidst a growing rift between the president and his vice president.

Several bad laws such as the Injunctions Bill, which restrains Malawians from getting temporary reprieve from courts against the government, were introduced much to the dislike of many Malawians.

Police versus academic freedom. Source: Joseph Banda's Academic Freedom in Malawi Facebook page.

Media practitioners became even more resolved to write and publish despite growing intimidation by ruling party functionaries. Some journalists decided to simply withdraw or demonstrate self-censorship.

Malawi's diplomatic relationship with its major donors, including Britain, hit a low point with the expulsion of the British Ambassador to Malawi.

The battle for academic freedom grew stronger and the intelligentsia finally won the battle when the Chancellor swallowed his pride.

The country's human rights record got worse with 21 people dead in July following anti-government protests, which were the first of their kind in democratic Malawi and resulted in the highest known number ever killed by security forces in Malawi.

As 2011 came to a close, few had reason to celebrate the festive season in style. Some have offered prayers for Malawi hoping for better in 2012. Others look back with pain, relieved it has gone.

Bloggers across the world have keenly followed the events in Malawi. Some decided to avoid posting about the problems but many had the courage to blog on Malawi.

Glad 2011 is going

Vincent Kumwenda stated:

Very bad decisions were made in the year like the expulsion of the British Ambassador, the bad laws which were passed by our honorable members of parliament. Malawi could have done better without these decisions and our governance and socio economic problems could have been averted.

While on Zachimalawi, journalist Richard Chirombo posted President Mutharika’s picture with a prayer:

As we prepare to enter the New Year, our prayer should be: ‘God, as you bless other nations, do not forget us. Do not forget Malawi”- Malawi's President, Ngwazi President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Fuel crisis

Boniface Dulani advised the government to discuss ways of solving the long-standing fuel crisis. In a blog post titled ‘zones zimatha nkukambirana‘ (Discussing issues can sort out the crisis), he suggested that Malawi should address the underlying concerns that led to problematic relationships with donor countries:

Going to the World Bank and the IMF with the sob-story that Malawi is hurting without addressing the concerns that led to the suspension of the Extended Credit Facility, ECF, in the first place is just wishful thinking. Merely meeting donors and asking them to resume aid when we have taken zero steps in addressing the concerns that led to the suspension of aid in the first place reflects myopia of the highest order.
Let us act and address the challenges and concerns that got us into the current situation. We can then have something to discuss. Until then, Mr Gondwe and your likes, you are increasingly being revealed to be the jokers that you are.

As the year was getting to a close, Ndagha was surprised that he could easily fill up the tank. He took this as a Christmas gift:

Today on my way from a Christmas church service, I saw a short fuel line at gas station within my residential location. I could not believe that there was petrol and the line was that short. I quickly dropped my family members home and rushed to the gas station. Anxiously on the fuel line, I kept wondering how much they were to allow me to purchase.

As my turn came, I told the attendant to fill the tank. I had just decided to borrow the money if I was to fill up, I could not believe he accepted and filled it. I paid and drove off. This was the shortest gas filling opportunity at a gas station in more than four months! Of course the shortest but expensive are those fuel vendors.

Academic freedom

As reported earlier, the fight for academic freedom was one of the major areas for low points for the Mutharika administration in 2011. While majority were not happy with his conduct during the crisis, he nevertheless had support from some including Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Director General Bright Malopa, whose position is no surprise.

Malopa, wanting to play good boy to the powers that appointed him, played down the academic freedom fight in his article titled ‘Disappointed with the conduct of Chanco staff Union‘:

It seems straight here that the current regime is tolerant therefore pausing no threat to academic freedom and democracy at large. The essence of the current regime it seems has always been a belief in human nature as distinct from abstract ideology. And the essence of human nature is adaptability, flexibility, ingenuity. I have no reason to doubt that the current adminstration’s policies throughout the last seven years have been designed to give these virtues room to grow. Now People have all the freedom they wanted on planet earth. The only trouble though is that they don’t know what to do with it.

Other netizens had own views most of which were contrary to Malopa’s view.

Human rights

Right from February, civil society wanted to lead demonstrations against growing economic and social problems in the country. The protests were banned while some of their civil society leaders were silenced. As the year progressed, Malawians could not remain silent. Possibly inspired by the protests elsewhere in the world, July 20 was set.

Even though the government tried to stop them, the justice system smiled on Malawians. The security forces handled this badly leading to deaths of about 21 people and over 300 injured following city-wide demonstrations in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, Zomba and Karonga.

Journalist Kondwani Munthali chronicled the events as they happened in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe on July 20. In a personal post titled ‘Malawi Violence: July 20: What I witnessed‘, Munthali gave account of the events of the day:

'United for Peaceful Resistance Against Bad Economic and Democratic Governance'. Image courtesy of 'DEMO YA TIYENI TONSE PA 20 JULY' Facebook page.

10.14 We arrive at Zodiak station and the offices are disserted, with Emmanuel Chibwana we start off to Lumbadzi where the riots are intense. We are warned 1km away from the trading not to proceed. We Abandon the vehicle and walk to the riot zone. A body is lying on the streets and PTC and other shops are on fire.

Eye witnesses say the man was a builder who had gone to watch the riots.
Police stop us from taking photos.

11.30 We get a call from a Circulation officer that another man has just been shot in Chilinde. I trace the man he was with my childhood friend Suzgo Kwelepeta and they were talking of business when a Policeman shot him on the mouth. He died instantly.

12.00 We return through Area 25, where we meet a Red Cross vehicle carrying a semi conscious man allegedly shot by Police. Everyone tells us of stories of tear gas being thrown at people’s houses.

Many feared for this day and it has since been a bad reference point for the Mutharika regime. Broadcast stations were ordered to stop covering the events live. It was tense.

Was the freedom of expression and the right to information assured? Following what happened, some journalists decided to take a low profile for fear of reprisals following threats from the ruling party sympathizers. What remains to be known is whether this trend will continue in 2012.

Bad laws

For reasons best known to the DPP-led government and its legislators, several bills were enacted into law in 2011. This led the Public Affairs Committee to describe the year as the worst in governance. Thankfully, the government has moved in to review bad laws. The zero-deficit budget was introduced last year, debated heavily and eventually passed. This was possibly the first time that most Malawians heard about the Zero Deficit Budget.

As Malawians enter 2012 it remains uncertain as to when the fuel, forex, economy, human rights, political and energy problems will be overcome. Certainly the majority would want this be a passing phase for a better Malawi in 2012.

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Fuel shortages are said to continue … if you know there s fuel somewhere let others know so that they can spend less time looking around … also if you have hit a wall somewhere share it so that others don't hit the same wall!

Paraffin lamps on sale at Chinseu market, Malawi, for 30 kwacha apiece. Paraffin is hard to come by, so some people have been using diesel fuel, which has the unfortunate effect of creating smog clouds in one's home. Image by Flickr user john.duffell (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Malawians have been queuing up for hours for fuel since last year. Malawi's Natural Resources Energy and Mining Minister Grain Malunga indicated that he was going to resign over fuel crisis. He later changed his mind.

In February, 2011, Malawian police in Lilongwe detained the organizers of demonstrations against the chronic fuel crisis.

One of the subscribers Monday evening posted:

Petroda pa Kameza no long Qs the attendants ali Bo akuserver fast and there are more pumps i only spent 8 minutes ndathira!!!”

Today, Herbert Nkhoma wrote:

Plenty of diesel and petrol at Chileka BP

Later, he added this information:

they were allowing K3000.00 only per vehicle

Tione Makawa wrote:

Tuesday, 14 June 2011
LILONGWE AND THE CENTRE
PETROL
THERE IS STILL PETROL AT:
• M1 – Bunda T-off (To finish By Noon)

Andrew Matambo wrote:

Petrol at Constantin Total Filling Station next to Angoni Car Spares & Accessories in Old Town

Aubrey announced that his friend was selling petrol:

Some friend is selling petrol 20 Litres at 2pin per 5 litres if u are desperate tiwuzeni ife tathira kale dzulo!!!!

Group creators  and administrators Fredrick Bvalani and Kondwani Chirembo said that they created the group to save fuel other than hopping from station to station. Responding to a question I sent to his Facebook page, Bvalani said:

We felt there was a need to share info about where we could to (avoid) the tendency of hopping from filling station to filling station using up the little fuel that remained in the tank. Also if one person in the group hits a blank wall at one filling station he would spare the other members a fruitless trip to the same station.

Natural Resources Energy and Mining Minister Grain Malunga was last week reported to have said that Malawians should get used to fuel shortages. Malawi has for more than a year now suffered erratic fuel supplies negatively affecting thousands of motorists, passengers and businesses.

The situation is blamed on President Bingu wa Mutharika's government failure to manage the forex shortages, donor relations and other internal national concerns.

Malawi is currently suffering lack of strong opposition to the DPP led government. The civil society has since been silenced on fuel demonstrations.

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Global Voices author Victor Kaonga wanted to hear from Dulani about his blogging experiences especially following the Chinsinga episode which has turned into a movement fighting for for academic freedom.

Malawian Lecturer Boniface Dulani. Photo source: Michigan State University Flickr page.

Question: Why did you start blogging?

I have to give Steve Sharra - a Malawian and Africanist blogger extraordinaire- the credit on this one. He prodded me to put my old journalism skills to practice by starting the blog. My love for blogging has since grown as it has provided me with a medium for airing my thoughts without editorial deadlines and word restrictions

Did you ever expect that one of your blog posts could be the source and reference of the fight for academic freedom in Malawi?

Far from it. When I resisted Steve’s initial push to start the blog, I had very low expectations about blogging generally and particularly about my ability to garner the kind of readership that my blog has attracted so far. I had always thought that not many people would be interested to read my thoughts, especially when there are so many news media that provide timely commentary on Malawian politics and other issues. On the issue of academic freedom, it never crossed my mind that of the many rights and freedoms that are guaranteed in the Malawi Constitution, this one would come under threat in the way it has. I had hoped that gone were the days when academics lived in fear and had to choose between self-censorship or leaving our beautiful country for faraway lands that provide guarantees of academic freedom. It was such a major shock when the Chinsinga episode happened.

Many media houses in Malawi heard about the summoning of Dr Blessings Chinsinga by the Inspector General of Police after you published the story on your blog. How do you feel when you see many stories written and published in the media based on your post which has since become very influential?

I am glad that I was able to bring this unfortunate episode to the attention of colleagues in Malawi and around the world, and I am thankful to all those who provided the link to my blog on their facebook pages and other social networking sites. Despite the interest that the story generated, including the spike in traffic to my blog, I would rather the incident had never happened and the situation remained as normal than celebrate this sad episode that provides yet another piece of evidence on Malawi’s slide to dictatorship.

You wrote in an email to me that you are now afraid to be in Malawi. Why?

Well, I know Blessings as well as any of my colleagues in the University of Malawi. Compared to the pointed examples that some of us give in the hope of equipping the future generation of Malawian policymakers with contemporary skills to tackle the country’s myriad challenges, Blessings is very mild in his criticism. My fear then stems from the observation that if a moderate like Blessings can be summoned by the Inspector General of Police, what would prevent them from dragging some of us to court with the possibility of imprisonment, and God forbid, death? I am afraid Malawi has become a society where people that provide honest commentary like Blessings are being victimized while opportunistic praise-singers and hand-clappers keep on being rewarded. This is scary, not only from a personal security perspective, but also for the future prospects of our beautiful country. It is an entrenchment of a dangerous brand of patrimonial politics that should have no room in the 21st century

Do you regret having published that story?

Not at all. I can never have regrets for telling the truth as I see it. The unfortunate events that I described in that story happened. Again, I would rather be writing some positive stories about Malawi, but there is very little that is positive to say about the Malawi politics at the moment.

Have there been any changes in the number of visits to your blog since the story about Chinsinga started running?

There has been a big spike in the number of visitors to the site. The Chinsinga story attracted the most hits of all the stories that I have ever posted and also attracted the highest number of comments. There was also a dramatic increase in the number of individuals signing up to follow the blog, which went up almost threefold. Another notable feature is the traffic from Africa, particularly Malawi. Prior to the Chinsinga saga, the majority of visitors to the blog were from the United States and Europe. However, since then, there has been a surge in the number of unique and returning visitors from Malawi and within the African continent.

When one, especially a Malawian, reads your blog, one gets the impression that you are very upset with the current president and administration. In fact in one of your posts, you have stated that two cabinet ministers (of Justice and Education) have been the worst performers. Considering the political situation in Malawi today, do you think you would have been able to vent off such sentiments in any other medium other than through a blog?

Blogging provides a unique space where one can write freely, without fear or restrictions. The blog also gives me the widest scope of topics to comment on. I remember when I used to write a weekly column in a Malawi newspaper sometime back, there were many times when I just felt there was nothing worthy writing for the week and yet had to submit something to my Editor. Although the media in Malawi, especially the print media, does provide some space for the type of political commentary like the one on the blog, one is often shackled by editorial policy. In any event, editors might feel compelled not to publish some of the thoughts that are deemed to be too confrontational and likely to elicit negative reaction from government such as the piece on the Ministers of Education and Justice. There is no such pressure with blogging. I write and post on topics that I feel like commenting on at a time of my choosing!

How do you feel after publishing any posts regarding politics in Malawi?

The blog for me is like a personal platform from where I can speak and reach out to the world about my thoughts on politics in Malawi. I take particular pleasure in the comments that some of my stories generate and love especially the critical comments that challenge me to rethink some of my own positions.

Has your blog ever been blocked?

Thankfully, not yet.

What do you think is the future of citizen media in Malawi with regard to democracy and governance?

There is a big and growing role. While during the Kamuzu era, events in Malawi would take forever to reach the rest of the world, today’s events can reach all corners of the world in a matter of seconds through various citizens’ media channels. Looking at some of the global reaction to the issue of academic freedom in Malawi, it is encouraging to note that the citizen media is already playing such an important role in promoting transparency and holding political elites accountable for their actions. All these help to support and nurture democracy and good governance in our beloved country. Sadly though, our government in Malawi does not appear to be moving fast to embrace this new media, which has the potential to enable them not only to get important feedback on policy choices, but also to reach out to the public in ways that were not possible in the recent past.

In some of your posts and online conversations, you have declared that as an academic, you will not keep silent. What do you mean?

In my view, events such as Chinsinga’s summoning by the Inspector General of the Malawi Police are meant to cow people and silence critical voices. I have, however, always held the view that criticism, if embraced and acted on by government, can serve a positive purpose and facilitate better choice. To give in and become silent due to threats and intimidation from the police and security agents is, in my view, equal to giving up on Malawi. Since we don’t have much choice on our nationality, I will therefore not be silent but will continue speaking out. And thankfully, many colleagues within the University of Malawi, civil society and the citizen media also refuse to be silenced. I take pride in being part of these communities.

Do you think you need any support from online activists in the fight for academic freedom and other human rights in Malawi?

Certainly. As my good friend, Henry Chingaipe, would say, those who sleep on their rights suffer what they have to suffer under bad regimes. Online activism provides an opportunity for ordinary Malawians to stand up and defend their own rights and influence others to do so. Remember, the time when Malawians, including academics, struggled for their rights and freedoms during the Banda era: the news would be passed on through letters that had sometimes to be smuggled out of prison. As a result, their messages and appeals for help took forever to reach the outside world. By the time responses and messages of support began to trickle back in, it was often too late – some were either already dead, in prison while others could not wait and had to free the country. The online media today and the teams of online activists have the capacity to reach out to a global audience and elicit timely responses before it is too late for today’s freedom fighters. In countries like ours where patrimonial politics has taken root and the propensity for non democratic governance is high, academics can provide a lead as voices of reason in the defence of rights. Their stand to defend their freedom, should encourage us all to not let the political elites trample on rights that we have by virtue of being human beings.

Share with me comment/feedback highlights that you have received since you posted the story about Chinsinga.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. People are shocked that Malawi appears to be headed back to the dark days of dictatorial rule. However, there is at the same time determination that we should not allow a few selfish individuals to take us back to those days. On another note, after I published the story on the blog, I also received an e-mail from the Institute of International Education in the United States asking me to pass on information to Blessings about the Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF), which provides temporary fellowships for established scholars whose lives or careers are threatened in their home countries. This for me, demonstrates, yet again, the power of blogging.

Your last word.

Let me end with a quotation from one of the commentators on the Chinsinga story, Bertha Lilian Munthali. She writes: “Don’t ever under estimate the power of the people. In togetherness and oneness, there lies our strength, the very same people who sang praises and voted for you, the same can peacefully ask you to let go”. Amen to that and thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you. To my fellow bloggers, I say don’t underestimate the power of this medium. There is much that can be achieved using this platform.

* Read our article about Boniface Dulani's post and another article by Steve Sharra about classroom spies and academic freedom in Malawi.

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The two-month old stand-off between the universty lecturers and their employer has led to the closure of the University of Malawi's main colleges: the Polytechnic and Chancellor College. Global Voices ran a story in March 2011 about classroom spies and academic freedom in Malawi.

University lecturers taking part in a protest demanding academic freedom. Photos source: Boni Dulani blog.

Blog power

But no one would have known that things were so bad if one blogger, Boniface Dulani, had not written a post titled “Mutharika's dictatorship hits a new low: Unima's Blessings Chinsinga summoned by Inspector General of Police” on February 12, 2011, two days before Valentine's Day.

The post was about Malawian lecturer Blessings Chinsinga who was summoned to appear before the Inspector General of Malawi Police to respond to allegations that he has been inciting students to demonstrate against the government.

The mainstream media got wind of this story much later that day and followed up the development. Mainstream media published the story the following day or later.

On 12 February, Dulani, a political science lecturer but currently studying in the United States wrote:

Now it has just come to my attention that my good friend and occasional contributor to this blog, Blessings Chinsinga, was this morning (12 February, 2011) summoned to appear before the Inspector General of Malawi Police to respond to allegations that he has been inciting students to demonstrate against the government.
Needless to say I am so mad to hear this story and enraged that the Bingu government is sinking so low as to threaten University academics with serious yet unfounded accusations. In any case, the right to demonstrate is enshrined under Section 38 of the Malawi Constitution so it should be no crime to even contemplate organizing one (as indeed is happening with the Monday demonstration organized by HRCC and others). To his credit, Blessings, is taking a more philosophical and reflective approach to this sad episode. I can only hope this does not silence him and other critics who courageously speak in defence of Malawi's hard-won democracy.

Even after being summoned by the Police, Blessings Chisinga, did not succumb to intimidation. He wrote a guest post about the poverty of ideas:

Ideas are at the heart of progress in any sphere of endeavour. Without ideas, the world would virtually come to a standstill. However, ideas have to be competitive in order to steer progress. Any attempt to ‘monotholize’ ideas is disastrous. Even at an individual level, such an attempt can only result in stagnation, if not retrogression.

This reminds me of what one of our Reverends at Zomba CCAP used to say in most of his sermons and I quote “each individual is a walking civil war”. In other words, an individual is a bundle of contradictions which in the final analysis in an epitome of progress. To sin or not sin, one engages in some kind of debate. Rarely is sin not a product of rather protracted debates in our minds.

Ideas are particularly powerful in the world of politics. The evolution of political systems from monarchies through autocracies to democracies is a product of an open contestation of ideas.

University lecturers demanded an apology from the Inspector General of Polics. The Inspector General of Police (IG), Pater Mukhito, refused to apologize to the lecturers and assure them of academic freedom. The issue was further amplified when Mukhito's boss who also happens to be the Chancellor of the University of Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika advised the IG not to apologize. Instead he ordered the lecturers back to the lecture rooms.

In a twist of events, through injuctions, the courts have been the saving ground for the university community while other colleges joined the protests in solidarity with the Chancellor College academic staff.

Recently the international community has not only condemned the action by the university authorities but also called for academic freedom in Malawi. This included students from Martin Luther University in Germany. Meanwhile many other academic institutions have issued a rallying call for support towards academic freedom in Malawi.

While most bloggers seem to support the academic staff, one Mzati Nkoloksa has a different view:

National development is like nature, like a basket of items. There is education, which Professor Chinsinga offers. There is national security which Mr. Mukhito is performing. There is agriculture, which most of us are doing. No single item is more important than the other because we are all working towards national development.

If one element in our national development basket says it cannot listen to anyone, it can speak only, we have a challenge to overcome. Those of us teaching in the universities should begin to accept that we are one part of national development and we need to remain in dialogue: we need to speak and listen, not just speak.

The story about the academic freedom has put President Mutharika is some bad light with the academic community with some likening his reign to the days of Malawi's first president Kamuzu Banda when lecturers were arrested or forced to leave the country for making statements that did not please the government.

Just like what Dulani wrote in conclusion on 12 February, the university community has refused to keep silent and now it might be the government that may have to listen and obey. Dulani says, “…we will not be silenced”:

In my view, the lecture room is the academic's sanctum - one needs to be free to speak and provide concrete, relevant and contemporary examples - preferably local ones - without the fear of being summoned bto appear before the Police. I have to say that inspite his ineptitude, the former President, Bakili Muluzi never resorted to such grotesque tactics to silence us. And we will not be silenced.

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Is it true that very few Malawians think about science in their every day lives? And why did she start a science blog? Below is the interview I conducted with Muza about her blog, Afrisciheroes.

Q: How did Afrisciheroes start?

In October 2009, I travelled to UK as part of a six month fellowship on the Public Understanding of Science in Africa at the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge. I had chosen two projects to work on. One - African Science Heroes where I would document and present in film, book and poster Africans who had made overcome hardships and made significant contributions to science. The second project, I called science engagement tourism, where I would travel to various public engagement organizations (e.g. Naked Scientists, Science Museum) and learn about how they develop, fund and evaluate their science engagement programs in an effort to develop science communication programs in Malawi. I thought it would be a good idea to share my experiences both from African Science Heroes and science engagement tourism as a blog. I have since finished my fellowship and now blog about various scientific issues with an African slant.

Malawian blogger Muza Gondwe

I would like to think it opens Malawians and other readers to the wonders of science. So many of us fear science. We see it as that that very difficult thing we did at school with the teacher. Very few Malawians think about science in their every day lives; we can actively and happily engage with science and use it to inform our lives. For example I wrote a blog post about the use of transformer oil in chiwaya chips

Q: What one success would you like to share?

Frederick Msiska. I wrote a blog post about this amazing innovative farmer and posted a video of an interview with him. This got picked by France24, an Italian newspaper and then an Italian organization contacted me as they wanted to get in touch with Fred. They invited Fred to Italy to participate in the Terra Madre conference 2010. I was so glad to see Fred getting recognized for his talents.

Q: What are the biggest obstacles to your success? If any, how do you plan on overcoming those obstacles?

I wish I could have more time to cover stories about people like Fred. It almost seems unfair that I am blogging about such things when I don’t live in Malawi. I wish I could spend more time in Malawi and Africa filming and writing about science heroes. I try and do interviews whenever I get the chance to when I am home but I hope once I am done with my PhD, I can showcase widely African Science Heroes as mentors and role models for young Africans.

Q: What are some of the highlights of your blog?

I write about science and science that relates to African issues. One of my favourite things was running the experiment on Fanta.

Q: You are running a special site indeed on rare topic in Africa and Malawi in particular. What motivates you?

I want people to engage with science and realize that science is important, interesting and fun. Science has solved (also caused) problems around the world. Our African leaders are always talking about investing in science but they do nothing but lip service at conferences. If we really want to leap frog and develop sustainably, we need to employ innovative scientific solutions for our environment. This is my way of getting people (Malawians and Africans) both young and old to be more supportive and interested in science.

Q: How do you think the project promotes Malawi as a country?

Certainly Fred has become an ambassador for innovation for Malawi alongside the likes of William Kamkwamba.

Q: How does the information published on your website turn into offline change?

People talk about the blog amongst themselves when they read it. It starts by having conversations and getting the word out, the more people talk and engage with science, more people get informed and interested. I have also received comments about the posters on my blog being useful for students.

Q: How many hours in a week do you personally spend on the project?

Not enough. It ranges. I have a friend who is a consultant in online media. And she says I need to post more. I should see blogging not as work but a fun past time. I need to find better ways of interrogating my blog into my everyday work and PhD research.

Q: What are the most time consuming tasks?

Researching. I like to use credible, up to date information and link to the best source so that takes time.

Q: What do you find unique about Afrisciheroes??

That I am probably the only Malawian blogging about science for an African audience.

Q: Where is content re-posted?

I have had some content re-posted on Nyasa Times and published in a local newspaper - The Nation.

Muza Gondwe also blogs for the British Medical Journal and posts video clips about African science heroes on YouTube.

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How did the idea for creating MalawiSoc come about?

Generally speaking, social bookmarking is a method that enables Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. It also enables Internet users across the web to collaborate with one another by sharing their bookmarks.  Because of my blogging activities, I have been a social bookmarking sites, such Digg, Redit and StumbleUpon, for the past few years. My experience with these sites inspired me to create a similar site specifically devoted to blogs and news about Malawi.

Who are the other founders of MalawiSoc?

I am the only founder. But I am trying to bring in a few other Malawians so that we can together further develop this service. It is based in Yamato City, Japan. Yamato is a small city, one hour train ride away from Central Tokyo. The site itself is hosted by siteground.com, who have their main office in Panama.

How helpful is it to Malawians in particular?

There are a number of advantages for Malawians:

1. They can submit Malawi-related posts and news articles of their choice, including their own articles. This will help to increase publicity of Malawian content on the web.
2. Because the popularity of articles depends on the number of votes received, this site provides links to the most popular Malawi oriented articles on the net. This will become more pronounced as the number of members and activity on the site increases.
3. The site provides a chance for Malawians and all those concerned about the country to link up with other people with similar interests. This could give birth to collaborative projects, among other things.

What one success would you like to share?

Because the site is still less than three months old, I do not have any successes to share as of now. I am currently busy promoting the site.

What are the biggest obstacles to your success? If any, how do you plan on overcoming those obstacles?

The biggest obstacle, as of now, is that I am working alone. I mainly do this work during my leisure time. There are many improvements that I would want to make but time is a problem, especially now that I am in the final year of my PhD studies. As I mentioned before, I am already talking to a few friends to join me in this adventure. I hope that together we will be able to make the site more user friendly and exciting.

Clement Nyirenda, the founder of MalawiSoc. Photo courtesy of Clement Nyirenda.

What skills and expertise would be of assistance to your project?

Skills and expertise in the following software and technologies would be of great assistance: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, CSS, xHTML and HTML, PHP, Mysql. In-depth knowledge of the Internet and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is also very important.

How do you plan on sustaining your project financially?

I am also appealing to all well-wishers out there to make donations towards this project. Those who want to help can get in touch with me through http://malawisoc.com/contact. I used some of the money that I made through adverts and some affiliate programs on my blog to register the domain and secure hosting space at siteground.com for the first two years. I am hoping that in two years time, the adverts that I will be running on the social bookmarking site will provide enough money to pay for all the costs.

How do you think MalawiSoc contributes to transparency in Malawi?

Because the site is user driven, in the sense that users provide the news articles, summaries and comments and also vote the articles, I believe that it greatly contributes to transparency in Malawi.

How does the information published on your website turn into offline social/political change?

I think it may be premature for me to say anything on that for the time being. But as the site continues to grow, it will provide the best resource for summaries and links for the hottest news and blog articles about Malawi. The ease with which important information will be obtained by members and the resulting comments and private messages have the potential of causing significant offline change.

How many hours a week do you personally spend on the project

I take approximately 8 to 12 hours. The most time consuming tasks involve playing around with HTML and PHP codes to improve the functionality of the site. 

How many visitors do you get on MalawiSoc?

Because site is still in the initial stages, I think it is premature to share this information at this time.

What do you find unique about MalawiSoc?

Well, the unique thing is that it is the only social bookmarking site devoted to Malawian content on the web. It attempts to allow Internet users who interested in Malawian issues to help in the aggregation and rating of Malawian content on the web. It also helps to increase the visibility of Malawian content on the web

What licenses do you use to publish own content and their code (if you develop any tools).

This site is built on the Hotaru Content Management System under the terms of the General Public License v.3, which implies that we have the liberty to modify it, mainly by using plugins, to suit our needs.  

Is MalawiSoc on Twitter?

Yes. Our readers can follow us on this address:

Where do most readers come from?

Almost 35% come from Malawi and about 20% from UK. USA ranks third at 10%. The target audience is Malawians and all folks interested in Malawian issues. Content submitted to the site is not re-posted elsewhere.

What metrics do you use to judge your own success?

As long as there is enough activity (submissions, comments, voting, private messages etc.) on the site and we are able to pay for the operational costs without any problems, that will be okay.

What else would you like to share with me.

I would like to thank you for granting me the opportunity to be interviewed.

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At the end, delegates came up with the Stockholm Statement which noted that the the Millennium Development Goals will only be achieved by wise management of water resources and secure and equitable access to safe water and adequate sanitation. Inadequate access to water and sanitation deprives billions of people, especially women and girls, of opportunities, dignity, safety and well-being.

Bloggers who attended World Water Week have shared their notes and opinions online. Duncan Mara shares his World Water Week diary.
Sunday sessions:

The early evening session was the launch of the Second Information Kit on the 2006 WHO Wastewater Use Guidelines – not yet online (but my part is here). My presentation was on choosing a sensible value for the maximum tolerable additional burden of disease – i.e., the maximum DALY loss per person per year (pppy). The default value used for this in the 2006 WHO Guidelines is 10−6 pppy for this, but this is very ‘extravagant’ and I recommended a value of 10−4 DALY loss pppy as it reflects epidemiological reality in developing countries and some industrialized countries (e.g., Australia and the USA) much more closely. [Actually this also applies to Drinking-water Quality Guidelines, but that’s a real can of worms – for WHO, US EPA and the EU, amongst others − waiting to be opened…]

Tuesday:

I attended the lunchtime side event on “What knowledge do we need to do better on Sanitation?” This was basically how the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and its partners see how their ‘Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity’ (SHARE) research consortium, funded by DFID, will progress. Check out the SHARE website when it gets going by the end of the month (in the meantime there are some details here).

Then I went to the afternoon seminar on “Water quality issues and new approaches in Latin America”. Interesting couple of papers – one on water and wastewater problems in Mexico City by Dr Blanca Jiménez (UNAM). The other was by Professor Eduardo Jordão (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) on the use in Brazil of UASBs + some form of secondary treatment serving populations of 20,000−1,500,000 – but little mention of costs or cost-effectiveness, and no mention of high-rate anaerobic ponds.

As I was rushing from the lunchtime session to the afternoon session my colleague Dr Jan-Olof Drangert (University of Linköping, Sweden) shoved a leaflet into my hand – all about his new website Sustainable Sanitation for the 21st Century, which comprises a free e-book and a set of PowerPoint presentations for training professionals in the sanitation and water sector. There’s a certain EcoSan emphasis, but it’s certainly very well worth taking a look. You can download the PowerPoints as ppt files, so you can use them as they are or select which slides you want to use in your own presentations. Excellent idea!

Wednesday:

I went to the workshop on “Improved water use efficiency through recycling and reuse” and gave a presentation on Natural wastewater treatment and carbon capture. Professor Emeritus Takashi Asano (UC Davis), in a keynote presentation, told us all about water demand and wastewater recycling and reuse in California – a complex system necessitated by building a megacity (Los Angeles) in a desert and by California being the nation’s major table-food (vegetables, fruits) producer. Then Dr Ashley Murray (UC Berkeley) gave a really interesting paper on wastewater-fed aquaculture: set up a local business to grow fish in maturation ponds and the business returns half its net profit to the wastewater treatment works (waste stabilization ponds) to help pay for O&M – a very neat concept which she developed in Ghana.

But what is the impact of water shortage in the developing world? A special post in Ethiopian Review features a post about the challenges facing women in Afgooye, Somalia, where many families have no access to clean water or sanitation. The title of of the post reads “World Water Week in Somalia: “If there is no water, there is no life”:

Global Voices Author Victor Kaonga was part of the media team at the World Water Week. In a post about Sick Water he emphasises the need for both the government and citizens in Malawi to address what is known as Sick Water:

In Malawi water is all things-political, health, economic, social, rights, an MDG, gender, spiritual, academic issue, etc. Dealing with water challenges needs a multi-faceted approach.

Statistics-good as they look do not speak everything in Malawi. Water Aid Country Representative Robert Kampala noted that Malawi noted that while some strides have been made in ensuring that at least about 70 percent of the population has access to safe water, Malawi still needs more work in improving the quality of water. Imagine we hear that Water supply coverage is at 65% country wide while Basic Sanitation 86% country wide. Interestingly I learn that in urban and rural areas, improved sanitation (basically latrines with slabs and flush toilets) are only at 65% and 46% respectively! This is sad. Where do the rest go if there are no toilets? And how then is our water affected?

And in a separate post, he asks, “Did you know the most scarce sanitary facility?”:

Toilets are a scarce facility the world over. About 2.6 billion don’t have the toilet. The problem is worse in developing countries which apparently also have serious effects of poor sanitation. But let me be quick to think aloud about toilets in developing countries. There appears to be too much bush to hide and use as toilets. You cannot do in a well-built urban area. Lack of planning in some cities creates poor sanitary situation. Personally I don't like slums. Additionally some cultures seem not to be toilet-unfriendly. At a corporate level, there are some institutions too that do not have a culture for toilets.

World Water Week 2010 left Timothy Karpouzoglou with a lot of questions:

World Water Week (WWW) 2010 is over, leaving me with some questions. Is WWW really about “opening up” or about “closing down” the debate on water resource management?

The overall theme for this year WWW has been water quality. WWW aims “to highlight positive action and new thinking towards water related challenges and their impact on the world’s environment” and also to “deepen the understanding of, stimulate ideas, and engage the water and development community around the challenges related to water quality”. These are all valid and urgent concerns in moving the debate forward.

So what is this new thinking? Some of it can be seen as more of the old thinking restated with today’s policy buzzwords. “Water quality” is still decided by scientists, talking to scientists about the science behind the solutions. The framing of the problem was often about the right technology. Common effluent treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants are commonly-suggested solutions, even if the costs associated are too high and unaffordable in many parts of the developing world.

Jeremy Allouche notes that World Water Week is an elitist club:

Here’s our first blog from World Water Week - some call it ‘the pilgrimage of water’. Well… the price of the pilgrimage (about £650) makes it difficult to attend and it remains very much an elitist club. In this regard, one always wonders how useful these high-level international events are and whether we are not repeating the same stuff again and again.

The disconnect between the conference and the world outside is sometimes too evident: while the international media reports on the floods in Pakistan and the droughts and floods in Niger, here the focus of the conference is on partnerships between water professionals and projects around new sexy ideas on water. Although water quality is the focus of the conference, climate change is another hot topic here: mainstreaming water and climate change, governance and capacity building for water and climate change, etc…
Still, the big highlight of this morning was the session on “Revisiting the Large Dam Controversy”. Although the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report has been criticised (especially around implementation guidelines), there has been some consensus around the principles and values it articulated. But now, with the development of climate change adaptation strategies and the arrival of new financiers, some fear that the new context (WCD+10) may end this fragile consensus.

Lyla Mehta discusses controversy at the conference:

It’s my fourth day at World Water Week, the annual mecca for policy-makers and players from the World Water Council, the Water and Sanitation Programmes (WSP), Stockholm Water Institute, WaterAid, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), as well as several UN and bilateral agencies such as DFID and others who can afford to pay the entry fee. Most people seem to come for networking, meetings, dinners and drinks, to launch new initiatives and reports… and occasionally even to attend the odd session.

I've been doing the same, though I had hoped to be more excited by some of the sessions and workshops. Most of them have been highly technical, with many of the same global perspectives and declarations that we have been hearing for a long time. But this is probably a reflection of how mainstream most talk about water is, be it in the media, policy or research realms…
For me, the highlight of the conference was the session on “Revisiting the Large Dam Controversy” hosted by the very exciting online journal Water Alternatives. It’s been 10 years since the World Commision on Dams published its landmark report, which provided guidelines for dam-building, covering social, environmental, economic and institutional aspects. This was the only session I attended where there was passion and debate, not surprising due to the topic even though a few were hoping for more blood-letting! Ten years on, there has been much progress. WCD guidelines are now mainstreamed in many new and ongoing projects all around the world. The WCD principle on the “right to consent” is also gaining acceptance in many global organisations and institutions.

Still, there are many ideological rifts and no clear consensus on ways forward, with early opponents still openly rejecting the WCD process and conclusions. This was exemplified by the words of ex-World Bank official John Briscoe, who proudly stated that the WCD and similar commissions should pack up since they are often rejected by dam-building nations who reject their guidelines. But Briscoe didn’t seem to do himself or his former institution any favours by continuing to ignore the fact that water resources development remains a highly contested process, often shaped by forces in the wider political economy. Moreover, southern governments who claim to be ‘democratic’ may not necessarily be representing the interests of the poor and marginalised through dam-based development.

In the end the Stockholm World Water Week 2010 revealed broad consensus on many water-related issues as Alex McIntosh reports:

By Day Four of the 2,500-attendee conference, a few overarching themes have begun to emerge. First, in the majority of the watersheds across the globe, we know too little about the amount of water available, the amount extracted in aggregate for human use, or the quality of the watershed. For this reason, in the seminar On the Road the Corporate Water Reporting, panelists from Nature Conservancy, CERES, Quantis, PepsiCo, CH2M HILL, Unilever, Borealis and other organizations all agreed that the trend towards greater water reporting transparency would continue, primarily driven by businesses’ need to obtain and manage their supply chain water resources, and in response to consumer/customer/investor stakeholder pressure.

A second theme emerging from World Water Week is there is general consensus among the world’s water experts and advocates that humanity already has passed the “safety point” with respect to sustainable use. In the seminar The Future of Global Water Technologies, panelists from McKinsey & Co, ITT, Black & Veatch and more framed the discussion by agreeing on four points:

* The world faces significant water resource challenges today, which will worsen in the coming years.
* Business as usual practices will not close the “water gap”.
* Cost effective, sustainable solutions are possible, but will require an economy-wide approach.
* A pathway towards water sector transformation does exist.

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In his post titled Prosecting Free Speech in Malawi, Cryton goes to some length to justify why Nyondo should have been left free:

The president’s decisions, among others, include: the establishment of the Mulhako wa Alhomwe to champion the course of the president’s Lomwe ethnic group; the change of the national flag; the inclusion of his wife in cabinet; the reduction of the salary of the leader of opposition and recently the endorsement of his brother to be the presidential candidate for the ruling party when the president’s final term in office comes to an end.

In my view all these are legitimate issues worth full debate. Malawians are justifiable in express their views. These are valid issues for the clerics to express their opinions.

It is not seditious if the object of the speech was to show that the government has been misled or mistaken in her measures, or to point out errors or defects in the government with a view to their reformation, or to excite the people to attempt by lawful means the alteration of any matter in government by law established, or to point out, with a view to their removal, matters which are producing, or have a tendency to produce, feelings of hatred and ill-will between classes of the people in the country.

Cryton raises a number of interesting issues worth pursing in the rest of the post. A political science student and blogger Boniface Dulani agrees with some of the issues raised by Cryton. Boniface suspects that president Mutharika’s actions have something to do with old age. He proposes an age limit on the president in Malawi. A number of “sad” developments during Mutharika's second term of presidency could have been prevented if there was age limit:

Perhaps we should have seen the warning signs earlier when he embraced the establishment of the Mulhako wa Alhomwe to champion the course of his Lhomwe ethnic group instead of becoming a champion of the all-inclusive ethnicity of ‘Malawi'.
A few months back he not only ordered the re-introduction of the quota system for university selection….
In recent times, he has spearheaded the change of the national flag under the false illusion that Malawi has transited from the dawn of development to a full blown developed nation deserving of a full sun (although the white star on the ‘new' flag looks like the moon than sun!) Those of us who have been critical of the flag change have meanwhile been ridiculed as drunkards (talk of irony!).

“Malawi turning into a Mutharika Dynasty”

It started as a rumour that President Bingu wa Mutharika was grooming his brother Professor Peter Mutharika to take over as president in 2014. Last year he publicly defended his brother’s ambition to lead Malawi come the ext elections. Many expected that the country's first woman vice president Joyce Banda would possibly be the torch-bearer for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Now the story is official. The DPP has nominated Professor Peter Mutharika as its candidate in 2014-four years ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections. The development has received widespread criticism as being undemocratic since other players have not been given the chance to be nominated.

Blogger and news analyst Kondwani Munthali writes about the long journey to 2014:

If Joyce Banda has presidential ambition, which is a very normal thing, give her space and time to organise herself. In politics the one with the best strategy wins and that will happen in DPP once the euphoria launched a three weeks ago stabilises.

For Professor Peter Mutharika I don’t equally see anything wrong for him to be endorsed by anybody…. The challenge will be for him to stand the heat and scrutiny as he will be compared as a presidential candidate throughout the next four years, something he might not be comfortable with as his statement, dress, language and everything will be interpreted as campaign or playing big.

A university student and blogger Ananiya Ponje sheds more light on how Mutharika created room for his brother to come into the 2014 journey. In a post titled Peter might be the next DPP candidate, he says:

“The bashing might have been aimed at creating room for his brother to be ‘popularized’ without any hurdle. He might have thought that if a number of top DPP members continued positioning themselves for 2014, then his brother might have very little room for being made popular among the majority of voters. Of course, we need to be mindful of the fact that the ruling party would eventually hold a convention where the party’s 2014 torchbearer would be elected,” a political scientist who chose not to be named replied in a questionnaire.

Generally, Malawians have mixed reactions to the nomination of Peter Mutharika. Some say it is too early. Some say the process is undemocratic equating the nomination to the creation of “Mutharika political dynasty.” Others have said Peter is a hard item to sell therefore the earlier the better. While others say believe that Peter Mutharika is the right candidate to take Malawi further into the new era of progress and development that justified his brother's efforts to change the national flag.

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The fight against corruption

When Malawi became a multiparty democracy in 1994, words like transparency and accountability became buzzwords in both public and civil society. As a result, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was born out of a 1995 constitutional provision that emphasized the need to introduce measures to “guarantee accountability, transparency, personal integrity and financial probity and which by virtue of their effectiveness and transparency will strengthen confidence in public institutions.”

Malawi has made strides in the fight against corruption using several approaches. In Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the perceived level of public sector corruption, Malawi ranked 89 out of 180 countries and territories. This was step up from previous indices.

Some countries have seen technologies for transparency help them in the fight against corruption, strengthening the credibility of governments and helping with their provision of public services. Having picked a lesson or two and joining the information highway, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Malawi recently upgraded its website, a development that the bureau secretary Tokha Manyungwa described as “a big step in enlisting online support in the fight corruption.”

Asked why the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has taken so long in having a functional website, he said that among other issues, “the main reason was capacity problems in the ACB's ICT section mainly due to staff turn over in the section.” One can appreciate the challenges with the bureau since this is a government-funded institution where bureaucracy is involved.

The website upgrade means that for the first time, Malawians are able to report any corrupt practices by using the web. However, it is clear that the bureau is far from being online-friendly. Compared to other anti-corruption websites in the sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and South Africa's Special Investigating Unit), the site needs further tools if it is to enable people to easily report on and follow corrupt practices. The site can only be used by those who are able to understand and read English and this may discriminate against those who cannot use the language.

Challenges to technology for transparency

The danger with many other transparency initiatives linked to governments is that their sites contain too much raw information, much of which does not make sense to a common citizen. Some of it is irrelevant, inaccessible, irregular and inaccurate. From what I know about people in Malawi, few people can manage to read through large amounts online information. This would therefore not only affect participation of the people in the fight against corruption but also kill the transparency initiative.

According to the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), Internet penetration is growing by the day through hot-spot services by ISPs and mobile phone operators who have since introduced affordable internet services. Still, the Internet is a new development in Malawi.

Apart from procedural issues regarding technological initiatives, there is also a problem with what I would call “Internet will.” There are still many public servants who have yet to appreciate the role the Internet and new media play for development, let alone transparency. For instance, the Malawian government began its Government Wide Area Network (GWAN) project in 2003, but the project is not yet fully functioning. The GWAN's main objective is to provide government officers with a computer network that is secure and available at all times in order for the officers to access relevant information in a cost effective manner that will save government hard-earned money. This is supposed to be at the center of the government’s administrative system.

At a broader level, technology for transparency projects will have to deal with Malawi's current level of e-readiness, which is understandably low. According to a study published by the United Nations (PDF), Malawi's national leaders need to “be sure about the state of E-readiness for their own country, what needs to be changed, what barriers exist, and often fail to see the benefits of such changes.” Malawi rates low when it comes to the electronic climate on transparency and electronic awareness of leaders.

Civil society and transparency initiatives

Civil society has a key role in developing and using online technologies to promote transparency, accountability and civic engagement. Unfortunately, this is still work in progress. Sometimes some of the civil society initiatives are seen with suspicion by the government.

The Malawi Economic Justice Network, which is implementing the DFID-funded Governance and Transparency Fund, says it is yet to introduce online technologies to assist in achieving transparency. Launched in November 2008, the project aims at “Strengthening Citizen Demand for Good Governance Through Evidence Based Approaches.” It is not clear what aspects will be online and indeed to what extent.

A media expert and keen follower of the digitalization developments in Malawi, Baldwin Chiyamwaka, said that Malawi is still far away from utilizing online technologies to promote transparency and accountability. He pointed out that “most public institutions have no capacity to develop effective ICT infrastructure,” adding that “there is still a strong inclination and preference for traditional means information management.”

Chiyamwaka, who heads the Media Council of Malawi, observed that Malawi’s legal framework is an obstacle its own right to transparency initiatives. “The current legal framework does not allow sharing of information and let alone making it public. Public policy prohibits publicizing public information,” he noted. Chiyamwaka further explained that a common reality in Malawi is that “most public officers are skeptical about online technologies. They feel it is not safe and secure means of sharing information.” Clearly the battles for transparency in Malawi are big.

Hope for online transparency projects

It has to be noted though that there are multiple challenges in Malawi for technology for transparency projects. Poor Internet infrastructure, technophobia, high connection and connectivity costs, the lack of ICT policy in some countries, and inadequate knowledge and ICT personnel all constitute obstacles to the use of technology for transparency.

Malawi has lack of economic and technical resources in addition to a lack of funding and well trained personnel to creatively keep the transparency battle afloat. A visit to several websites run by civil society organizations involved in transparency, civic engagement and election issues reveals frequent lapses in updating the content of the sites, which is linked to inadequate funds and the shortage of personnel.

There is need to promote usage of online technologies in the country, especially among top public servants and professionals in the civil society. One may find it disappointing to see how little or inadequate information about Malawi is available online. Malawians have a free online environment where issues of control and censorship do not really arise as it is in some countries. On this, Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman strongly advised Malawians to speak out using online tools on issues that affect them and are about Malawi. He promised to further amplify such voices using Global Voices Online. “Our project seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplifies the global conversation online, shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We would love to get more stories from and about Malawi whether in English, Chichewa or any local language, and we will share such with the rest of the world. Your stories need to be heard,” said Zuckerman in an interview.

Though Malawi is yet to plug into some local and regional online networks, there is hope that with more “Internet will,” it will reap benefits of technologies on transparency. For instance, it can tap into the Africa I-Parliaments Action Plan, an Africa-wide initiative implemented by the UN/DESA to empower African Parliaments to better fulfill their democratic functions by supporting their efforts to become open, participatory, knowledge-based and learning organizations.

Conclusion

Though in many sub-Saharan African countries, it is the NGOs that are pushing for the use of technology in their advocacy for transparency, there is need for other stakeholders — e.g., government, ICT professionals, academicians, etc. — to take the leading role in using the online technologies.

Such challenges impinge on a country’s ability to plug into online technologies that would promote transparency, accountability and civic engagement. It is encouraging, though, that the era of multiparty democracy has ignited people's desire to start demanding transparency and accountability from those they elected.

The reality is that if an individual or a country is not plugged into the information highway, they only have themselves to blame, as they will belong to the museum of history when it comes to modern communication, aid transparency and accountability.

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Japan-based Malawian blogger Clement Nthambazale writes about a Solar Engineers Project which has won Africa’s biggest Rural Electrification Award. Understandably, the awards are considered the most important power and electricity awards in Africa.

Malawian Children enjoying Solar generated light in Salima

In his post, he outlines the advantages of the solar project which has electrified Chimonjo village in the central district of Salima:

The installation of solar electricity in these households has contributed greatly to the improvement of people’s livelihoods. The day for most of these households no longer ends at dusk, but like all of us privileged to have electricity, they now have a choice. School-going children are now able to study and do their homework even at night.

Availability of solar electricity has also enabled the households to save money, which they used to spend on buying other sources of lighting e.g. paraffin, candles. The money thus saved will go a long way in enabling the households to access the various other important needs for their households.

According to Nthambazale, there is excitement in the village and the area as this Solar Project will also mean the women become “a source of inspiration for many young Malawian women who are engaging in career paths that traditionally associated with men.”

Mrs Medina from Chimonjo village from Salima district accepted the Award on behalf of her rural Malawi Women Engineers at the Sandton Hotel in South Africa.

What is more interesting about the women is that despite being semi-illiterate they were trained as solar engineers in India for six months:

CCODE selected seven semi-literate women from Chimonjo and Chitala villages in Salima district; Kaphuka village in Dedza district; and Makunganya village in in Zomba district, and sent them to Barefoot College in India, where they were trained as “solar engineers” for six months. They were equipped with skills to install, fabricate and maintain solar home lighting in their villages.

Here are some interesting comments left by his readers:
Nicole Price said,

Clement, I always say that the future of mankind depends entirely on women. In every less developed country, with Self Help Groups, it has been women who have come to the forefront to get out of poverty and misery. Your story is a classic example and I hope that all the other villages too get solar powered lamps soon.

Clement Nyirenda said:

I agree with you. Longing to see more and more women empowerment initiatives.

Glyn said:

Thank you so much for sharing this enlightening story.

And thank to CCODE who saw the talent and promise of these women and what their contribution would mean to their villages.

Siku said:

Thanks Clement for this Blog, i will definately send in more photos on this as the project is developing further. As you know the bigger challenge is with cooking so we will be supporting the same villages to make fuel saving (mbaula)stoves so as to reduce the amount of time women spend looking for firewood and increase the amount of time the same firewood lasts once cooking starts. Once again thanks for the highlight.

Clement Nyirenda said:

Looking forward to more developments and I hope this little publicity will bring in more co-workers.

Ashley said,

This is great to see women across the globe participating in these challenging environments. Especially the fact that they are helping with installation and even continued technical support afterwords. Way to go!

William Hayes said:

I’m wondering:

(1) These solar panels are expensive. Who is paying for them?

(2) And what about windmills? Has someone done a study to determine that solar power is a better source of non-renewable than wind power?

Jenny said:

As to what William above has said, I don’t think wind power is more reliable in those villages since we are talking about Africa here, with more than 10 hours a day of sunshine and heat.

Those women above have done a great job helping themselves and their villages. I can only hope that more will be able to learn the necessary skills to improve their own lives.

William Hayes said:

es, Jenny, I agree with you.

I asked about windmills because of all the publicity being given to William Kamkwamba and his windmill. His story and his success are, so far, largely personal, whereas–as you say–the stories of these women and their successes are larger, affecting villages.

Yet William Kamkwamba gets the lion’s share of the publicity–he is called Malawi’s “genius” in today’s Nyasa Times–and these women get….

I’m still wondering who pays for the solar panels. My son, an electrician, says they are not cheap!

sunu mariam said:

I am really happy to see such women empowerment activities.Let many more come out with initiatives like this…Kiddos to all those who are involved..

Jenny said:

@ William Hayes,

Yeah, I know about “the boy who harnessed the wind”… He is an example of self-help. As these women are. I don’t see any major difference between his achievements and the ones made by these women. Except he got a book written about him. I mean, sure he did a great job for his age (the same age as me). But these women also deserve some publicity.

About the solar panels, I really don’t know, maybe it’s more lucrative for the villages to have a solar panel attached to each house. If each village had only one windmill, less women would have the chance to learn a skill. Or if the windmill broke down, the entire village would be affected. There are a lot of factors to be considered.

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It appears, therefore, that the era of multiparty democracy has ignited the people's desire to start demanding transparency and accountability from those they elected. The transparency movement in those years utilised several platforms at the national and local levels, including the traditional media. But with the coming of and growing access to Information and Communication Technology tools, they extended their use to such tools as the Internet and mobile phones.

It is interesting to note that generally most transparency projects stem from the civil society as they traditionally assume the role of a watchdog. Some are global while others are localised. For instance Transparency International, Amnesty International, advocacy and lobbying groups have tended to be in the lead in undertaking projects that call for government’s transparency and accountability. With the new media tools on the rise, people in Sub-Saharan Africa started turning to the web 2.0 tools in the early 2000 to put pressure on their government. For instance in 2001, Kubatana.net in Zimbabwe started in a humble manner to connect non-governmental organisations using their email directory and mailing list. In 2003, Malawi's Sustainable Development Networking Project (SDNP) began as an ISP which mostly provided services to the Malawian government of Malawi, but also ran a conversational forum for civil society organisations.

The use of portals and blogs, however, did not begin to take off in Sub-Saharan Africa until mid-2005.

Obstacles to the use of technology in the transparency movement

It should be understood that there are multiple challenges in the region facing technology for transparency projects. Among these are: poor Internet infrastructure, technophobia, high connection and connectivity costs, the lack of ICT policy in some countries, inadequate knowledge and ICT personnel. These challenges characterise most of new media situations in Sub Saharan Africa. A project called Ujima that attempts to bring transparency to the workings and spending of African governments, multinational non-governmental organizations and business enterprise in African countries says that “few African countries have freedom of information laws. Getting at this information from inside the countries can be difficult.”

The Africa i-Parliament Action Plan points out there is a lack of economic and technical resources across the continent. “Many parliaments have a weak IT department, and they do not have the capacity to design and manage the deployment of a complex parliamentary system. Most parliaments are using old systems that are the results of layers of development that are hard to maintain in isolation.”

In addition to the above, there is a lack of funding and well trained personnel to creatively keep the transparency battle afloat. Policies and government structures are changing quickly and activists need to adjust accordingly with foresight in order to introduce more transparency and accountability into the system. A visit to several websites run by civil society organizations involved in transparency, civic engagement and election issues reveals frequent lapses in updating the content of the sites, which is linked to inadequate funds and the shortage of personnel.

Why Transparency Projects

Transparency initiatives have borne fruit at various levels. For instance in Zimbabwe non-governmental organisations put pressure on the government to explain the use of the money that is collected at newly established toll booths.

Bev Clark of Kubatana.net explains they put an activist message in one of “the newsletters and asked where the money is going. The conditions of the roads in Bulawayo, Mutare, and Harare are very poor. We put this note in the newsletter to get people to think about and we asked the people to write Transparency International Zimbabwe to do something about it. Our membership rallied, mobilised and Transparency International Zimbabwe investigated and did something about it.” However, while a network of activists connected through a mailing list did mobilise to convince Transparency International Zimbabwe to investigate the use of the toll revenue, we have not been informed that the Zimbabwean government responded to the investigation, or if any instances of corruption were uncovered. Still, it is worth noting that the issue was made more visible through the use of networked communication. We recommend that future researchers follow up to measure the longterm efficacy of these efforts.

In South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique, activists have used blogs and web portals to communicate and campaign for fair and free elections. One would imagine that their constant publishing of information related to the elections - that would otherwise not have been made public - put pressure on political parties, candidates, and election officials to ensure credibility and transparency on voting day. Unfortunately, there are too many variables to measure in any scientific way the impact of such information portals on election credibility. We posit that to publish information about elections and electoral processes in developing democracies is better than to not publish that information, but we also recognize that such projects are limited by internet penetration, which still hovers around 5% in many Sub-Saharan African countries, though that number is now increasing rapidly.

Following the successes and recognition of early projects, more Sub-Saharan Africans are demanding information through modern technologies. Higher and increasing internet penetration along with mobile phone networks enable access to civic participation for citizens who would otherwise not have access to transparency platforms.

Traditional media companies in Africa have not shown consistency in reporting on transparency issues. Being in business, there is a tendency for most media outlets to hit and run to another story, without following up on corruption-related stories. Technology for transparency projects tend to be more focused on reform and participation in governance, which over time is likely to lead to established credibility as a force against corruption and for improved governance. With specific reference to the projects I reviewed, it seems likely that they will still be around in the next three or more years. This is because they seem to have so far established a profile of success that makes them attractive for funding. However it is the creativity of their approach that might need adjustment in order to take a multi-pronged approach to effectively achieving transparency.

For instance elected officials easily attack or hit back at civil society organisations that seem to give them a tough time. In spite of claiming to be democratic societies, some governments even enact laws that would bar greater involvement of civil society in transparency initiatives and government reform.

Namibian journalists and bloggers are trained by the African Elections Project, which aims to improve coverage and monitoring of elections in Africa to improve their credibility and accountability.

It should be pointed out that the African Elections Project and Bungeni are unique in that both use creative tools to document and support the electoral and parliamentary systems. The projects have a continent-wide approach to level the playing field for the election stakeholders - and the involvement and transparency of members of parliament - respectively.

Transparency projects and traditional anti-corruption organizations

There appears to be a fight for visibility to secure an organization's survival. NGOs are known to compete for visibility, and hence collaborative efforts are often superficial. If Tech for transparency projects are to have a reaching impact in the region, then they need to introduce themselves to well-established networks of like-minded organizations and indicate what gaps they are able to fill in the larger fight against corruption, and for transparency, accountability, and civic participation.

The needs

The reviewed projects have revealed a couple of needs in Sub Saharan Africa. These include:

1. The need for a well-established ICT infrastructure.
2. The desire to see more freedom of expression for both citizens and the media. It is clear from the reviewed cases that that some projects do not yet have the ideal environment to operate for fear of putting government reprisal.
3. It is also clear that while a good number of NGOs are pushing for the use of technology in their advocacy for transparency, there are a good number of government departments and agencies - as well as individual officials - who do not yet appreciate the role of ICTs in development, let alone in engaging citizens for the good of democracies in the region.
4. Finally, the projects I reviewed have also revealed that there is a potential for their greater impact. I see civil society organizations hungering for more knowledge and skills to utilise the tools. They are aware of the tremendous benefits of networked communications in civil society, but do not have access to the skills, funding, or infrastructure to take advantage of those benefits.

Recommendations to project leaders, funders, and governments

Technology for transparency projects stand to benefit more Africans. However for this to be realised, it is necessary that the project leaders do more promotion of their projects, and aggressively and collectively lobby their governments to provide a safe working environment. The project leaders also need to be more creative in reaching out to illiterate people in rural areas. For funders, they should consider more funding towards personnel, operating costs, and technical training. It is often the case that funders give less attention to operating costs that would enable the project to work toward sustainability. The biggest assignment for most countries lies with their governments. Elected officials should deliberately introduce policies friendly to the implementation of technology for transparency projects, especially the publication of open government data and the passage of freedom of information laws. This includes the creation of a safe working environment for watchdog groups that demand more transparency and accountability from governments than officials themselves may be comfortable with. Such organizations at least have the basic right to advocate for the policies they believe in.

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