BLIND LOYALTY

Day in, day out the marathon of domestic politics gets louder, lousier, wilder and wider…what have you. The noisy heads are getting majestic in their vocal cords, with insults, recycled manifesto, counterfeit hopes as well as empty talk furnished with so much cosmetic truths. 

Swarms of a great chunk of the society throng to hear such heads doing their political rock and roll via public rallies, functions as well as chameleon projects that are hatched each time
elections are near.

These atmospheres, coupled with a chain of other choruses heavily inflate every other politician with massive hope that they will form the next government just like that. Actually it is this flattery that stimulates politicians and wonna-bes to dig deeper and larger in their pockets, just to palm oil such pale following.

Fortunately, it is the recycled old generation bunch of politicians that is so much intoxicated with this kind of fashion in their political adventures.
Signs and symptoms of vintage recycled political heads include; giving handouts, castigating critics, intimidating opponents, blaming failures on others, fault finding (without offering solutions), mudslinging propaganda, preaching non-existent manifesto etc.

I trust youngsters venturing into politics will not inhale this sort of infection that ultimately rewards individuals/families other than Malawians across the board.

Fellow youth, most of the ‘leaders’ in contaminating domestic politics with dominance lack a vibrant moral character that has strong conviction beyond winning office. Malawi needs a leader that will do what is right without minding the next polls. This is a gap that our society has inherited from wherever hence ‘politicians’ take advantage of the same to eclipse deserving ‘leaders’ to carry the day.

Hate it or love it but Malawi needs a leader and not a politician. You see, a closer look at politicians reveals that beyond resolutions, policies, promises, spiced speeches, there is very little action hence continued staggering as well as trial and error governing styles.

Away with blind loyalty!

CYBER HATE

Dear young people, are we that prone to hate that we fail to contain the heat thereby resorting to firing missiles via social networks on the internet?

Several pages have been and are being created on social networks solely on a purpose of defaming and assassinating characters in our society. Well, there is freedom of expression yes but surely it comes with a great deal of responsibility.

The command of language, writing style and presentation of such ‘hate news’ is likely attributed to young people. It is you and me who are major suspects in this cyber hate.
Come on fellow youth, do we really have that time to waste just like that by driving ‘hate news’ and championing castigation or gossip? If we have that nose for news and able to run news breweries, why don’t we invest that time and ideas in establishing real things that would
inevitably uplift our economic status as well as elevating the potential of our brains in the society? Why don’t we get down to business and learn the technical know-how of coming up with credible news?

Hate driven stories are just as bad as gossip because they are both inspired by discomfort with ‘success’ of the person in subject. The more we invest our time talking about others, the more the others invest their time in uplifting their lives thereby registering continued success, leaving the gossipers weeping and wailing even more.

What kind of legacy are we building in this generation? Hate is retrogressive and a wastage of time. In today’s world, we need to create more friends than enemies since the world is built on
networking, the power of friendship is fast becoming an order of the day.
Stop cyber hate, be real and make life the life worth a living.

THE CHASOWA MYSTERY

It’s been a dozen of months since the tragic slaughter of one dubbed youth activist in the aftermath of his life, Robert Chasowa, a student of the University of Malawi’s Polytechnic.

Young as he was, the young man is best placed to articulate the hows, whats and whys surrounding his death. The rest of what we hear is either distorted or compromised truths, no wonder, despite presidential interventions, information to solve the Chasowa demise
mystery still looks reluctantly uncomposed.

However, this reluctance is not a surprise since politics is involved. By now, the country should have known the truth about late Chasowa but alas, the revelation is taking longer than forever at the pace it is now. 

Is the nation sleeping on the truth? Probably we cannot rule out the probability of applying political tactics and timing in readiness of waking up and disclosing the Chasowa death puzzle.
Typical of indigenous politicians, taking advantage of every situation to ‘kokela’ i.e. advance their political mileage.

Fellow youth, the death of Chasowa ought to be a tangible reflective reality in our lives. So much pros and cons are attached but we have to be cautiously objective as we carry out that reflection. Among other things: be careful when dealing with ‘politicians’ or indulging in ‘politics’, be transparent in such dealings if anything (with no underground elements attached), be vigilant in your cause with utmost determination, focus and will power bearing in mind that
short-cuts to glory cut the glory short at times…so much more could possibly flow in addition, subtraction, division or indeed multiplication of such elements.

To the family of Chasowa: behold, your beloved son did not die in vain, his blood will continue haunting his butchers until justice prevails (no matter how long it takes –with or without politics).
Rest in peace brother Robert Chasowa!

CRY MY BELOVED UNIMA!

The giant University of Malawi (UNIMA) is back in the news majoring in strikes, demonstrations and running battles.

Rewind 2011: Memories are still fresh when the struggle for academic freedom made rust grow across the corridors of UNIMA leaving thousands of young people clueless as their academic life was heavily strangled. A sad, brutal reality that was; characterized by top arrogance and

monkey tricks.

Fast-forward 2012: Government’s lack of a comprehensive dosage to the lecturers’ salary hike demands, students allowances’ hike as well as support staff perks’ top-up are exciting extravagant mess to the already bruised and crippled academic calendar of UNIMA. The dilly-dallying tactics applied are more of the same kwasa-kwasa that made the giant UNIMA dance and gather rust for over half a year in 2011. Much as the discussions and negotiations are a step towards sanity, parties involved must not overlook the fact that such time consuming measures only slap the helpless students with great injustice. Time keeps ticking and time lost is never recovered.

Reality check 2011/12: UNIMA academic calendar is battered too much that it is constantly and unreasonably abnormal. The more efforts are made to inject sanity into its recovery, the more new issues spout choking it inside out, forcing the calendar back to its knees, limping

for energy. Government needs to jack up and offer fast solutions that ultimately saves and serves young minds in the corridors of the University of Malawi and those that are pending to join the pool.

Mother Malawi you cannot afford to compromise academic excellence of the nation, hear the cries of UNIMA as its students are gnashing teeth in search of academic sanity. Remember, the highest cost of education is not getting one.

End of piece: Do not ignore the shepherd lest the sheep be scattered and lost. All stakeholders involved must stop the drama at UNIMA as soon as possible and save young people from another academic tragedy.

LIFE AFTER BIG BROTHER

The three months of booze, crazy wildness, verbal cross fires and infatuation are now gone with South African Keagan pocketing a whooping U$300, 000, humbling the rest of the participants in the Big Brother Star from across Africa.

Of course the rest of the young ladies and gentlemen who sniffed the smell of the much hunted dollar included Malawi’s own Wati, whose accomplice, Nafe bowed down to the heat before the boiling finale.

So far so good, Wati lived the maximum days in the house. If there were only six winners, surely Wati should have been coughing, smiling, laughing and stinking dollars. But alas, the opposite is true save alone for the fact that he came back with consolation packages (some disclosed, some best reserved for the Big Brother traditional secret).

Welcome back to the real world Wati where booze is a casual past time activity and not necessarily a dosage to get rid of stress. Malawi has had a fair share in Big Brother representation but sadly the life of these fellows eclipses with their exit on the screen.

By being in the limelight and with an influential a continental trade mark, graduates of the Big Brother house could better be leading role models of young people in various spheres. Young people in the country need motivation, inspiration, guidance, hope and so much more.
Imagine if the local participants of the Big Brother house formed a club and collectively come up with proposals of initiatives that centre of addressing a cross section of social, economical and indeed political issues that affect youth today. This could be amazingly massive!

For instance, Wati be advocating against alcohol abuse; Code an advocate of talent use; Hazel for girls’ adolescence sanity and power; Mzamo for anti-smoking campaign; Lomwe for clean and peaceful content of urban music; Zein for entrepreneurship.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVISM

It is common knowledge that our cultures have abused the element of

respect to silence young people. The youth are seen and not given an

ear to be heard. Elders want young people only to speak when spoken to

and this systematic oppression squeezed youth to some mute corner.

Well, the landscape is fast changing and if views posted on social

networks like facebook and twitter are anything to go by then Malawi

is breeding a political revolution. This verbal revolution depicts

patriotic young Malawians from all corners of the globe debating and

demanding accountability from those in power with naked openness.

Social media activism is life in the country, thumbs up to the youth

for that! If the same spirit could be practiced in real life that

definitely youths in the country would be graduating from passive

observers to active participants in the democratic political dialogue

and progress of mother Malawi.

Most definitely, freedom of expression is flourishing via the social

networks. Social networks are key in the dispensation of information

and youth are proudly championing this. Freedom and access to

information at its best!

Fellow youngsters, it is high time we apply the same energy depicted

in social media activism to practical reality and help fuelling

engines of the country’s democracy with our fresh dynamic views as

well as ideas.

Youth, let us have the humility to see the greatness that lies within us.

Watch out… most of these indigenous political leaders are scared of

proactive, intellectual and morally upbeat youth, and they resort to

abuse the youth that could be persuaded with the least.

Lets us not be silent anymore about the state of our nation, democracy

as well as leadership and government.

More fire to social media activism e.g. on Facebook: My Malawi My

Views, Malawi Freedom Network and In Defence Of Democracy Among

Others.

WASTED RESOURCE: YOUTH

There is thousands of energetic and able Malawian youth trying to make ends meet as soldiers of armies out of Africa. They are not there by choice or chance, they are there to survive and establish their respective economic goals. These young men and women have opted to bolt out of Malawi and do the very same work that they could have done if recruited under our national army.
That alone prompts a question: What is the problem locally? There should be many factors but most of all, the deal they get serving in the UK army, for example, is much more lucrative. It is attractive so to say that these young people forget about the risk of dodging bullets on the front line in fierce battle places like Afghanistan. And instead of creating environments to maintain or attract youth of such courage, our country seems to be at ease to waste its incredible resources just like that.
Instead of intoxicating the young minds with politics and banditry, it should be a priority of our leaders to put to good use of the youth. It is a fact that youth are able!
However, youth should be propelled by the same courage of braving live bullets elsewhere to utilize their knowledge and invest in the very society they come from. They have to amass the same amount of courage to defeat challenges that betray lives of most young people in the country.
To all the youth, young leaders, professionals as well as youth organizations: let us collectively voice out our concerns and act with effective networks to facilitate advocacy for policy change on issues affected us in our daily lives and the wider society.
Malawi, do not take the youth for granted… youth are the needed resource to your success and prosperity.