Arrest all Lower Shire pimps, chiefs and M’bona
We are still here in Nsanje, in the Republic of Senaland, where, as you already know we, the Bottom-Up expedition team have spent one week meeting and discussing with people the dangers of culturally-engineered fisi, the now worldwide (in) famous hyena practice that leads to the abuse of unsuspecting girls, but benefits consenting widows and pimping elderly women and satisfies custodians of Malawi killer traditions and cultures.
Contrary to what some self-elected women’s rights defenders purport, the people here are fully aware of the potential health risks of such cultural practices as Kupita ngozi, Kulowa kufa, Kupita moto and Kuchotsa fumbi. They are not convinced, however, that all the women who participate in these cultural practices are victims.
Last night, Abiti Joyce Befu, also fondly known as MG 66, Alhajj Mufti Jean-Philippe LePossoin, SC (RTD), Mzee the Most Paramount (MP) Native Authority Mandela and I, the Mohashoi, were escorting our friend of yester years, Alfonsina Nyanthepa, to her home near Chididi, when a group of chanting young men dressed only in red undergarments and red scarfs stopped us. We wondered what had happened to the peaceful Lower States.
“Free Aniva! Free Aniva! Arrest the female pimps! Arrest the chiefs! Arrest M’bona!” The half-naked young men sang as they danced and surrounded our vehicle.
Alfonsina advised us to keep our cool and smile, if we could. I wound the driver’s window down and one man threw an envelope into our VW Amailoko. Then the group went away chanting leaving us there wondering what to do. Jean-Philippe quickly opened the envelope and read the letter aloud to us all.
“The sentencing of our ‘Field Marshall’ Eric Aniva to prison smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order among the Lower Shire citizens and Malawians in general.
“First.‘Field Marshall’ Aniva was in the business of rendering his consultancy services to all those that needed his services at a fee. He was not wrong since commercial sex is tolerated in Malawi. Otherwise, all female sex workers should have already been incarcerated.
“Second. Aniva and his fellow hyenas were assisting in keeping the Sena traditions and culture alive. He participated in Kulowa kufa and Kuchotsa fumbi with the full knowledge of villagers, village heads, senior chiefs, paramount chiefs, Cabinet ministers, the clergy, and, of course, Aniva’s principal arresting authority.
“Our traditional leaders, including those from the Lower Shire, have been boasting that they are custodians of our culture and traditions. We suspect that to be the case, why no traditional leader from the Lower Shire, including the Lower Shire paramount chief, has openly condemned these practices. They cannot turn against the Anivas of the Lower Shire today.
“Third. By arresting Aniva only and leaving out the other parties that solicited Aniva’s services, including local leaders who promote their cultures, the arresting and prosecuting authorities have demonstrated that not all Malawians are equal before the Malawian law.
“The feminist NGOs have portrayed Aniva as an evil person deserving stiff punishment and in the process deliberately suppressed the fact that Aniva was only responding to the demand for the services from their fellow Mbenje women and girls.
“We hereby invite people of goodwill to help us form a permanent NGO whose main objective will be to promote genuine equality between men and women. We are against NGOs that pretend to promote gender equality at the expense men and boys.
“We wonder, away from Aniva, why should the government build hostels for girls and none for boys hostels; yet boys also travel long distances to access CDSS education. Why should women council/Parliament aspirants pay lower electoral candidate registration fees than men?
“Please release Aniva now. Instead arrest Nsanje pimps, mhiefs and M’bona as these promote Kulowa kufa and Kuchotsa fumbi. If you do not act urgently, we will act. And you will regret you didn’t.”
