Fast forward to July 6
Good people, the 51st Independence Day is just around the corner.
As clocks tick and chime towards the July 6 national holiday, let the annual self-examination festival start straightaway.
Lest we forget, commemorating the historic breakaway from British colonial rule is not just about filling stadia with tales of prosperity while the nation is becoming a specimen of poverty elsewhere.
Forget the hugely disputed research which billed us the poorest country on earth. The way we protested that lousy waste of paper makes us sound somewhat the richest people on the globe.
Yes, we are a frequently misconstrued nation of underrated barons, aren’t we?
Positive? It is good for the nation, especially the youth who need to grow up believing in themselves and their country.
Not just its potential, but how to make its dreams come true.
However, the independence fiesta will remain just what it is—a day off—if we keep mourning our poverty and failure to overcome as was the song during the Golden Jubilee last year.
Of course, there are better things to do than crying like starving babies.
We can talk more about things that unite us than those that divide us, those that uplift us than those that burden our backs, the few that make us hope for realistic goals not those that shatter our aspirations.
In every book, there are a thousand ways to celebrate Independence than handing out awards to praise singers as we did with on-off musician Phungu Joseph Nkasa of the pro-president tune, Mose Walero.
Talking about awards, we can do better than honouring the dead having squandered out time to recognise them live as they would have loved most.
Excessive hero-worshipping of dead legends makes living legends look like ordinary also-rans and wannabes.
Maybe we are a nation of commonplace souls, with all the true greats dead and buried like Zonse ndi Moyo hitmaker Allan Namoko and his Ili Mu Ufa contemporary Saleta Phiri.
Likewise, we can do better than dispensing national titles on underserving ‘people’ the way Mzuzu University conferred some honorary degree on a First Lady for the deeds of her predecessor.
In the next national awards, let there be a haul for deserving achievers across the political divide, including the likes of Lucius Banda who sits opposite the ruling elites’ bench in Parliament but seems to personify the solitary politician and singer Malawians want presently.
And remember the neutrals, the type of Lucius’ brother Paul and internationally acclaimed singer Wambali Mkandawire who show where our music is coming from and going.
May Independent Day awards go to praiseworthy minds likely to inspire a new revolution—a struggle to overcome prevailing low self-esteem, jealousy and a culture of saying what we don’t do—for our foe is not external, but our own mind-set. This is our prayer.
