Malawi: A truly African tragedy
Last week’s French presidential election, here simply called les presidentielles, came to pass as we, Abiti Joyce Befu, MG 66; the Most Paramount Native Authority Mzee Mandela; Alhajj Mufti Jean-Philippe LePoisson, SC (RTD); Nganga Maigwaigwa, PSC (RTD), and I, the Mohashoi, had predicted. Emanuel Macron and Marine LePen will face each other next week. Most pundits argue that Macron will become the next President de la Republique Francaise on May 7, 2017.
Those who think so argue that the Marine LePen will maintain her seven million followers while the majority of the followers and supporters of defeated candidates will rally behind Emanuel Macron. A similar scenario played out in 2002, the last time Jean-Marie LePen, father to Marine LePen and founder of the Front National, came second during the first round of that year’s presidentelles.
However, we wish to warn those with faint hearts that Marine LePen should not be shrugged off until the elections are over; fully over. This is because, though some consider her and her party, extreme-rightist, which is shorthand for racist nationalism, Marine LePen speaks for the many frustrated and angry French people.
Remember, at about this time last year, many people thought Donald John Trump was just another playboy out to test his popularity among American voters. Today, everybody knows who the president of the USA is. To this day the US pollsters, are still scratching their bald heads to find out why something that had worked for years turned out to be mere voodoo prediction. So, be wary of les sondages, as polls are called here.
We are still lodged in our Cite Universitaire Internationale in the 14th Arroundissement. We are truly love it here. We are becoming a great attraction too, particularly because we are always together, like sheep with a ruthless shepherd.
Last night, Jean-Philippe made a presentation on Malawi titled Malawi: A Truly African Tragedy in the main auditorium of Radio France Internationale.
“You may be aware that I went to Africa on an assignment for the International Geographic. I was there to investigate where the Reverend John Chilembwe was buried after he was killed by fellow Nyasas, as Malawians were called during the British occupation of that beautiful country.
“The people I met in Malawi made me feel so much at home in their country that I even forgot about my assignment. Together we travelled the length and breadth of that small but attractive country. My friends are all here sitting together in the gallery like typical timid Malawians,” he said turning towards us in the gallery, where we were cuddled.
“In Malawi people work very hard. The tragedy is that they earn nothing because they are paid virtually nothing for their hard work. Without defending theft of public resources in that country, the system encourages corruption by underpaying and, yet, overtaxing its people.
“Here in Europe, there in Asia and there in America, we subsidise the lives of the poor but in Malawi nothing of that sort, no social security exists. Even worse, water, milk, electricity, bread and air are all taxed in Malawi.
“Tragically, Malawians are very good at spending whatever little they earn. They drink a lot, too. Sometimes, they drink until the last Euro goes only to realise they have nothing to pay for a bag of maize.
“The saddest lesson I have learnt is that Malawians have no health insurance. Most will argue that they don’t have money for that. And I understand them but I don’t understand why they invest so much in the afterlife. Every owner of every church in Malawi is successful and rich because members pay without any grudge. And the churches are all full every weekend. And the members don’t even ask for statements of accounts,” he paused to sip from his glass of water.n
