On October 30 last year, 26 days after Peter Mutharika was sworn in as the seventh Malawi president, he appointed a 24-member Cabinet. Patricia Wiskies was appointed minister Youth, Sports and Culture.
100 days in office, we look at what his guardian of youthful horizons, heritage, traditions and games of motion’s performance in office.
Upon her introduction as the minister looking after arts and culture, she did not waste time, but went straight into business of familiarising herself with the needs of her ministry.
On her first day in office, Wiskies told senior government officials that she planned to “continue where my predecessor left and to achieve more”.
She has so far looked into the issues of social media monetisation in Malawi, noting that content creators in neighbouring countries are able to earn a living on social media while in Malawi that is yet to be achieved.
“We are working in collaboration with the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority [Macra] to make monetisation possible,” she said without elaborating further.
During her first Parliament address as a minister, Wiskies told parliamentarians that despite having a rich and diverse cultural heritage, the arts sector continues to suffer from inadequate investment, which is hindering its potential for job creation and national branding.
“Our creative industries such as music, film, visual arts, crafts, fashion and performing arts remain underdeveloped,” she said.
To address some of the challenges, she disclosed that her ministry plans to engage the private sector as a potential source of financial assistance.
Culture
Within her first days in office, the minister also attended a number of cultural events, including the Gonapamuhanya ceremony, the annual festival for the Tumbuka people held at Bolero in Rumphi.
She said cultural festivals bring people together where they share traditional values, adding that her ministry plans to heavily use culture to promote Malawi to the outside world.
Commitment to promote historical sites
The minister said during her tenure, her ministry plans to support historical sites across Malawi to become eco-tourism and cultural attractions.
She said this can help the country prosper economically if developed in line with the National Cultural Policy.
“We consider the development of such sites as a cornerstone towards turning our country to prosperity because more tourists will be visiting them, boosting our economy,” said Wiskies.
Arts associations’ promotion and development
The ministry has also engaged leadership of various creative groups and associations to map the way forward.
In their first meeting, Wiskes said her ministry wants to work with the leadership of the associations to come up with a national arts award event at the end of the year which will then become a wholesome annual gathering.
Wiskes said though there are funding challenges, the arts sector should endeavour to source money elsewhere and hold the award event.
“We have 11 months to host this arts award ceremony with zero-budget from the government. I believe we can do it and do it successfully,” she said.
On National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec) functionality
The minister said though the Nahec law was passed, it is yet to be functional.
She then said her ministry will engage the government to provide funding for the functionality of Nahec.
As Wiskes, continues with her job, it is however, clear that she also had a good chunk of her time concentrating on sports and youth.
