Discussing the shooting of Mphwiyo

I have resisted the temptation to talk or write about the Mphwiyogate because it is just confusing. If I had jumped on the bandwagon and thought being relevant meant commenting on current events, then I would have found myself on the right side of history and on the wrong side the following day. What I mean is that one day the newspapers describing Mphwiyo as the Ivy League ambassador against corruption. The next days the same newspapers were branding him as a victim of a gruesome shooting but not on grounds that he was fighting corruption. Who knows what comes out tomorrow?

Now you may ask whether I will keep my mouth shut forever in this Mphwiyogate. It really depends on a number of things. Firstly, when clarity dawns on the Republic, I may speak. Secondly, when it becomes clear that I add something reasonable to the discussions, I will speak. Thirdly, when I am pretty convinced that I am right in what I write, I will speak. Presently, however, what I know is that this country would do well to change its national anthem from what we have to Charles Sinetre’s song from Chidiso Mumtolomo album.

I am talking about the song: Amadikira.  If you have not heard about this song, find it and listen to it over and over again. The song summarises the problems that this country has faced over and over again but fails to change. We wait until the problem is so big and then we can’t still correct the deficiencies that we are already clear about.

Let me move on to things I feel comfortable writing about. In a previous article, I presented pictures that have stuck in my mind.  Today, I want to talk about images that have stuck in my mind. One image concerned three people, President Kamuzu Banda walking to the saluting dais and behind him were army commander Melvin Maluda Khanga and Inspector General of Police Mc J. Kamwana PPM. As the officers in uniform walked behind Kamuzu on this day, they were talking to each other. They presumably were too comfortable to the extent that they were many metres behind the commander-in-chief up to a point that Kamuzu stopped walking and looked back at the generals. Both realised the problem and hurried forward.

We do not know what General Khanga and Kamwana were discussing. However, it is clear Kamwana and Khanga were close to each other. They were so close that my friend Peter Khanga, son to General Khanga, is married to Kamwana’s daughter. Maybe on that day the parents were trailing Kamuzu, they were talking about bride price or chinkhoswe. And they did not want the commander-in-chief to eavesdrop.

The other images I remember are what used to happen during the annual “Poppy  Day” events in the 1980s. Depending on whether Kamuzu was, regional events would be presided over by Robson Chirwa in North, Louis Chimango, Kapichira Banda, Aaron Gadama, Maxwell Pashane in the Centre and Edward Bwanali in the South.