Greetings from the Munda wa Chitedze Farm where I relocated from the hustle and bustle of your city. Here peace, and only peace, reigns supreme and we are happy. Unlike you, town folk, we don’t suffer peacefully in concrete jungles, we reign peacefully.
You see, Dear Diary, the campaign period is getting hotter by the day. Politicians are busy garnering for votes from the villagers surrounding the farm.
They are promising to give us bridges even where there are no rivers at all. When we ask them about that, they say they will bring the rivers as well.
This other one came to us saying once he wins, he will ensure that he that has three dogs, he will get two and give them to those that do not have. We do not how that will pan out here.
Such a campaign message would work well if some voters from Mulunguzi in Chilomoni would be coaxed to vote for a candidate claiming they would take two German shepherd dogs from a Namiwawa resident who has three and give them to the have-nots like him in that constituency.
At the Munda wa Chitedze Farm, we are normally tempted to compare the campaign period to a time when a man wants to win over a woman by promising a better and softer life. Nothing is sweeter than empty campaign promises, not even stolen honey!
Usually, men who promise the moon deliver muuni wa masekera when they win over the woman. Why preach to the converted?
You see, the Chilomoni people may be looking forward to an equal distribution of wealth from their Namiwawa neighbours, to the extent of raising similar dogs, but how true that will come to pass is a dialectical matter that will never be sorted out completely until the end of times.
Dear Diary, we at the Munda wa Chitedze Farm will not compare this particular campaign period to the promises suitors make in trying to win love. We will leave the issue of promises of better dog breeds to the people of Chilomoni from the people of Namiwawa for themselves. We have other issues to think about.
It is these campaign promises and lies that have kept us back since the early 90s when calls to bring back democracy were being propelled. Malawi has always been on a campaign trail, leaving no room for meaningful development.
For us, the campaign trail reminds us that mom is the best cook, she does not have to proclaim that fact. It comes out naturally that Onamoyo’s dishes are the best where we come from. Nothing tastes better.
No matter, she never told us that Onaliyera’s nkhwani is worse. She only told us that we should never eat there. That she did by ensuring that bowa bomwebu should be the most succulent in the homestead.
But then, you see, it would be weird to see a son of the village claiming their mother is the worst cook when they eat nothing but her food. With a mouthful of mum’s food, only an insane son would go about the streets telling one and all his mom is the worst cook in the village.
Dear Diary, whatever you do with this bit of data is up to you. We care less about it!
You see, the Chisankho Watch, a coalition of civil society organisations on elections, has shown us that while political parties are trying to prove to us that their dishes are the best, the means to that declaration has come with a price. There have been pockets of violence, abuse of State resources, use of foul language and a spate of other electoral ills in the campaign trail that started on July 14 and ends on September 14.
The idea of moms being the best cooks transcends politics. It is deeper in religion. Because our mum’s Shinto dishes appear to be the best, we feel the Mormon food prepared by our neighbours’ mothers can save them better.
As Chisankho Watch exposes, some Muslim leaders in Mangochi were calling on their faithful to vote for only someone from their faith. It may not have been recorded in the coalition’s report, but some Christian leaders depart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to propel the strange message that only believers can save them better.
The question of mother being the best cook has cultural connotations around it as well. Because we have grown up appreciating the ntandaza our mothers in Thyolo prepare, we are more apt to believe that matoki prepared by our friend’s mother in Karonga is far from being a savoury dish.
Which is why, as the Chisankho Watch report exposes, some traditional leaders in Kasungu are calling on their subjects to vote only for candidates of a party associated with the cultural norms and believes in the area. Where culture and politics intertwine, they will never tell you, Dear Diary.
We have grossly remained under developed because the notion that our mother’s dish is the best is so deeply ingrained in our society. By the way, why are we still indicating our home villages in resumes and CVs?
Like it or not, the General Election this year is more about the belief that our mother’s dish is the best. This is more spelt out in the way the campaign trail is unravelling.
This has led to the creation of dangerous no-go zones as the Chisankho Watch found in Neno, where violence erupted from such divisive notions.
Dear Diary, we may not be making sense today. But here at the Munda wa Chitedze Farm proclaim that, after all, mom’s dish is not always the best.
Like politicians, we at the Munda wa Chitedze Farm promise we will expound more on this next week
