This and That

On urban blackout party!

Jah people, where was preparedness when Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) switched off the highly publicised Urban Music Party (UMP) and left fuming misfits throwing stones and broken bottles on stage last Saturday?

I abstained from the dimmed party at the forsaken Blantyre Cultural Centre in protest to the pettiness and recycled vibe urban music represents nowadays.

Besides, when former secretary for the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Fletcher Zenengeya, said BCC can only host events at organiser’s risk the unsaid warning was loud and clear: Even fans and performers are not safe.

Mishaps are bound to happen at the centre which was wantonly abandoned and ransacked for two years as government struggled to convert its K300 million buying price into dollar bills. Until now, the vandalised venue has had no brick refurbished or electrical button replaced although government allocated K200 million for its makeover in the 2011/12 budget.

Sad, BCC’ has become a wailing monument holding Rachael Mazobwe-Zulu’s ministry blameworthy for relegating entertainment, arts and culture to a mere justification for the jobs and salaries they boast.

But the bulk squarely stops at UMP organisers’ doorstep for failing to prepare for the most expected setback—power blackouts.

For decades, Escom has been stumbling “towards power all day, everyday” and “load-shedding”, meaning “power here today, there tomorrow!” When electricity suppliers begin acting like some power of darkness, events organisers ought to start forearming themselves with backup generators.

It’s bothersome to imagine why UMP makers—Ndefeyo (who gifted us with Maskal Piksy, Armstrong and other topflight musicians in the past three years) and Prime Time Media—couldn’t get right the basics that drunken wedding deejays and pub proprietors mastered 10 years ago.

Read the news, even President Joyce Banda, who recently backed the cultural policy to shake up the stunting movie industry, dreams about days without blackouts.

Is the end of dark nights nigh? I remain a doubting Jim. Even former president Bakili Muluzi promised as much power when the shelved cultural policy was first drafted nearly 20 years ago!

Today, a show without power backup is nothing.

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