My Diary
Someone must stop Mangochi madness
Dec 4, 2013
Karl Heinrich Marx, the 19th century revolutionary socialist, wrote something to the effect that religion is the opium of the masses.
The originating brains behind socialism as we know it today might have over dramatised the effect that religion has on the masses but I think in the final analysis Marx’s disdain for organised religion should not come as a surprise for a man who started as a protestant but died as an atheist, a non believer.
All in all, religion is inherently good as it restrains humankind from immorality and other vices with the promise of the eternal after life as the ultimate reward.
Religion only becomes a danger to the well-being of others when its adherents push boundaries beyond its frontiers too much to allow fundamentalism to take over.
The madness in Mangochi, where some yobs, hiding behind the facade of an otherwise peaceful religion of Islam, want to take the law into their hands and turn the lakeshore district into a bastion of intolerance and unnecessary fights, is an example of the bad use of the religious opium that violate the rights of others.
This is the issue at hand. A man was selling pork in a market in Mangochi. A group of misguided people, wearing the veil of religion, took it upon themselves to take the pork away from him and bury it where they fancied.
He exercised his rights and sued to get compensation and, to the shock of many, a misguided magistrate has denied him.
Meanwhile, just to underscore its raw anger, the group went on rampage last week damaging property of innocent people for reasons best known to itself. I fail to understand how a People’s shop was party to all this and why it was looted.
To add treason to the whole charade in good measure, the group also declared in a banner that Mangochi is an Islamic state where pork and other foods are banned forthwith.
But the last time I checked, Malawi was a democratic state founded on a constitution that places religious tolerance among its people at a premium.
It is not a problem that Islam does not permit its followers to eat pork, but it only becomes one when some people who claim to be religion’s true adherents would want to impose on non-Muslims the same dictates.
Today it is pork, what about tomorrow? Will it be alcohol? Will it be the banning of revealing swimming costume at the lake? Is this not recipe for chaos?
I expected the highest echelons of government and other society leaders to condemn this madness in the most unreserved terms as it violates the rights of others.
It must be remembered that this is not the first time that some people in Mangochi have clearly broken the laws of the land using religion and they have gone scot-free. Is it not only a couple of months ago when MBC TV cameras were confiscated from its crew for filming at a wrong place?
Instead of punishing it, government officials had to profusely apologise and the matter ended there and then. Those who illegally kept property that did not belong to them were left scot-free.
But this should be expected of our leaders this time. In the countdown to elections next year, their sights are firmly held on votes and not doing and saying the right thing.
As for the magistrate who denied the Mangochi pork seller compensation from those that took away his source of income, he is a disgrace for pandering to the whims of thugs hiding under an otherwise good religion to cause havoc in the district.
It is clear that his ruling had no constitutional basis which guarantees every Malawian in any part of the country to undertake a legal economic activity to sustain his or her life.
Make no mistake, this incident might appear simple and perhaps confined to Mangochi, but things had to begin somewhere for countries that are grappling under problems emanating from religious intolerance and fundamentalism.
Today, Nigeria is burning simply because a group of people, hiding under religion, decided to force everybody to adopt its funny beliefs that include rejection of education.
Because no sensible person could adopt such foolishness, today Boko Haram is a menace in that country that peace is now a rare commodity.
Malawi is generally an oasis of peace and religious tolerance. May it long continue but that can only be the case if pockets of religious intolerance such as the one in Mangochi are dealt with decisively by those entrusted with the responsibility.
I submit that so far the Mangochi lunatics have been dealt with kid gloves.
Someone must stop that madness for the sake of our country.
Kasakula koma zoti nkhumba ndiyoletsedwa m’baibulo ukudziwa.Ku exodus mulungu amamuuza mozes zodibwa ndi zosadibwa. Ngati ukumutengera paulo macholowe izo ndi zako ukapsya wekha.
iweyo simlembi wa news ai,koma iwe ndiwe mbusa wa church ina yake ndipo chalichi chake chopanda chilungamo,kapena zinakusangalasa kwambiri pamene asilamu amadyesedwa chinthu chonunkha paja? ngati zili choncho dara kuchipembezo chathu sichimafuna kusangalasa munthu what we care is only allah basi nt national constitution…b careful
The underlining problem here is the illiteracy of most yaos and moslems. Issues about Constitutionalism are way beyond them.
Can some of us peace loving Malawians help this pork seller to appeal the case for the good of mother Malawi. The magistrate has set a very bad precedent in Malawi. Lets come together before the magistrate make another mistake. By the way what is the Government saying. It is quiet because JB, the president is by birth a moslem
One man’s meat is one man’s poison! Ukapanda mano usamaswa phale! Malawi is a democratic country and each person is entitled to follow his/her teachings.Therefore, do not impose your religious beliefs and idelogies to other people.They are at liberty to follow what they believe. Mangochi is not a Moslem State! Can a small district within the Demacratic Nation claim to be Moslem State? Impossible! May someone school our fellow brothers in Mangochi about this. Religious intorerance is good to preserve for the name of peace!
To the Magistrate, did you consult your friends as to pass judgement? This was a sensitive issue and you needed consultation if at all Magistrates do. Find out if he is Mpemba graduate or Chanco!
veni vidi vinci!
Gontranoeh wa ku 4′ Clock
it should read, religious tolerance is good to preserve for name of peace. My apologies for the error!
Durell