Greetings from the Munda wa Chitedze Farm where I relocated from the hustle and bustle of your city. Peace, and only peace reigns supreme here.
Some villagers have been coming around the farm complaining about the rising price of sugar. The price of sugar officially is up. Those who have been hoarding the commodity will now flood the market for more profits!
Trade minister Vitumbiko Mumba’s visits to some warehouses showed that some merchants were hoarding the commodity. There is heavy suspicion on the farm that there must be heavy collusion between some elements within the producer’s backyard and the merchants. How else do you hoard such large amounts of sugar without having inside information that you will make a killing when the price goes up?
But we are not here to sing praises for the visitations to shops and warehouses. The wish at the Munda wa Chitedze Farm is that officers under Minister Mumba should be replicated by officers under the Trade ministry.
So you see, while we were listening to the St Pius Catholic Church choir’s song, Yesu Wauka, some villagers brought us the tidings that Roman Catholic bishops had issued another Lentern Pastoral Letter. This is where the choral music rang true for those of us on the farm. Somewhere it goes: Koma atichotsere chimwalachi ndani?
Well, the bishops based the pastoral letter on the story of the three women who were the first to visit Jesus Christ’s grave after he was crucified, died and buried. Their worry was who would roll the stone from the grave.
The venerated bishops make it clear that today Malawi faces many rocks that need to be rolled away for all to see the glory. The rocks of corruption, nepotism, utter thievery, fraud, cronyism and so much more are separating us from the splendor we are supposed to be in.
Look, the bishops gave us a Mene Mene Tekel Urphasin feeling of our leaders. Not without cause, especially when you realise that Lazarus Chakwera, Peter Mutharika and Joyce Banda have all been tried at the presidency. You would think that this measure can’t be spread further, but wait Dalitso Kabambe once held the Reserve Bank of Malawi position while Kondwani Nankhumwa was once the Leader of Opposition.
Remember, Chakwera rose from being leader of opposition to become President.
So, the Catholic Bishops have given us the tape measure or scale to find who to vote for. In their reasoning, they advise those of us on the farm to choose the lesser evil, yes mtsogoleri wa bolankoni.
Dear Diary, look at the few parameters the bishops set for a good leader. They should be decisive. On the other hand, they should do more for the country, not for their own good and that of their relatives. Further, they should listen more to the voice of reason than those close to them!
A tall order, indeed. Even by setting the minimum standards, the leaders are wanting, like Nebuchadnezzar of old.
So you see, at the Munda wa Chitedze Farm we are just waiting for July 14 when the official campaign opens and we will be hearing the real gibberish about what politicians think about each other.
It is a fact that the pastoral letter could have taken a different tone and approach if Saulos Chilima, (may his soul rest in peace) was alive. Like it or not, have you not seen how all politicians are aligning themselves to the Chilima effect in one way or the other? It is now, only now, how clear it is that we lost a game changer who put not much effort for his cause to be known and felt.
Dear Diary, I keep telling you that the chitedze we cultivate at the farm is raw material for tear gas. We are intending to cancel our contract with our client because it appears they are supplying to the Malawi Police Service which doesn’t know how to properly use tear gas.
By the way, in any of the police trainings, are they ever taught that tear gas is one of the weapons the Amnesty International says are grossly used to quash free speech, assembly and association?
For that matter, how far does the police training contain matters concerning crowd control in riots? I am asking because it appears the training contains more on how to throw around tear gas canisters. The ‘where’ is no matter for them.
You see, the videos of patients at the hospital gasping for air from tear gas brings tears to the eyes. The clips of little school girls being carried by their friends is hallowing.
Who will stop the tear gas-mongering police officers? Who will pump sense in their heads that tear gas is not a cure for common colds that they should be throwing them around in hospitals. Neither is it a mosquito repellant that they should spray in schools.
Tear gas si mankhwala a nsikidzi to spread at the market square, chonde!
