The good, the bad, and the downright ugly of 2022 Pt. II
By Janet Karim
Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I mybrother’s keeper?’ — Genesis 4:9
The good news out of 2022 is that the United Kingdom now has a King, US President Joe Biden hosted (first time in 8 years) African leaders, and Argentina emerged as winners of the 2022 World Cup. The bad news is that Queen Elizabeth II, for a long time, the face of the UK, passed away, as did Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Uncle Dick Malawi’s former photojournalist Uncle Dick Milanzi, so have relatives.
While the good and the bad, mix and mingle, they balance each other out, however, the down right ugly of 2022 was really just that — down right ugly.
internationally, the European Union’s deception in the post-Cotonou agreement that if sinned as is turns 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations into its puppets along with its questionable push for unacceptable foreign notions that push for abortion, gay rights, and comprehensive sexuality education to minors. All these under the guise of human rights.
The world can accept the western nations to be champions of human rights when their borders open equally for refugees from all countries (not just from nations where it’s citizens are caucasian.
At the World Cup in Qatar, gay rights activists attempted to shame the Arabic nation as anti- human rights. Where is the tenet of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do?”
Again if the western countries are champions of human rights, they should respect the laws of laws, values, and cultures of other nations.
Locally things are really bad in Malawi, and my people must do a retake, total factory recall of what it means to be and how to be a Malawian. On three scores Malawians everywhere, we are failing in the act of being a Malawian.
The police, notorious over the years of being puppets of and prone to submission to even the lowest official from ruling party, succumb to these party zealots: they have intimidated ordinary Malawians, arrested people including the Vice President His Honor Rt. Honorable Saulos Chilima, a female official (Director of Anti-Corruption Martha Chizuma) arrested in the middle of the night ( who was forced to dress in front of male police officers), and stopped government officials doing their jobs because a politician said to prevent the government person from doing his job.
To the police, we say please change your operating manual: you work for the people of Malawi not a few misguided, political party operatives that are not even on government payroll.
The political musical chairs politicians (who have been members of every political party, when such party has its leader at the state house, please stop your noise! Such move-abouts as Hophni Makande, a member of the MCP, was heard blabbering about Chakwera being in power until 2030.
In case the likes of Malango and other MCP zealots, please remember the current government is a Tonse Government made up of nine political parties. There is no “life president” at the state house, so the party zealots must stop their noise clamoring for attention.
Politicians behaving badly, are unwittingly breeding village vigilantes that have these past years thrown stones at a presidential motorcade, chanted “wakuba” as the Vice President’s motorcade is passing, and lately villagers uprooting the President’s maize in his farm in Mangochi.
This is the time for some police action. There has been none. In such situations, malawi police are missing in action (MIAs).
Sad, corruption is rampant in Malawi. As a people, we need to do a stock-taking exercise, where we agree as a people to stamp out call out and uproot corruption in low and high places. And it the UK government is a steward of the camp fighting corruption, they should shave Sattar’s gains (rent from 100 houses in the UK) and pour into Malawi development projects, medicines in hospitals, infrastructure development in the energy sector.
Lastly, this is a call to Malawians everywhere, stop hating your country and your fellow Malawians! Anywhere you find Malawians, when the subject is about Malawi, that 365 mile long and 52 mile wide plot of land in Southern Africa, almost all Malawians will have an lunar or two of scorn to pour on the soil.
It really is a miracle that Malawi still exists, with all the self-inflicting wound daggers Malawians have about their country. There are enough people, with the other hidden agendas who manufacture information about our 365-52 plot of land, that’s are blaring from international corridors all the negatives one can confuse up.
As a nation, let all Malawians stop the self-hatred, stop pouring scorn on country, a developer and nurture a love for Malawi.
Let us offer solutions for what is going wrong in our country, we must resist the temptation of joining the fray of the prophets of doom. We should not add more wood to the fire on our nation.
Every Malawian must remember if people either working in Malawi, or discussing Malawi, don’t like Malawi or don’t have positive things to say about Malawi, if they don’t believe in us, if they have a stockpile of negatives about our land, let us ask them “what are you doing here?” “Why don’t you go where things are right?” Or “Please talk about other things, not my country.”
Malawians should in this new year invest in a course in pride for one’s country. Malawians must defend our country, it’s all we’ve got; everywhere else we are foreigners just like the Hebrews were in Egypt.
Happy New Year!
