STATE HOUSE—MALAWI
PRESS RELEASE—APRIL 10, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MADONNA'S CLAIMS, DEBATE AND STATE
HOUSE RESPONSE
Claims and misgivings have been
expressed by Pop Star, Madonna and her agents, against the Malawi Government
and its leadership for not giving her the attention and courtesy that she
thinks she merits and deserves during her recent trip to Malawi.
According to the claims, Madonna feels
that the Malawi Government and its leadership should have abandoned everything
and attended to her because she believes she is a music star turned benefactor
who is doing Malawi good.
Besides, in the feeling of Madonna, the
Malawi Government and its leadership should have rolled out a red carpet and
blast the 21-gun salute in her honour because she believes that as a musician,
the whiff of whose repute flies across international boundaries, she
automatically is candidate for VVIP treatment.
For not receiving the attention and
the graces that she believes she deserved, Madonna believes someone, not lesser
in disposition than the President's sister, Mrs. Anjimile Mtila-Oponyo, has
been pulling the strings against her following their earlier fallout bordering
on a labour dispute.
State House has noted these claims and
misgivings. State House has followed the debate incidental to these claims with
keen interest, and would wish to respond as follows to put the record straight:
1. Neither the President nor any official
in her government denied Madonna any attention or courtesy during her recent
visit to Malawi because as far as the administration is concerned there is no
defined attention and courtesy that must be followed in respect of her.
2. In any case, even if the defined
parameters of attention and courtesy existed in respect of Madonna, the
liberties of discretion to give or not to give that attention or courtesy would
ordinarily and naturally remain the preserve of the host. Attention or courtesy
is never demanded.
3. Granted, Madonna has adopted two
children from Malawi. According to the record, this gesture was humanitarian
and of her accord. It, therefore, comes across as strange and depressing that
for a humanitarian act, prompted only by her, Madonna wants Malawi to be
forever chained to the obligation of gratitude. Kindness, as far as its
ordinary meaning is concerned, is free and anonymous. If it can't be free and
silent, it is not kindness; it is something else. Blackmail is the closest it
becomes.
4. Granted, Madonna is a famed
international musician. But that does not impose an injunction of obligation on
any government under whose territory Madonna finds herself, including Malawi,
to give her state treatment. As stated earlier in this statement, such
treatment, even if she deserved it, is discretionary not obligatory.
5. It should be put on record that Madonna
did not come to Malawi at the invitation of the President nor her government.
In other words, she was neither the guest of the President nor of her
government.
6. For all that is known, she came to
Malawi like any other visitor that feels like coming to Malawi. Such visitors
don't have to meet with the President and are never amenable to state attention
or graces.
7. If the argument is that because she is
an internationally renowned star, and, therefore, Madonna believes she deserved
to be treated differently from other visiting foreigners, it is worth making
her aware that Malawi has hosted many international stars, including Chuck
Norris, Bono, David James, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville who have never
demanded state attention or decorum despite their equally dazzling stature.
8. Among the many things that Madonna
needs to learn as a matter of urgency is the decency of telling the truth. For
her to tell the whole world that she is building schools in Malawi when she has
actually only contributed to the construction of classrooms is not compatible
with manners of someone who thinks she deserves to be revered with state
grandeur. The difference between a school and a class room should be the most
obvious thing for a person demanding state courtesy to decipher.
9. For her to accuse Mrs. Oponyo for
indiscretions that have clearly arisen from her personal frustrations that her
ego has not been massaged by the state is uncouth, and speaks volumes of a
musician who desperately thinks she must generate recognition by bullying state
officials instead of playing decent music on the stage.
10. For all that is known, Mrs. Oponyo has
never been responsible for arranging state meetings with foreigners who are
looking for those meetings. If Madonna was indeed a VVIP and a regular guest of
State Governments as she wants to be seen and treated, she would have been
familiar with procedures that have to be followed to get such meetings. They
don't happen by simply sneaking into a country whose President and Government
you scarcely desire to meet.
11. Even if Madonna followed the
procedures to have her meetings with the President or government officials, the
administration reserved all its rights to grant the meetings or not.
CONCLUSION
It must be noted that the President,
Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda and her Government are ready to welcome any
philanthropist seeking to assist in improving the welfare of the people of
Malawi knowing that Her Excellency, herself, is a known philanthropist. However,
acts of kindness must always remain as such; they must not smack of blackmail.
In addition, let philanthropists not hold to ransom the President and any
official of her Government because they showed some kindness to any Malawian.
CONTACT
Tusekele Mwanyongo
STATE HOUSE PRESS OFFICER
