A Political Parties Act for Malawi?

I think there are over 20 if not 35 political parties in Malawi, the problem is some are not even active. Some are owned by people who are in reality members of other parties but their ‘parties’ are still recognized as parties by the registrar of political parties.

Should there be sense in all this nonsense?

Should political parties that do not hold conventions, for example,  be de-registered? Should Malawi legislate for party activities such as financing, election of leaders etc in Malawi?

I spoke to several high flying names on the issue.

Dr. Henry Chingaipe started

 (Henry is a Malawian scholar who was the first successful nomination to the Commonwealth Scholarship Association by the IPPG (Research Programme Consortium for Improving Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth), after having worked on a research project based in Malawi with Adrian Leftwich, co-authoring a paper on 'The politics of State-Business Relations in Malawi'. The title of Henry's Ph.D. is 'Institution Formation, Maintenance and Change: the Politics of State-Business Relations in Malawi'.):

 Bright Mhango: What is your take? Should there be a law regulating how parties operate (Political Parties Act, for example)?

Dr. Chingaipe: I agree entirely with the proposal some activities of political parties must be regulated by law. The key issue to remember is that in democratic theory and practice, political parties are expected to be agents of democratisation. Given that political parties give regimes their character, it is important to regulate some activities of political parties especially those that are central to democratic values such as leadership selection, political financing and a few others.

I am a staunch advocate for a Political Parties Act which should establish a reasonable, democratic legal framework for political parties. So far, political parties have been left to their own devices and have essentially been captured by small elite that have treated them as personal fiefdoms. This has seriously affected the deepening and broadening of democratic ethos in politics.

The evidence since 1994 suggests clearly that our political system is on its way to becoming an entrenched defective democracy largely because of acute shortage of democratic practice in political parties. Regulating political parties or aspects thereof is not an alien idea. One country that offers good precedent in terms of a Political Parties Act is Germany and there are a few others. In Malawi the intention is not new either.

 The 1993 Political Parties Act has in its title the words ‘registration’ and ‘regulation’. Unfortunately, the Act stops at dealing with matters around registration and says nothing of substance with respect to ‘regulation’.

However, I do not agree with the proposal that failure to hold a convention should automatically lead to de-registration of the party. If there should be a single factor that leads to de-registration, my view is that that factor should be failure of the party to field candidates in a general election. This is because political parties exist to contest for political power and the only way to do that in a democratic system is to participate in an election by fielding candidates. A party that does not field candidates therefore loses the reason for its existence. It simply becomes an interest group that fits in another category of  organisations other than political parties.

Mhango: What would be the merits (or demerits) of such legislation?

Dr. Chingaipe: The merits or demerits of regulating aspects of political parties will depend on the substance of the actual provisions of the law. However, a general standard is that the provisions should be couched in a way that protects the democratic values especially in so far as they accord the people full rights within parties; promote accountability and transparency and compel decency and integrity in the practice of partisan politics.

Mhango: What other blights do our political parties have that can be legislated for?

Dr. Chingaipe: There are quite a number of issues. These include the holding of annual party conferences (conventions), political financing, candidate selection, defections (and anti-defections) and many others that a systematic study can bring out.

Mhango: Some people would say that conventions do not actually reflect democracy in the party, is this true for Malawi’s political parties?

Dr. Chingaipe: Of course conventions are not necessarily a good indicator of  the depth of democracy within a political party especially when the conventions can be manipulated in different ways depending on the agenda of the convention itself.

The key issue in Malawi is that whenever conventions have been held since 1994, the main agenda item has been to elect office bearers and that has been characterised with lots of undemocratic machinations for all the political parties.

It gives the impression that in so far as choosing party leaders, conventions have been used to legitimise choices that have been made outside the conventions and mostly in very undemocratic manner. So not all conventions are democratic in their outcomes.

 However, if conventions or party conferences become an annual obligation for political parties, they will be used to articulate policy positions and to demand accountability from the party leaderships as well from from the ‘parliamentary group’ of the parties etc. That will enhance democracy.

Mhango: How can we make sure that parties have representative and free and fair conventions?

Dr. Chingaipe: My view is that representation at party conventions should be left to political parties themselves depending on their structures. The Political Parties Act can only set the standard but party constitutions would spell out clearly how they would meet the standard.

I also asked Billy Mayaya, human rights activist

(Billy came to prominence when he was recruited as a Programme Facilitator for Church and Society, the Human Rights and Advocacy department of the Church of Central African Presbyterian, the second largest denomination in Malawi after the Catholic Church)

Mhango: What is your take? Should there be a law regulating how parties operate (Political Parties Act, for example)?

Mayaya: The primacy of regulating political parties is paramount in ensuring that both inter and intraparty democracy flourishes. It will also lessen the prevalence of individuals forming parties just to soothe their wounded egos. Ensuring the legal framework focuses on regulation is therefore a critical development in my view.

Mhango: What would be the merits (or demerits) of such legislation?

Mayaya: In my view, there are more merits than demerits in regulating political parties in that they will encourage more popular participation, and lessen the propensity of party founders to view the parties they've formed as their fiefdoms.  

Mhango: What other blights do our political parties have that can be legislated for?

Mayaya: There is need to level the playing field in terms of party financing. It is an open secret that there is need to regulate party financing as current trends show that there is lack of transparency and accountability in terms of disclosure particularly by parties in government who have a multiplicity of sources including illicit ones 

Mhango: Some people would say that conventions do not actually reflect democracy in the party, is this true for Malawi’s political parties? Any names or examples?

Mayaya: Conventions are a microcosm of the wider general elections in that they help parties to internalise pluralism and supporters to exercise their choices. In the recent past we have had incidents where conventions took place with questionable outcomes eg cooked results. The voting public are aware of these anomalies. However, the more political parties subject themselves to a convention and to oversight to regulatory bodies the less the likelihood of manipulation. 

Mhango: How can we make sure that parties have representative and free and fair conventions?

Mayaya: there is need for stringent monitoring of political parties as well as continous enforcement of the law related to their regulation

I also spoke to Rafiq Hajat, Policy Analyst.

(Rafiq Hajat is a prominent Malawian civil rights activist. He was born in Blantyre. He is the director for the Institute for Policy Interaction in Malawi. He received a B.A. in political science at Saint Xavier College in India in 1975)

Mhango: What is your take? Should there be a law regulating how parties operate (Political Parties Act, for example)?

Hajat: There is already legislation on registration & regulation of political parties.

Mhango: What would be the merits (or demerits) of such legislation?

The law is applied selectively & thus becomes yet another weapon in the arsenal of the party in Hajat: power.

Mhango: What other blights do our political parties have that can be legislated for?

Hajat: Adherence to their constitutions, sources of & accounting for funding.

Mhango: Some people would say that conventions do not actually reflect democracy in the party, is this true for Malawi’s political parties? Any names or examples?

Hajat: Conventions are the fora where the roots of the party, the rank & file, have the opportunity to influence party policies & choose their leaders. Any obviation of the event would therefore constitute denial of their democratic rights and dilute the leadership's mandate.

Mhango: How can we make sure that parties have representative and free and fair conventions?

Hajat: By transparency & accountability at all levels

Mhango: Any other comment

Hajat: It is imperative for political parties to evolve with a sound ideological base, for they are the basic building blocks of a multi-party democracy & weak parties would therefore make a weak democracy!

Response

This did not impress Kamlepo Kaluwa leader of Malawi Democratic Party, which many describe as a briefcase party.

“I think people are arguing out of emotion, conventions need money, up to K40 million to gather people, eat and sleep to elect a leader, that money can be used for party mobilisation and helping many needy Malawians.

“What is the use of a convention if it changes nothing? Why hold a smokescreen convention where the leadership will not change, what do you get from that? To hell with conventions,” Bellowed Kalua.

Kalua then trashed Mayaya’s assertion that parties should be checked in the way they acquire party funding saying unless the money is coming from government, there is no justification for the state to pry into the private affairs of a party.

“It’s not practical, does a wife ask how much money a husband spend on beers, where is democracy then if the state is going to interfere with parties? Unless the money is coming from government, they can audit parties, but if its from private citizens with the party, there is no need,” said Kalua.

You have heard the others, What say you? 

'Norway feels responsible for climate change effects hitting Malawi'

The Royal Norwegian government says it feels responsible for the climate change that is affecting smallholder farmers in the country and has vowed to continue supporting efforts that mitigate the harsh effects climate change.

The remarks were uttered by Norway's Minister of International Development, Heikki Holmås ·at Khombeza in Salima where he signed for K6.5 billion grant from his government to National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (Nasfam).

“The grant is important because we feel responsible for the climate change that is happening and it's important because it gives higher yields to farmers for less labour.

M'baya exchanges documents with Holmas at the signing ceremony in Salima

“The grant aims at changing the way farming is done; making certain that you are protecting the soil, making certain that you get more nitrogen into the soil so you can use less fertilisation because its costly and to ensure better resilience in cases of drought,” said Holmås.

He however said the grant is not a payout for Norway to continue pollution; he said Norway will continue to reduce its pollution and urged African governments to confront Western governments to reduce their pollution.

“We have developed a strategy to reduce our carbon emission but at the same time we are obliged to support the countries that are feeling the strongest effects of climate change that is why we are in Malawi and that is why we are backing small holder farmers that are working together,” said Holmås.

He said Norway is supporting many sectors but said it is the smallholders that are feeling the effects of climate change the most making Norway double its investment in their climate robust farming efforts.

Nasfam Board Chair, Jackson M'baya hailed the Norwegian grant and promised to use the moneys as agreed in the MOU.

“As farmers, we understand the valuable role that development partners like the Government of Norway have in turning around our situations. We value the support towards home-grown solutions...like legume seed multiplication and production, irrigation and winter cropping,” said M'baya.

As of 2006 Africa only contributed 3.6 percent of the global carbon emission, Europe and North America are the major polluters and Holmås actually said one Norwegian emits about a 100 times more carbon than a Malawian.

Malawi should own the war on HIV or...

As part of World Aids Day coming up on 1st December, here is an issue Malawi should sit and listen to.

Emily Banda [not real name] is about 55. A grandmother of six, she had three children who are now dead, leaving her with the burden of looking after the grandchildren.

 Her skin is close to her bones and her eyes beam from deep inside her skull. It is a familiar story—Banda is HIV positive.

Gogo Banda flanked by her two friends - Whats their future?  

“I loved my deceased daughter so much that I cared less about her ailment and in the process of taking care of her during her sickness, I contracted the virus,” said Banda.

She discovered her condition after illness would not leave her a few months after burying her daughter. She is now three months on anti-retro-viral therapy (ART). She is not fully used to the drugs and she is feeling the effects of the powerful medicines.

Banda sits in a hut in Lilongwe’s Area 21 flanked by three other women who also carry the HIV virus. The reason their faces brighten up is that the life-prolonging medicines give them hope that they will see another day at least.

That could all change after 2014.

A crucial donor who buys most of the anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) for Malawi will no longer do so after 2014 and unless Malawi identifies another donor or buys the ARVs herself, HIV and Aids will ravage people such as Banda and take an enormous toll on the impoverished nation.

The revelation has been discussed in a resource mapping document prepared by the Ministry of Health and Clinton Health Access Initiative titled HIV Funding in Malawi: Key Findings from Resource Mapping, published on 18 September this year.

“55 percent of HIV funding in Malawi is at risk with the Global Fund grant ending in 2014,” warns the document.

The report says although the current grant will end in 2014, Malawi will have access to two years of funding that will maintain drug purchases for all existing patients which will allow for continued treatment, but with limited chances of being increased.

Banda and the other women that I assembled in Area 21 are worried by the spectre of a potential scaledown in the distribution of ARVs.

“ARVs gave us hope; we are now able to do manual labour to take care of our families because ARVs give us strength. Cessation of HIV funding would be killing the Malawi nation because we are not alone, there are many of us,” said one woman who does laundry in people’s houses for a living.

Another woman pointed to her pregnancy, saying despite having HIV, she can afford to bear a child because of the drugs.

“Recall the deaths that used to be there in the late 90s. ARVs give us a reprieve. If they stop giving people ARVs, the number of orphans will rise sharply. Imagine, we are already unhealthy with ARVs; how will life be without them?” she said.

The woman added that without drugs, stigma will come back as it will be easy to identify those with HIV.

Martha Kwataine, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, says it is time Malawi put ARV purchases in the budget.

Kwataine - lets act with speed

“The government must start with the forthcoming 2013/14 national budget to allocate resources for ART. That will be a way of weaning ourselves from donors. If we can start by allocating say K5 billion in the 2013/14 budget, that would go a long way than leaving the whole game to donors who sometimes impose unrealistic conditionalities to their aid.

“It’s high time Malawi began to show its commitment to allocating resources for ART,” said Kwataine.

Board chairperson of the National Aids Commission (NAC) Mara Kumbweza-Banda played down the gravity of the situation, saying Global Fund is not the only partner supporting Malawi in HIV interventions.

“Even if Global Fund withdrew today, we will be able to manage. We have other strong partners such as the United States Government, CDC and others,” said Kumbweza-Banda.

Kumbweza-Banda - Not worried

However, she acknowledged the need for Malawi to avoid relying too much on donors. Kumbweza-Banda said a resource mobilisation strategy is being drafted to that effect, but could not divulge details, saying the information will only be available when the strategy is ready.

She said independence cannot come overnight, arguing that Malawi is making strides in the fight against HIV and Aids.

Out of the $354 million (about K114 billion) that was channelled to fight all diseases in the 2012/13 financial year, 60 percent went to HIV. That is a staggering $212 million (about K70 billion).

The $212 million, which comprises money from the Global Fund, Health Resources and Services Administration, and UNAIDS, among others, will shrink to $117 million next year, $84 million in 2014-15 and remain the same $84 million in 2015-16 following the decreases in funding from Global Fund and others.

According to CHAI (clintonfund.org), the average cost of treating an HIV patient for one year in Malawi is $200 (K64 000).

Malawian Human Rights Activists Against Sexual Minority Rights, Imagine

Now you are about to read something I think is only unique to Malawi...i got this in an email from Billy Mayaya a very respectable and intelligent human rights activist in Malawi...the email comes in the wake of an alleged declaration by the country's justice minister and attorney general that there is a moratorioum on all anti-gay laws, such that its now almost not a crime to be gay in Malawi...

Here is the email intoto:

"We, the Concerned Citizens of Malawi, would like to express our concern over the government’s stifling of debate over the issue of Homosexuality in this country. We particularly cite the government’s recent unilateral decision to suspend anti-gay laws. We question this selective application of the law for the following reasons:

There are other laws such as that pertaining to the Death Penalty which still remain in force and yet have not been selected for suspension. We seriously question the Government’s reason for this selective bias.

There is no global consensus on the issue. In democracies like the United States, certain states such as Texas retain the Death Penalty and the Republican Party espouse traditional values as a matter of principle and oppose same sex unions. Yet, the Government of Malawi is taking a dogmatic approach and moving towards concluding on the matter without the participation of the general public.

We are aware that the subject of same sex relationships is contentious and Malawi should not be made the exception. There appears to be an invisible hand influencing the position of government on the matter Malawians are being stifled from engaging in debate on the matter As citizens of this country exercising their right to religious belief, we believe that Homosexuality runs counter to God's created order for the family, and that major religious texts contain no affirmation of homosexual activity.

We believe that homosexual conduct is out of harmony with God's purpose for human beings; and that it is in violation of religious and social norms and are aberrant and deviant behavior. In view of the above, we the Concerned Citizens of Malawi demand the following:

The Government of Malawi to immediately lift the suspension on Gay Law and encourage debate on the issue

The Government of Malawi desist from making unilateral decisions without the consent of the citizens in Malawi. Members of Parliament engage with their constituents before debating the issue in the National Assembly.

That the issue goes to a Referendum as a way of engaging the citizens of this country in this debate We the Concerned Citizens append our signatures to this petition in support of these demands:"

I agree with the authors on a few points...government should follow procedure, should respect law and there really needs to be debate on the issue...

What I dont agree with is the morality of the authors...are they human right defenders or clergy? What human rights are they defending if they disown gays? so somw human rights are not human rights?

If the minister did declare the moratorium, there are a few things that are worth lauding...so far in Malawi 6 in every ten people say homosexuality should remain a crime. If taken to parliament, the MPs would even go on to pass the death penalty against gays...you see, the issue is just like racism in the 1940 America...if issues of black rights were put to a vote, we would still have Jim Crow laws in place...you cannot put issues of minoroty rights to a ballot, the majority will crush the minority by effectively denying them their rights.

That is where an executive order comes in, Malawians do not knkw that gays are folks like everyone else, some evene think they do not exist in society...but science and society are constantly showing that gays are actually born gays and nothing can change them...so where are those people going to live?

These 'human right defenders' should know that, actually if they are versed in human rights theory, it should be in one of their 101 subjects...

I am on mobile so I cannot write much but am just wondering as to who will defend the people if the human rights defenders side with the oppressive system?

If human rights defenders quote the Bible as their guide, can they possibly protect the Muslim interests? do human rights not come first before denomination? I think I really am in Malawi...

Undule Mwakasungula, one of the Human Rights Defenders is obviously shocked and not party to the above irony...here is his Facebook status thread of ten hours ago...and check Reverend MacDonald Sembereka's comments...

Undule Mwakasungula wrote

I will never , never be part of any religion which promotes hate,hatred ,anger ,discrimination , homophobia , stigma ,gossips ,lies , misinformation !

MacDonald Sembereka commented

If the God others believe in is such homophobic them mine is different because mine is neither he or she,doesnt favour people because of sex or colour, is not as mean as we are,not selfish as we are, slow to anger and full of loving kindness. I beg to differ with those who assume the place of God and become judgmental of others when they are thieves, liers, adulterers and full of slanders and hide in the all mercifulness of God.
9 hours ago · Like · 1

Davie Maliro added

I heard one religious leader saying those that are of the same sex orientation are abnormal and they are not welcome into our sociaty, now my question is why do we welcome those that are physically challenged into our sociaty?, did our good God Jesus discriminate the physically challenged?.
8 hours ago · Like

Graciano Bwana-Lee Bwanali charged at Undule and Sembereka

Go straight to the point.. you are against religions that are against same sex marriages. But one day, someone wil have to answer. And all the benefits for the advocating of the same will be nowhere. MÜSAWUMITSÉ MTIMA, ZA PA DZIKO NDIZOKUTHA.
7 hours ago · Like · 1

Chimwemwe Mutambo mocked Sembereka

Koma Abusa lero mukapemphelesa kuti?
3 hours ago · Like

Lucky Crown Mbewe played sober

Abusa ambiri do not understand religion and so resolt into judging others. God is God of love regardless of whatever situations we are in so those who promote hate, homophobia, anger, evil and gossip will not not see God some day. Amen
2 hours ago · Like

Undule Mwakasungula chipped in

The Jesus Christ i know is of love ,care ,forgiveness ,support, Jesus who believes in hardworking , who creates heavenly on earth and no to wait for heaven after death ! The Jesus christ who co exists even of we are different in our thinking , orientation, colours, language etc. That's the Jesus Christ I will always follow !!!
2 hours ago · Like

Undule Mwakasungula

Graciano that's the misinformation we are talking about ???! Get the facts and help the nation !
2 hours ago · Like

Bright Mhango, thats me!

Just got a petition from your ranks and files of the cso bashing government for the 'moratorium'
2 hours ago · Like · Edit

Undule Mwakasungula replied

Bright ! Yes that's the debate we need to engage on but based on facts if they have any. ! Letd continue to facilitate that dialogue but a sober one with no emotions !
1 hour ago · Like

Bright Mhango, I argued on

Never seen human rights defenders chosing which rights to fight for...its as if we have our own Malawian version of doing things...
1 hour ago · Like · 1 · Edit

Undule Mwakasungula expounded

You can say that again Bright ! It's a shame ! As human rights defenders we want our rights to be protected and then we say rights of minorities should not be protected ? misplaced human rights defenders and it's so unfortunate indeed !
1 hour ago · Like

Undule Mwakasungula again

How can we be in the fore front to promote discrimination, stigma ,hate ,homophobia against vulnerable groups and yet we say we are HRDs ? How can HRDs be selective in which rights to protect ? We are really misplaced !
1 hour ago · Like

Interesting, huh?

Malawian slum conditions need attention or...

Rose Robert is only 20 but she already has sired three children, she is unqualified ad relies on a husband that sells chicken parts. She sits home all day waiting on her husband’s return. 

She sits in a mass of flies and right next to her toilet and her dump site. Her bathroom is a shack of strewn paper only just cordoning off would-be onlookers. The water that flows from the bath-shack is channelled into a pit that she doubles as a refuse pit.

The water plus the refuse join forces to produce sewage-like stench. It however does not bother her; she sits comfortably with her friend eating away from plastic plates placed on the dusty ground. The said ground in covered in feathers; feathers from the chicken her husbands slays.

Bin, Bathroom, Toilet, Playground - All in one place for Robert and neighbors

Her friend and neighbour, clasps a naked baby drapped in traditional bangles. She is herself is naked from waist up revealing her plus sized breasts. As she turns to pick up things, her breasts bang about in the October heat.

Robert’s house is about seven by five metres, it only has one bedroom. Electricity is out of the question, after all it is in Mtandire, one of the biggest slum ares in Lilongwe falling along the ranks of some areas of Kachere, Ndirande and Mbayani in Blntyre and Salisbury in Mzuzu.

To get to Robert’s house one has to negotiate tricky mazes, passages sandwiched by concrete and straw walls. Passages passing between drinking dens, toilets, in some cases one has to sift through clothes on drying lines and jump over water flowing from bathrooms.

It is like the Brazilian favelas, Mexican barrios and the Zinc ridden ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica. Many new comers to Lilongwe are told that areas like Mtandire house the city’s hardcore criminals and that the residents are violent by nature.

“It’s hard living here, the children sleep on the sitting room and we cannot afford visitors because we have no room. Water is hard to come by here, like in the last four days it hasn’t been flowing so we have been going to Area 47 to look for it,” said Robert.

Robert said the water question sometimes makes them wake up at three in the morning, just to fetch for it.

Her rubbish pit only has the fair garbage: feathers paper bags and some vegetable stems. The rest of the refuse is stacked in a sack and later thrown into Lingadzi River since no refuse collection services exist anywhere near Mtandire. 

Robert (Left) with her neighbour

The children of Mtandire happily play in the dust; innocently mingle with the red-eyed elders who have a thing for every drink achoholic. Many pubs in Mtandire are extensions of houses and thus a sizeable amount of  children are growing up with beer.

Their pals just a 20 minute walk away in Area 47 cannot find dust to play with even if they looked for it. All they have is tarred roads, sofas and Play Stations to play with. Their water system rarely dries up and garbage collectors from the City Council know the neighbourhood like their wives. 

The houses are bigger in 47 and the people in it richer. At the far end of Area 47 there are high walls obviously to keep out Mtandire residents, ,there are no through roads and the wall is almost standard like they agreed and as if they read about the Israeli wall that keeps out Palestinians.

Secretary of the Informal Settlement Network, Tony Golliati said living in the slums in this age is like living in Nyasaland, the pre-Independence Malawi.

“We have no water, no proper housing, when the rains fall it’s a mud puddle here and you can see how thin the byways are, when there is a funeral its hell to move a coffin out of this place, we wish we lived better lives. We hear government allocates money to people like us but we never see such money,” said Golliati.

He said there are about 18,000 people in Mtandire but with only one primary school, no secondary school a setup he feared is desinged to keep the poor forever poor.

Nation Publications Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mbumba Achuthan, who also attended the meeting and toured the slums could not hide her shock at the therein.

“Its amazing how just a road can divide people. The conditions here are appaling, no sewer system and I understand just across the river there is a bush but because rich people are building houses there, there will soon be electricity, water and good road networks,” said Achuthan.

As a media person, Achuthan said media should play an affective interactive role in the fight for slum dwellers.

“We need to take an interactive angle, where we take issues from the ground to the people who can tackle them and from people who can tackle them to the grassroots…also projects where we are not just reporting on what we see but also include the people’s voice into our products on radio and things like that,” she said.

Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CCODE) Executive Director Siku Phiri said unless Malawi starts adressing the issue now the future looks scary. She bemoaned the lack of funding and planning to check slums from spiraling out of control.

“Look at a town like Kasungu, it gets two million Kwacha from government what can a town with 50 thousand people do with two million?...but there is hope, we are not yet at the level of other countries like Kenya’s Kibera slums or South Africa.

Siku Nkhoma: We better plan

“We still have space to plan and we do not need big funding to do it, but there is no urgency to solve the problem,” said Nkhoma.

She said CCODE will continue negotiating government and helping the people in their quest to upgrade heir slums. 

Bizwick Gomba, 35 left Mazinga village in Madisi, Dowa this very year, he told Nation on Sunday that his pork business was sketchy in Dowa where unless Tobacco sold well, people did not buy enough to sustain him.

Gomba says in Mtandire life is better: he rakes in moneys daily from the pork; he lives in an iron-sheet house and says his children will grow up in town and know more things than in the village.

Until he arrived in town, Gomba was part of the 80 percent Malawians that live in the rural areas and figures indicate that by 2030, the trend will reverse, only 20 percent will be in the villages, the rest will be urban areas which are attractive in the way Lilongwe attracted Gomba.

The problem is, with no skills and no starting capital, will everyone sell pork? The answer is of course the makeshift homes like Mtandire, which depite standing for 50 years, has nothing standing that was built that long ago. 

Seven out of every ten people one meets in Malawi’s urban areas reside in informal settlements; that is about 1.7 Million Malawians living in Mtandire-type of settlemts, according to the Ministry of Lands and Housing.

Well, it seems there is a wind whispering concious voices in the favelas and shanty ghettos, on Wednesday slum dwellers from almost all districts in the country met at Mtandire and agreed that they are tired, not only of living in the concrete jungles but also of waiting on politicians to solve their problems.

The slum dwellers have since established a “Slum Upgrading Fund” to benefit the country’s urban poor.  The slum dwellers have engaged CCODE to use its expertise to be the fund’s secretariat but government representatives, the slum dwellers themselves and other interested partners will manage the fund.

“This fund will be capitalised through community contributions, funding partners, Malawians of goodwill; and government contributions. 

“We feel that demonstration our potency by starting off this fund should help us leverage more resources from other stake-holders and that we will have greater say on our priotities if we have a community driven fund and decisions are taken by ourselves,” reads a communique that the slum dwellers released at the end of their meeting.

The ‘slum’ dwellers will have to contribute 10 percent of the funding for the development project they want.

Nkhoma warned that the effects of ignoring the slums will later catch up with the rest of the city who only think that slums are full of vice and to be ignored.

Already there was no government representative at the Slum dwellers Indaba despite being invited and right now another Bizwick Gomba might be preparing to come to town and if the country continues ignoring them, we might as well buy that newcomer a gun because crime and vice may be his only way out.