On extravagant departures

Greetings from the Munda wa Chitedze Farm where I relocated from the hustle and bustle of your city. Nothing but peace and harmony reigns supreme here. As we speak, the villagers have been discussing a clip from the South African TV channel eNCA mocking President Peter Mutharika’s departure for a private visit to the rainbow nation.

The clip, captioned ‘Farewell or Inauguration Ceremony’, pokes fun at the flamboyance and grandiose in Mutharika’s departure. The anchors wonder why spend so much on the departure and in sharp contrast show South Africa’s leader Cyril Ramaphosa leaving the country in a simple farewell to a few people. Even the controversial former Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi picked up the cue and wondered how so much money can be spent on the farewell when the country is in a quagmire of economic and social upheavals.

Dear Diary, at the farm, we have no arguments against the President leaving on a ‘private visit’ but the point is clear that the pomp that characterises these departures and arrivals are questionable. You see, during such ceremonies top government officials, paramount chiefs, party followers and others line up to say their adieus. The attachment to such events begs many questions.

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What is even worrying is that while in South Africa, a picture is circulated of the President and the First Lady Gertrude Mutharika relaxing in some lounge with the Zimbabwean Wicknell Chivayo. The President has all the rights to associate with whoever, but Chivayo has a history of taking photos with each and every President who ascends to power in Africa. What happens beyond these photo shoots is beyond the power of the villagers to fathom.

But then, we hear Chivayo just laid a pledge of $1 million to Madame Mutharika’s Beam Trust and cleanliness endeavour. This is great charity if you ask the villagers? But then, who will stand to benefit more from these donations?

Dear Diary, the President very ably said that every public place must be kept clean and that efforts towards the endeavour should be taken seriously. For starters, that means bins in every school, hospital and skips for every market. So, who will supply these?

If local entrepreneurs will be engaged, well and good. It can’t be surprising to see that we will see some dubious companies supplying the materials at bloated prices. As a point of departure, it is our hope that more sense will be made so that our hospitals are improved. Not so long ago, journalists from different media houses teamed up in an effort that brought out the rot in public hospitals, where some patients were denied treatment because they were not paying up.

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