Patrick Achitabwino articles

You might have had a wonderful literary dish of Ngugi wa Thiong’o served with his novels entitled The river between, A grain of wheat, Devil on the cross, Petals of blood, Matigari, a play I will get married when I want, and the drama: The trial of Dedan Kimathi. Take time now to read The Return, one of Ngugi’s few short stories; you will still enjoy Ngugi’s characterization and style.
It appears that Ngugi, the greatest writer to have come from the East and Central Africa as the East African Standard of 8 September 2002 calls him, likes testing some of his characters in short stories before bringing them onto a larger picture in a novel.
The English couple who feature in Goodbye Africa become the Thompsons in ‘A grain of Wheat.’ Joshua in The River Between is an extended character from the Village Priest. What more in The Return as the main character, Kamau, is the prototype for Gikonyo in A grain of wheat.
The Return showcases Ngugi’s attempt to expose the trauma suffered by the Kenya’s Gikuyu people, both as individuals and on a community level, during the period that the British declared a state of emergency as it was struggling to contain the Mau Mau uprising.
The story takes you on a long road of hope that ends in disillusionment, it goes with a reader through the labyrinths of betrayal, it exposes the expectations of a man who longs to meet his wife after a five year period of detention; the very woman a man had lived with for only two weeks before being arrested.
Going through the return one passes through the heart breaking experience of how other people can use the plight of others to satisfy their personal interests. When Kamau arrived home, eagerly looking forward to the embrace of his wife, his mother brings a bombshell.
The episode is explained as follows: ‘She was a good daughter,’ his mother was explaining. ‘She waited for you and patiently bore all the ills of the land. Then Karanja came and said that you were dead. Your father believed him. She believed him too and mourned for a month. Karanja constantly paid us visits… Then she got a child. We could have kept her. But where is the land? Where is the food? With land consolidation, our last security was taken away. We let Karanja go with her…’
The bottom line however is that Karanja, son of Njogu, had never been in the same detention camp with Kamau. The falsification of Kamau’s death was therefore a plot to get hold of Kamau’s wife.
Typical of Ngugi, he toes the theme line from the beginning of the story to the end. All talk is centred on Kamau’s journey from the prison to home, his hopes, his aspirations, and the encounters he came across on the way.

You will have a feeling along the way in the story that Kamau’s journey would end to the contrary of his expectations. At one point Kamau is shown meeting women of his village on the river who could not even respond to his greeting.
Ngugi artistically explains the scene: ‘Is it well with you?’ A few voices responded. The other women, with tired and worn features, looked at him mutely as if his greeting was of no consequence. Why! Had he been so long in the camp? His spirits were dampened as he feebly asked: ‘Do you not remember me?’ Again they looked at him. They stared at him with cold, hard looks; like everybody else, they seemed to be deliberately refusing to know or own him.
The Return can be classified as a historical piece of literature that traces the problems associated with war on cultural trends and life. The author, Ngugi wa Thiongo is a literary and social activist. He was once a distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine.
The Return is published in the Anthology of East African Short Stories edited by Valerie Kibera.

Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda can at best be described as the architect of Malawi’s socio-economic development. The country’s cream of professionals is beneficiaries of the magnificent educational foundations that Kamuzu built. To a great extent, Dr. Kamuzu Banda is to Malawi the godfather of the country’s infrastructural, economic, educational and political development.
Malawi can now better celebrate the day of its political icon through no any other means but the development and implementation of strategies that could at best sustain the legacy of Kamuzu Banda. One great component easily noticeable in Kamuzu’s legacy is the belief in high standards. A look at a number of infrastructural developments that Kamuzu spearheaded clearly states his vision. In terms of education, the Ngwazi believed in provision of high standards of education.
At present, the best thing we have to do is to conduct a soul search: are our educational standards living to the challenges that affect the socio-economic development of the nation? If the answer is no, then we have to go again to the drawing board, crop out all bad apples in the education system then implement a new system that will foster the growth of the country’s economy and social moral consciousness.
If the only best thing we can do as a nation is to have schools built only on paper with the money squandered in corrupt practices, the Kamuzu day would remain a mockery to us. We will have failed to live by the Kamuzu philosophy of developing the nation for the benefit of all and not the pockets of a few corrupt.
It is obvious that Kamuzu did set solid foundations for the growth of the country, be it economically or socially. Kamuzu had a good agricultural agenda with a vision to see his countrymen being food sufficient. The rice schemes had been a wonder for many years in the country. We have to sustain them in order to live the Kamuzu legacy. We can, with pride say that, in agriculture we have managed to build upon the solid foundations that Kamuzu did set. The fact that we developed a fertilizer subsidy project that has put Malawi on the map is a strong testimony that we are trying to live the Kamuzu legacy of providing food, beside clothing and shelter.
One thing most people would talk of Kamuzu is the hard working spirit that he instilled in the civil service and the general public as well. Kamuzu was well aware that with hard work Malawi could rise from the meshes of abject poverty into stardom. The big question is: fifteen years in the democratic dispensation can we still call ourselves the proud Malawians that work very hard for the development of our motherland?
How many times have our school pupils, the very future of our country, been sitting idle outside classrooms as teachers are reported to be running personal businesses or concentrate on teaching part time students? How can we justify the culture of some civil servants that is bent at attending one workshop to another day in day out not in the interest of development but to receive allowances? Why is it that to access some services in the public sector money has to exchange hands or else one will have to wait eternally to be served? Why have we lost our admirable workmanship identity, the very legacy that Kamuzu left with us?
It cannot be complete to talk of the Kamuzu legacy if we are to forget his political prowess. Though many other bad political issues were attributed to Kamuzu, it is worth noting that he shaped the political spectrum of this country. Kamuzu practiced the politics of development not the politics of self enrichment and self-aggrandizement. Kamuzu played the servant of the people not the lord of the people. It is out of such ideals that he was there to spearhead projects that entailed developing the country.
Certainly Kamuzu could have ably resisted the multi-partism system of government as he was the sitting head of state. Taking cognizance of the fact that doing such could result in bloodshed, Kamuzu opted to follow the wishes of the people. The statesmanship of the Ngwazi was well shown when he conceded defeat to his challenger Bakili Muluzi even before vote counting had been completed. From this we have a legacy of being united in adversity.
When the current crop of leadership quarrels, putting the wishes of the people at a stake, prioritizing self interest issues at the expense of the people that cast ballots, it is time we realize that we are deviating away from the legacy that Kamuzu Banda left us with.
As a nation we can say that we have to the best tried to give Kamuzu the respect he deserves. The mausoleum speaks millions of our heartfelt condolences to his family and the world in general that we will live to appreciate the works and deeds of Dr. Kamuzu Banda. Certainly, we are to a great extent preserving his legacy.
Though much is known about Kamuzu, it cannot be an exaggeration to say that there is more to the life of Kamuzu Banda that we fellow Malawians must know. The country needs biographies of Kamuzu written by the very people that have been very much close to them. Doing that would enable generations to come to appreciate the works of the father and founder of the Malawi nation. Probably the government should consider persuading the former official hostess mama Cecelia Tamanda Kazamira to write a book on Kamuzu.
We will also learn to live the Kamuzu legacy if we happen to have a special museum for him. The museum will enable us to understand what books shaped Kamuzu’s political philosophy. The museum would be a mouth piece to the world at large for generations to come on the life and works of Kamuzu.
Malawi can live in prosperity if it learns from the Kamuzu legacy and decide to live by such a legacy.

No nation can rise without the impact of labourers; be they manual or professionals. To every little development noticeable, the underlining denominator is the labour force.

Definitely there can never be manufacturing companies, tobacco estates, tea estates, security companies, bus companies etc in the absence of workers. It is worth noting that every time tobacco leaf is auctioned at the auction floors we realize that with it is also auctioned the sweat of labourers.

Little do we seem to realize that for every service rendered to us it has with it human sweat. The million dollar question is: is the sweat that has been shed to give us the comfort and delight attained through the service been adequately compensated?

A recent survey in the wages and salaries that citizens of the country receive in this country has shocking and appalling results. Thousands and thousands of the citizens of the country earn less than K5, 000.00 a month, thus further pushing them to the margins of abject poverty. The minimum wage in the country does not even help matters as it is far too low to necessitate an employee to attain even the least basic necessities of life.

We have a tragedy in the sense that our fellow country men and women live on starving wages. It surprises not therefore that in some institutions seminars are arranged with the element of pocketing allowances to supplement a living not development. Do we wonder then that we hold countless seminars and workshops that yield nothing? Most of them are a means to supplement a living than a strategy for addressing any intended issues.

It is the starving wages and salaries that are leaving our beloved country men and women with no choices but to take the risk of travelling to South Africa and live the miserable life of illegal immigrants; the life of a cat and mouse relationship with the police, all just to earn a little to feed their families back home. They are ready to be deported a countless times all just to ensure that they earn a good living for their families. The labour market in their own country gives them no hope for survival.

It smacks of injustice that a guard who risks his life to safeguard lives of others and even property worth millions or billions of Kwachas earns as little less as K10, 000.00 a month. This is the very same guard who has a family to care for, relatives back home to buy fertilizer for, rental and water and electricity bills to settle, children to send to school to become productive citizens of the country, medical expenses to pay, the list is endless.

At present, the most probable way to uplifting millions of starving-wages paid citizens of the country is through revolutionizing some concepts. Why is it that the poorly paid do not have medical schemes yet the top people enjoy VVIP free medical schemes? Why the unequal economics of according the top people thousands of litres of fuel while people at the bottom of the labour who are poorly paid are not even offered a little transport allowance to alleviate their mobility problems? Thousands of underpaid Malawians walk long distances every day to and from work.

Certainly, the imbalance between the top people and the bottom people in terms of earnings and privileges is unjustifiable. All we end up creating is the establishment of Berlin wall between the rich and the poor that our wages policies relegate to the margins of abject poverty. In the very end the children of a guard will become guards and those of the rich will end up ruling the poor again. We are not providing the poor an opportunity to rise to greater heights.

It is high time that humanity takes cognizance of the fact that no economic development could be meaningful if it fails to uplift millions of masses from the whims of poverty into good life. As inflation keeps hovering high thus sky- rocketing the basic necessities of life, why should we give a blind eye to the salaries of the miserably paid citizens of our country, the very compatriots of our country whose sweat make us comfortable?

One most confusing factor is that at times the people who have the capacity and power to fight for the end of poverty amongst the poor seem to prioritize their benefits you least expect. How many times have our legislators in the august house hiked their salaries and sitting allowances with unimaginable percentages all in the name of the increasing cost of living? Have they, alternatively, took the same vigor to initiative changes in the miserable home takings of the poorly paid employed citizens of the country who they represent in the august house? The answer is a big NO.

At present we need a strong policy than can end up seeing workers paid handsomely. Is the Asian business community, the Chinese business community and other foreign entrepreneurs in the country paying the citizens of the country wages enough to enable them attain basic necessities of life? Should we as a country give a blind eye to the exploitation of our citizens, the very same people that have to partake in the fruits of economic development of their motherland? Why should others be making unaccountable profits at the expense of starving workers?

It is time the business people model their mindset on the benchmark of the philosophy of Kirsten Poole, Co-owner of Kirsten’s Café and Dish Caterers. Poole says that: ‘trying to save money by short changing my employees would be like skimping on ingredients. I would lose more than I saved because of declining quality, service, reputation and customer base. You can’t build a healthy business or a healthy economy on a miserable minimum wage.’

Now is the time that the government ‘makes work pay.’ By bringing in legislation that increases the minimum wage to a good rate, the government would indirectly also have waged a winning war against poverty and diseases. As workers would afford basic necessities of life, they would certainly live healthy lives and further have the capacity to seek proper medical care.

We are proud that of late our economy has been classified as one of the best in the world. There was a time Malawi ranked the second fastest growing economy in the world. However, let us reflect this world admirable economic growth in the earnings of the people of our country as well. Let salaries of police, teachers, guards, clerics and other lower paid citizens of the country have a feel of economic growth through descent salary hikes. As long as our people live on the margins of miserable wages and salaries, talk of national economic growth can mean nothing to them. Our economic policies can only be meaningful if they address the plight of our beloved compatriots.