Kondwani Kamiyala

One would think dying is better than spending 12 years of your life in prison for a case you have little knowledge of. And come to think of it, spending those 12 years living each day knowing that the hangman will one day come with his noose, and hang you, like he did with Saddam Hussein, is torture at its worst. Yet, you can only come to terms with the harsh reality that your spouse is dead, in another prison after that span of a life. One would rather live, one more day and tell the people the untold story, the story that gave you the will to die, and the will that made you to live, even after your husband’s death. Well, this is no script. It is a true life story, the story of Vera Chirwa, one of the greatest of Malawian human rights activists. Not only is she able to fight for women’s rights. She has been there, done that and has got the experience which other women rights activists can only dream of: PRISON. And 12 years of prison is tough. It is very rough. Mind you, this is no ot...

Celebrated Senegalese writer Ken Bugul (Marietou Mbaye) talks on a lifetime in writing. On talking to celebrated Senegalese writer Ken Bugul, whose real name is Marietou Mbaye, a few things about Malawian writing come out clear, in comparison to what is going on in other African countries. The writing art cannot move an inch if the government doesn’t put it as part of its development agenda, neither can writing advance if the private sector does not see the gold that is buried in the dust of the writing art and if writers’ groups are dormant organisations, there is no hope for the country. As I talked to her in the gardens of the Chez Maky in Blantyre, I was still reading Vera Chirwa’s Fearless Fighter and my hands were itching for The Jive Talker by Samson Kambalu, two recent Malawian autobiographies that are receiving high acclaim on the international literary parlour. Mbaye’s words ring true in my mind when I think of these two books, published internationally. "Malawi has goo...

They come and go. Their shows are, to say the least, massive in all senses of the word: good sound, nice performance that addresses the real issues. Yet Malawian musicians seem not ready to take their lesson on how well things should be done in music. Only last week there was an astounding performance by the Ivorian Dobet Gnahoré, who performed at the French Cultural Centre. There was so much to learn from her. She captured her audience with a mesmerising voice and daunted them when she played typical traditional African music instruments. That is not talking about the way she combined choreographic and theatrical elements in her dancing antics. But the greatest lesson Malawian musicians must have learned from her, if they missed such a lesson from other African gurus who have performed here like Hugh Masekela and Oliver Mtukudzi, is that they must keep a safe distance from politics. That is to say, they must never take political sides when they tackle politics. May be they can take po...