Africa-Press – Malawi. From a distance, they look like people wet with good will. And, again, from that distance, they look like their goodwill has a deep surface. Far from it. Deep down, below the surface of the cosmetic skin of fair-dealing is a stinky habit of looking down upon others.
They are like waves of the beautiful Lake Malawi in that, no matter how strong they take off from the middle of the lake, they still maintain the same shape, almost the same size, as they approach the shore.
Whether the waters of the lake are pushed to the extreme of pathos through the fiery Southerly Winds or when the waters have been beaten into submission— that is, when they are calm, especially in summer when the sun does not just shine, it stings [the time of sun-stroke]— the outcome is all too familiar: The waves look the same size and ‘wear’ the same height.
The irony is that even Africans, who happen to work for Western media, wear borrowed robes when speaking in foreign tongues; the way they did on the website of one prominent and global media house this week, before the Malawi National Football Team took on Senegal.
State President Lazarus Chakwera had, as one way of extending his goodwill to the Flames— as our beloved senior national football team is known— pledged to give each player who would play in the game against the likes of Sadio Mané and Edouard Mendy K1 million. He further pledged to give reserve players— those on the bench— half the amount.
That gesture of goodwill seems to have angered some people in some geographical position of Africa who, abusing the platform that the reputable media house offers, decided to cast Chakwera in bad light as if, by encouraging the Flames to work extra hard at the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, he was abusing the public purse. Which is far from the truth.
As Gospel Kazako, our information minister, put it to one of the globally renowned media house’s radio stations, only Malawians could understand the issue well, as opposed to some prejudiced other-geographical part-of- Africa website host out to cast other African countries in bad light in that desperate attempt to appear more knowledgeable than others.
Well, there is no better example of foolishness than that displayed by the, as some Malawians have put it, ‘intern’ who abused the platform which the said media house offers.
To say the truth, when the platform has been left in the hands of some self-acclaimed knowledgeable Africans from that part, the glaring mistakes are all there for all to see. They will, where they were supposed to write “last won a match against Morocco in 1990”, write “last win a match against Morocco in 1990” instead.
They make so many mistakes and get away with it; our friends from that part of Africa. And, then, Dear Pain, as if chained to the medieval mentality we all thought we sailed past, attack countries in other parts of of the continent— all because they feel more important than others.
Actually, people from that one geographical part of Africa have turned the Afcon finals into some ‘family’ thing; something that borders on the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
People from that part of Africa, Dear Pain, are put in qualification groups under a format that ensures that they will always dominate, representation-wise, in tournaments, cups and finals. At Afcon level, you find them in droves. At World Cup level, you find them in droves.
And they also make decisions that alienate some parts of Africa when given the leeway— like happened earlier this week, before Malawi drew with Senegal.
Actually, on another website that ends with the term ‘report’, they put four faces of players that would represent Group B teams before the advancement of teams to the Round of 16 [where Malawi is now]. The teams slated to meet in the matches were Senegal, Zimbabwe, Guinea and Malawi. Guess what? They put two faces of Senegal players, one face for Zimbabwe and another for Guinea. There was no Flames player featured, as if Malawi does not exist on the map.
Make no mistake about it; it was another mindless individual from the part of Africa that regards itself as well-heeled that did that. It is akin to what one Coming to America actress alluded to in February last year. The actor in question bemoaned colorism, which is another word for intra-racial racism. It exists.
The actress, namely Vanessa Calloway— she who is called Imani Izzi in the classic film; yes, she whose arranged marriage to Prince Akim [Eddie Murphy]did not please the prince, who, instead, chose Lisa [real name Shari Headley]— claimed that she would have played a more prominent role had she been lighter enough.
There we are. But, then, people from the other geographical part of Africa have taken the issue a notch higher; they take themselves as intellectually superior to others, hence their persistent abuse of global news media to advance their selfish agenda. Twaddle.
I tell you, Dear Pain, that they will never succeed; and they will forever feel the pain of aiming arrows at resilient and united people from Africa; the real Africa. You are no potentates, friends; just confused confusionists.
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