Africa-Press – Malawi. On Thursday, President Lazarus Chakwera presided over the inaugural Umodzi Day, which was set aside to celebrate our unity in diversity. The event sucked in people from different backgrounds—some of whom turned up to make a virtue of necessity.
While it is important for Malawians to come together at one ceremony and celebrate their cultures and unity, the truth is that we are not so divided as a people.
Of course, politicians have used every opportunity to sow seeds of discord among Malawians, often along tribal and regional lines, but our harmony is longstanding and cannot be easily broken.
Politics has often been the chief instigator of disunity in this country. Still, we always return to times of togetherness because that is what we are known for.
Politicians have for years done all they could to associate themselves more with their ethnic groups than the whole nation, and this has ended up creating unnecessary scuffles. But at the very basic level, Malawians are very united people and care less about where one comes from or what political party they support.
Of course, as is always the case where there are large numbers of people, there are fanatics who take these regional and tribal issues to extreme levels and attempt to position their sides as superior.
In other instances, those who feel they are being trampled upon use whatever means at their disposal to lift themselves up. Well, there is no harm in people supporting political parties of their choice and celebrating their cultures in their own ways.
After all, in Malawi, unlike in some countries, intermarriages are all over and people can settle in any part of the country without feeling or being discriminated against.
So, Umodzi Day should not be interpreted to mean there is disunity among Malawians or that the cultural celebrations that various groups hold each year are dividing people.
In fact, in the celebrations themselves, it is important that people from other cultural backgrounds are invited to take part. That would even be a better way of celebrating our Malawianness.
It was refreshing to hear Minister of Local Government and National Unity Richard Chimwendo Banda reiterating that observing Umodzi Day does not mean cultural groupings should stop holding their own annual events.
Of course, I am also cognisant of the fact that the day goes beyond fostering unity among Malawians. We are coming from a period of political turmoil, where violent demonstrations significantly stained our national psyche.
There are people who are still reeling from the ugly impacts of the demonstrations, which were largely championed by the Human Rights Defenders Coalition and have anger still bottled up in their hearts.
Those are the issues that must take centre stage on Umodzi Day. We must engage in serious discussions regarding how we can heal our nation from the post- 2019-election chaos.
Otherwise, as a people, we are not so divided, even though patriotism is a problem. Chakwera talked about how some people are willing to illegally render services to foreign nationals and end up leaving Malawians struggling to access the same services.
That is a huge cancer in this country. Cases abound of Immigration and other officers issuing passports to foreign nationals after being bribed while genuine nationals struggle to access the same documents.
Back to the issue of unity, now that we have formally made it a national event, politicians must review their contributions to the disunity that we often see around. This should be particularly important as we march towards the 2025 elections.
There have been instances in the past where some political parties were being prevented from conducting campaign rallies in areas considered strongholds of their opponents.
In some cases, those insisting on holding the rallies were physically attacked. That kind of intolerance, which is often promoted by politicians, must end.
In fact, their own campaigns and presence largely take into account the so-called political bases, leaving their supporters in other parts of the country feeling disenfranchised.
That escalates to the time they get to power, where people from certain regions or districts feel more entitled to “eating now” apparently because it is their time.
For once, our political leaders must believe in one Malawi and shed off the archaic impression that their so-called bases matter more than other areas.
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