This column and other colleagues in the media do not believe that it is wise for Malawi to send a delegation to neighbouring countries to learn about how to deal with the problem of killings of people with albinism.
It has been argued on this space, twice, last month that when one sees snakes in an area, it does not make sense to set up a committee to kill the snakes. The best thing to do is just to kill the serpents and review the outcome later. The police know this strategy which they call: shoot first and ask later.
The argument is that while the delegation is busy basking in the sunshine on some east African country, our compatriots with albinism will continue to live in fear or being butchered. Our police service has the technical know-how to deal with this problem once and for all.
But President Peter Mutharika does not agree with this submission. He is convinced that such reasoning is coming from what he called misguided journalists writing in their misguided newspapers. This column subscribes to the view that the beauty of democracy lies in its diversity of opinion. One floats an idea and a debate ensues until a dominant view survives.
But this column takes heart in the fact that its position is supported by many Malawians, including people with albinism themselves.
Just before the President took to the podium, president of Association of People with Albinism in Malawi (Apam), Boniface Massa, shared a similar line of thought as what the media has. Massa said if you see a rat in a village, you do not remove the maize grains; but you kill the rat.
Positive developments
That said, Pick & Choose is delighted that there is movement in the right direction as far as the fight against this bane is concerned. Just on Wednesday this week, the High Court in Mzuzu slapped a convict with life in the cooler for attempting to kill a boy with albinism. The landmark sentence comes in the wake of complaints against lenient sentences that our courts have been passing on people convicted in such murders.
The Chief Justice has also issued a circular stopping all lower grade magistrates from hearing cases concerning such murders. The rationale is that such lower grade magistrates have a limited jurisdiction in terms of sentences which they can mete out in such cases.
It was also argued here that community members might not be willing to tip-off the police because some law enforcers betray the whistle-blowers. After the Police in the Eastern Region went on a sensitisation campaign, members of the community in Machinga District alerted the law enforcers about a man who wanted to sell his own child with albinism. The community members also informed the police of the presence of two men who had exhumed a tomb of a person with albinism. The suspects were arrested and the bones recovered while the beastly father was also thrown behind the bars.
The decisiveness of both the police and the judiciary is what we mean when we say that let us fire on all cylinders before going on the proposed study tours.
The irony of the study tours
Unless Malawians want to give job opportunities to members of the old boys club, the proposed study tours lack in their justification.
The dynamics obtaining in those targeted countries are not the same factors that we grapple with in Malawi. We cannot, therefore, be fire sure that solutions that worked in, say, Tanzania or Rwanda will work here. For instance, Tanzania banned traditional healers from practising their trade; is the Malawi Government ready to take such a bold decision? Long time ago, Tanzania outlawed chieftaincies in urban centres, Malawi is failing even to deal with the confusion that emanates from having these chiefs who masquerade as block leaders.
Our police have solved some complex criminal syndicates. Even when the police arrest a person suspected of stealing a chicken, the cops will burn their fuel to trace the buyer and bring him to book. Malawi and the whole world expect our police officers to pin down these suspects until they reveal their markets or pay masters.
The President’s new corner stones
But this column wants to agree with President Mutharika that we need to re-cast our national mindset. The President has proposed Integrity, Hard work and Patriotism as the pillars in the new set.
This is a good initiative because without having a clear destination, we shall have so many detours on our way. But integrity should start with our leaders. There is no point in paying each Cabinet Minister K45,000 for patronising a presidential function. Apart from attending presidential rallies what do our ministers do? Most of them have no expertise to guide the ministries: they are just political figure heads.
Hard work and patriotism go hand in hand. Again that should start from the top. There should be deliberate policies to empower Malawian entrepreneurs to compete favourably with international bidders in government tenders. Government should have affirmative policies to ensure that priority goes to capable Malawian entrepreneurs. These will pay tax and employ fail Malawians.
Cabinet Ministers and top government officials should stop betraying this country through careless award of licences to mine or run other errands in Malawi. Government must also stop assisting foreigners to acquire prime land in Malawi while pushing the citizens to the peripherals of the cities.
Otherwise, these seemingly misguided journalists writing in their apparent misguided newspapers do their work with an aim of helping the President to redeem this country.
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